Comments on: University Mall; Little Rock, Arkansas

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 06:55:20 +0000

Hi guys,

I came across this post by accident and it brought back a lot of old memories for me. I don’t know anything about retail, but I’d like to add a couple of thoughts to this post.

As a kid growing up in Little Rock, I spent a lot of time in this mall. Cohn’s was mostly above my budget, but I remember it being quaint, but still very nice, heading into the early eighties. After both malls were renovated during the mid-eighties, Park Plaza was immediately recognized as the clear winner and the stores in University Mall — including Cohns — seem to quickly go downhill.

Penney’s was more in line with my budget at the time and I have fond memories of this particular Penney’s store during the seventies. It had a very metropolitan feel to it, plenty of displays, always seemed to be busy and yet was easy to get in and out of quickly.

I stopped shopping at Penney’s long ago, but the last few times I was inside this store before it closed, it had gone downhill drastically. Sadly, while Penney’s has a newly built location in Little Rock, I can’t say that it’s much better While the paint is fresher, Penney’s seems to have taken a nosedive; at least at it’s Little Rock locations (my experience elsewhere has been a little better.)

Thanks for the memories!

By: David

David — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 23:31:24 +0000

University Mall has been torn down for quite a while now. The site is still under demo.

By: tony

tony — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 08:11:46 +0000

matt…you’re from wisconsin…if you want to see an authentic vintage JCPenney logo you can go to milwaukee. right on the freeway somewhere on the north central side of town is a jcpenney distribution center – COMPLETE with a white and blue (sort of script like) jcpenney logo on the side of the building. it’s gorgeous. i think one of the letters even has a small – white flag like ripple to it

By: Matthew

Matthew — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 03:25:05 +0000

The directory is somewhere between 2002-2005. Montgomery Ward is not listed on the site. I remember as a kid this mall had furniture that was mounted on wheels so it could be removed when they set up for christmas or for when they had cars parked inside for Walt Bennett Ford. A classic thing was that I used to play with the cigarette ashtray button cause it had the door that drops butts away and my mom did not like me doing that!!!!
I remember it had also no second floor except for the basement which had a long ramp to the community room and mall office under the Montgomery Ward portion

By: Lee B

Lee B — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 05:36:25 +0000

As far as the question regarding Rogers at the Beltline Mall in Decatur, It was one of the original stores. It was located at the center of the mall by the fountain and directly opposite the main entrance. Prior to moving to the Beltline Mall around 1979(?), Rogers was located in a stand alone building in the Decatur Shopping Center on 6th Avenue (AKA Highway 31).

By: linda jones

linda jones — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 04:45:58 +0000

I worked at M.M. Cohn for 6 years during college…many great memories there. I visited in the fall of 2007 as the “associates” were gearing up for the closing. The man in shoes I remembered from my time there in the late 80’s. He said he had been there for about 30 years, as many of their associates had. When I asked if he would retire, he replied that he loved helping people, and he couldn’t imagine not working. That kind of dedication is impossible to find anymore!!! Great memories of University Mall. It was the hang out for us in the 80’s!!!

By: Jonah Norason

Jonah Norason — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 17:33:24 +0000

Here is a list of tenants from some time ago, I don’t know how old this is:

http://www.onlinelittlerock.com/content/shopping/university-mall.htm

By: Jonah Norason

Jonah Norason — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 02:52:19 +0000

University Mall is closed and gone. This sad picture says it all:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35237091109@N01/2255218413

By: Dustin

Dustin — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 12:47:12 +0000

Honest to God.I always heard the stock market crash of 1987 is what killed Phoneix Village Mall: Morris said Phoenix Village Mall performed well and operated normally until 1987. That’s when a deal was struck to sell the project to an out-of-state real estate investment concern.

“The week we were to close on the sale was when the stock market crash happened on Monday (Oct. 19). Then on Tuesday, the Philadelphia banker called and said they weren’t going to make the loan to finance the sale.”

By: Dustin

Dustin — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 12:41:20 +0000

A mall that despartely needs to be listed on this site.All left in the mall is barber shop and a bank out of 60 or 70 store spaces.This mall is Phoenix Village Mall in Fort Smith.It hasnt been considered a true mall in years.I mean 15 to 20 yrs.Nobody’s never done anything about.It seems to me that nobody really cares.