Perimeter Mall; Dunwoody, Georgia
Our first Georgia entry, Perimeter Mall, is located in the wealthy north-suburban Atlanta community of Dunwoody. Opened in 1971, Perimeter Mall debuted as the fourth mall in Dekalb County, and the seventh mall in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Nearly four decades later, Perimeter Mall is one of metro Atlanta’s best shopping venues and offers the most upscale store roster of any mall outside Buckhead. Located just a few miles north of Buckhead and Midtown Atlanta, Perimeter Mall draws from a large area of the northern metro, from Roswell to Sandy Springs and into northern Dekalb County, and is the anchor to an area of office complexes, retail, and hotels located around the interchange of GA 400 and I-285.
Ostensibly named after the 64 mile long Interstate 285 which circumscribes Atlanta’s perimeter, and at one time was the edge of Atlanta’s suburban extent, Perimeter Mall opened with only two anchors, Rich’s and JCPenney, in a dumbbell style layout with an enclosed corridor of shops connecting them. Throughout the 1970s, Perimeter Mall was very similar in design to another Atlanta mall, Greenbriar Mall, which is located in southwest Atlanta some 25 miles away; however, changing fortunes for both areas in the decades following caused the malls to become less similar as time went on.
In 1982, the two-level Perimeter Mall was dramatically expanded to its current T-shape when a new northwest wing was added, ending at Atlanta-based anchor store Davison’s, which became Macy’s in 1986. A new food court was also added along this wing, and the wing nearly doubled the size of the mall at the time.
Unfortunately, a terrible tragedy occurred at Perimeter Mall in 1990, as Calvin Brady, a mental hospital patient, opened fire in the mall’s food court at lunch time, killing one person and injuring four.
To keep up with newer competition like the large and successful North Point Mall which opened in 1993, Perimeter Mall was renovated several times from 1993-2000, and expanded once again in 1998. Throughout this period numerous anchor changes also occurred, shifting every anchor from its original place and introducing three new ones. A MARTA rail station also opened just in time for the Olympics in 1996 in the southwest parking lot, providing rail access from downtown Atlanta, Buckhead, and all other MARTA stations.
In 1998, Nordstrom opened their first Georgia store next to Macy’s in the northwest wing, adding a short stub wing and several more stores in the process. In addition, JCPenney closed in 2000 and its building was demolished and reconstructed for Dillards, which opened in 2005. Also, the Rich’s became Rich’s-Macy’s in 2003, and was converted to just Macy’s by 2005; meanwhile, the original Macy’s in the newer wing, which was originally Davison’s prior to 1986, closed in 2003 and reopened the same year as a Bloomingdales. Got all that? The opening of Bloomingdales was part of its entry into the Atlanta market, as Macys decided to introduce the Bloomingdales nameplate to two Atlanta malls rather than sell the anchors due to the Rich’s consolidation. Both Perimeter Mall and Buckhead’s Lenox Square, where Bloomingdales also opened in 2003, were considered because of their demographics as both malls serve some of the wealthiest zip codes in the Atlanta area.
One of the more recent renovations also brought a streetscape facade to the Ashford-Dunwoody Road-facing exterior, bringing new destination restaurants and outward-facing retail, a popular trend in malls these days, to Perimeter Mall.
Today, Perimeter Mall has a solid foothold in the wealthy northern Atlanta market, surviving despite an onslaught of malls and lifestyle centers which have opened since 1990 throughout the metro area, like the nearby North Point Mall in Alpharetta which opened in 1993. Also, Perimeter Mall is only several miles north of metro Atlanta’s best malls, Phipps Plaza and Lenox Square, which are co-located in Buckhead across the street from one another. Perimeter Mall’s upscale and innovative roster of stores continues to woo Atlanta consumers, as recently the Yoforia chain, serving the latest big trend of frozen yogurt (a la Pinkberry and Red Mango) chose Perimeter as its first mall location. Perimeter Mall is the anchor of large retail complexes, office buildings and hotels near the interchange of GA 400 and I-285, and will continue to thrive in the near future unless GGP’s financial woes force its closure.
We visited Perimeter Mall in December 2008 and took the pictures featured here. Feel free to leave your own comments about the mall or experiences you’ve had.
Jonah Norason
January 6th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Gee, how old is the Skillz store? And why is it doing in an upscale mall?
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Rich
January 6th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
In many ways the most pleasant mall in Atlanta–it doesn’t have Lenox’s level of pretense or its awkward layout. Unfortunately, the traffic pattern around this mall, esp. North of it is confusing and it’s near the most congested section of I-285.
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JT
January 6th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Nice job! I actually do have pictures of the Rich’s prior to the changeover (unfortunately nothing of Davison’s or Penney’s). I grew up going to this mall…it was always one of the better malls in Atlanta, and I remember it as a kid always being a particularly dark mall. My mom had a particular preference for the mall and still does. The lifestyle wing used to be an open-air corridor with tall brick walls on the side and an elevated walkway in the center to the second floor that emptied straight into the parking lot. It had an Applebee’s in that wing and huge red banners with the mall’s signature “P” that is shaped much like a cloverleaf ramp. The Rich’s was also significantly expanded in 1987 with the Furniture/Men’s store. Also, a Morrison’s Cafeteria was located next to the Penney’s and the mall had staircases throughout that had fountains at the base up until 1993. Mom used to park at the Penney’s because she could always find a parking place there, so you can go figure why it closed. Nowadays, you do well to find ANY parking there.
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BIGMallrat
January 6th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
I didn’t know Macy’s brought Bloomingdale’s to Atlanta. I still haven’t been able to figure out what makes Bloomingdale’s different from Macy’s. It’s like Macy’s, but with a bowtie. I see a lot of similar brands; least the ones that I have an interest.
Scott
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Allan
January 7th, 2009 at 12:16 am
Interesting that this mall once had both a Davison’s and Rich’s, considering that Federated owned both chains for decades. I guess they marketed both chains to different demographics, for all I know.
My fascination with Atlanta-based former retail chains aside, I really love how the various renovations of this mall over the years turned out. The lighting is nicely done in this mall, the seating areas in the mall corridors(outside of the food court) are a nice touch, and of course I like how they kept a water fountain in the Nordstrom wing.
I’m really crossing my fingers that JT can find a pic of what that upper-level Macy’s entrance looked like when it had the Rich’s logo, pre-2003!
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Dr. Schluss
January 7th, 2009 at 1:17 am
I live across the street from this one and it’s a pretty hoppin’ part of town. I think Perimeter also had the last of the mall arcades, although that’s been gone for a while now too. I can’t imagine that the place would get dragged down by GGP. It’s always busy and I’d think that someone else would step in and run the place. If not, maybe I’ll move across the street from another mall.
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todd
January 7th, 2009 at 6:45 am
I also went to Perimeter growing up when we’d visit relatives in Atlanta…. it always had a presence of stability and wealth. Today, it is an example of taste. Filled with great things, yet a little smaller and cozier than the others. I’ll always love it and am very thankful that Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom are there.
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The History of Perimeter Mall « PILOTING THE PERFECT MOVE
January 7th, 2009 at 8:16 am
[...] For a nice history of the mall please click on the following link to the entry in The Retail History Blog. [...]
BK
January 7th, 2009 at 11:47 am
I shop here relatively often despite the fact I live aways away in Marietta, GA since its close to the Children’s Hospital we’re always at with my son. The food court has some great independent places with great food for a food court to go along with the typical entries. I’m still bummed the Crate and Barrel closed there last year as it was the easiest one for me to get to. They claimed it was under performing compared to the larger ones in Lenox and near North Point that have furniture showrooms. When they closed I made off with a good number of their fixtures and shelving for use in my home much to my wife’s chagrin. I’ve probably got the nicest basement workshop shelving using their white laquer laminate finish shelves and took some of their stainless steel finish shelves and fashioned them into a coffee table. I’ve got a couple of their gift wrap cabinets too that have come in handy as well.
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Prange Way
January 7th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
The price points at Bloomingdale’s are set way higher than at Macy’s, for one. I think this has become even more visible as Macy’s has diluted its brand by opening stores across the nation. I used to consider Macy’s in the upper-mid tier of department stores before 2003 when they decided to become a national brand with stores in nearly every state. Bloomingdale’s is definitely top-tier, and I’m not sure they carry the Charter Club or Alfani Macy’s store brands; in fact, I’d be they didn’t. They do, however, have $500 jeans and $200 t-shirts and nonsense like that for the super-wealthy.
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mallguy
January 7th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Bloomingdales’s store brand (at least in the Mens Dept) is Joseph & Lyman. In addition Bloomie’s is still one of the few department stores left that have their own restaurants within (Short Hills alone has La Provence and the B-Cafe)…even Nordstrom did away with The Pub and Garden Court restaurants a few years back, but they still have the Cafe and E-bar. Bloomingdales also carries certain names in jewelry and accessories that one may not see in Macy’s.
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SEAN
January 7th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
Simon will try to pick this mall up if GGP goes under. It’s a nice fit with Phips plaza & Lenox Square.
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Alpha
January 7th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Atlanta has a dizzying amount of malls. Given its proximity to Phipps, Lenox, and even North Point (not to mention the other ones I can’t remember), I’m almost surprised there’s another upscale mall. IMO this one’s a little dull and dark but very quiet for its popularity.
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Allan
January 7th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
It’s interesting you mention Nordstrom did away with their full-service restaurants at Perimeter, mallguy. I thought Nordstrom was one of the few department stores left that still had restaurants in certain stores, but I guess they’ve increasingly moved to get rid of their restaurants(except for cafe-style stands), and didn’t even realize!
I believe Prange Way is right about Bloomie’s and Macy’s definitely catering to different demographics, since I’ve noticed similar differences(to what other posters have said) between both the few times I have shopped at Bloomingdale’s in the past.
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Allan
January 7th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
I forgot to address Sean’s comment. I have to agree with him that I would NOT be surprised if Simon picked up quite a few malls from GGP, if they were to go under. I could also see other companies like CBL and Taubman(for the latter, more or less their upscale malls) looking to purchase malls owned by GGP, but we’ll see what happens when February comes.
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Rich
January 7th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
The Atlanta Bloomies are less different from Macy’s than is usually the case. National chains seem to “narrow cast” their selections in Atlanta compared with other cities. For a place where shopping is such an important recreational activity, it’s not a very interesting place to shop.
Federated bought Macy’s in ’94; they bought Rich’s before that but provided much more local autonomy before the consolidations of the 90s. Bloomie’s, for example, ran very different stores from Macy’s in DC and other East Coast cities in the 90s.
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TrickyNicky
January 7th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Mallguy, you are incorrect that Nordstrom is doing away with full-service restaurants in its stores. They recently opened a new restaurant concept at the Burlington Mall in March called “Blue Stove”. It is a tapas restaurant and they have opened it in a second Nordstrom location in California. Honestly, the only reason I go into the local Nordstrom location in Providence is to eat at the Nordstrom Cafe. Their merchandise is way too expensive for me, and I never find anything worth buying during their sales.
This mall seems to be very successful despite being so close to two other luxury malls, Lenox Square and Phipps Plaza. It has some very interesting architectual details, such as the chandeliers, light fixtures, and the rare fountain. I wonder how successful this malls will remain given the current economic climate. With the number of bankrupt retailers we may see in the near future, there might not be enough retailers to fill the vacancies. But this may also be an opportunity for smaller retailers to emerge and gain popularity. That is just how the retail enviroments goes. People get bored with a brand, move on, and another brand swoops in, takes its place, overexpands, and shutters. History repeats itself over and over again.
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mallguy
January 8th, 2009 at 6:19 am
I stand corrected on Nordstrom…I’m speaking from my local PoV where all the area locations (Menlo Park, Garden State Plaza, Westchester, Roosevelt Field, Short Hills, King of Prussia…Freehold never had the sit-down restaurants) closed The Pub and The Garden Court, making them into store space.
I also like Perimeter Mall and am impressed with its architecture. Is that fountain near Nordstrom (which is very cool looking btw) the only one in the mall? Store-wise, it seems to have a lot and is a great alternative to Phipps Plaza/Lenox Square to those who live in the Northwestern Corner of the Atlanta Metro area.
Atlanta’s shopping mall lineup is quite interesting as one can debate that Atlanta is over-malled. While I haven’t been down this way in a very long time, I am aware that there has been growth in metro Atlanta and malls do hang on. Cumberland Mall (close to Perimeter if I’m not mistaken) came across hard times recently and has strongly rebounded. Also despite the successes of The Mall of Georgia, Gwinnett Place still hangs on and does OK…maybe not as well as it used to but they still have 4 anchors.
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Rich
January 8th, 2009 at 10:54 am
Atlanta is full of dead and dying malls. North DeKalb is being redone as a not quite lifestyle place. It probably would make more sense as non-retail. Greenbriar has been hurt by a nearby power center. The other southside malls are in trouble. Cumberland has not done that well since the remodel and despite the high volume Rich’s, South DeKalb hasn’t seemed that busy. The Atlanta arae continues to grow, but the new jobs don’t pay as wellas the old ones. The IT sector dried up earlier in this decade which hurt North Point. Delta has cut back, although the cuts were more evident outside of Atlanta, in the beginning and merger with Northwest might help, although putting together two airlines with terrible customer service isn’t a great business startegy (example—my last Delta flight involved multiple delays and when the plane arrived, it was the wrong aircraft). Coca-Cola went through cutbacks (unheard of for them) and the last big unionized industrial emplyers have been shuttered (Ford & GM), along with two military facilities. Building low wage jobs and losing, stable well-paying ones is not the best climate for new malls, but the developer-friendly (and developer-bought) suburban jurisdictions have meant taht development often outstrips reality. The housing market was hit early and hard in Atlanta, esp. in outlying areas.
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Dante
January 8th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
To be fair, Rich, most of the dead and dying malls you mention are in poorer parts of the city. Yeah, the malls in Dekalb are in trouble. There are more rough neighborhoods than nice neighborhoods there now. The same could be said for Cumberland. Lenox, Phipps Plaza, Perimeter, Mall of Georgia, Discover Mills, North Point, and those newish outdoor malls in Norcross and Forsyth are all doing well and they’re all within about 30 or so miles of each other. North Point does have a vacant anchor but it’s set up for 6 and I just don’t think there are 6 these days. The missing anchor doesn’t seem to affect the foot traffic.
A lot of manufacturing is dying in Atlanta and Delta is also struggling mightily but that IT sector you mention in Alpharetta is alive and well. My cousin and brother just ditched their current IT jobs for higher paying ones there. I get frequent calls asking if I’m interested in IT jobs in Alpharetta (mostly from recruiters who don’t know it’s 50 miles in heavy traffic from where I live). The only people getting really hurt by the IT sector in Alpharetta are those without experience of some kind. It is a bad time to be entry level there or anywhere.
Back to the main point, I used to shop primarily at North Point and Perimeter back when I lived in the area. I always liked North Point better. It was a little closer to me though. I think if the distances were reversed, I’d probably have preferred Perimeter, especially after the North Point Babbages turned into a Hello Kitty store. Perimeter is a very nice mall. It is kind of obvious that it’s been added onto more than once, but that doesn’t detract from the mall in any way. The mall hasn’t been Simonized so there are still a few unique shops there last I checked but not as many as there used to be. The mall area is atrocious though. It’s really hard to make your way north and there seems to be no rhyme or reason to the street layout or the placement of mall-area shopping centers.
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Steven Swain
January 8th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Bloomingdale’s starts, price and quality wise, where Macy’s leaves off. There’s more current fashion, there are far more restaurants and food concessions, the furniture and housewares are more contemporary and the stores themselves have an unmistakable look. The older stores have a very 1970s look and feel, while the newest stores and the 59th and Lex flagship feel very upmarket and modern.
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Bill
January 9th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
Lol its Nordtrom.
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Rich
January 9th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
There were buildings in Alpharetta without tenants for quite a long time during this decade and IT people who were delivering phone books.With the loss of GM and Ford and the decline of Delta, bell South and others, Atlanta’s smalll blue collar base probably has suffered as much or more than most industrial cities.
Not all of the troubled retail in Atlanta is in poor areas. Greenbriar serves a well-off area and gentrifying suburbs. Cumberland draws low income shoppers but is close to wealthy areas and in the middle of solidly middle class suburbs. North DeKalb is near Druid Hills and highly gentrified areas, but seems unable to capitalize on this. Toco Hills, a redone 50s strip, which serves much the same area is in much better shape. Northlake serves a solidly middle class area and except for some of the anchors and the food court, it’s in trouble. The big box nearby does better. Luxury Phipps has had vacancy problems and has wound up with a bizarre collection of tenants–Tiffany’s and a big cheesy dental clinic. Atlanta is just a good example of too much homogenized retail, and after years of attracting wealth, it’s losing it even as it adds people.
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Mark
January 11th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
LOL there’s a store named Skillz. XD
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Justin Hill
January 13th, 2009 at 6:33 am
Hey, Jonah, if you want to know why SKILLZ is located at Perimiter Mall, I read somewhere that it is an inner city fashion specialty store.
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Mark
January 15th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Does anyone know when, how, and why the Federal Bake Shop dried up and closed at Perimeter? I grew up in Atlanta, but had moved away. On one of my return visits it was gone! Best I can tell it happened sometime in the mid-80′s I was heartbroken when that happened. I haven’t tasted a bakery like that since. I also got my first dog at the Docktor pet store right outside where Federal Bake Shop used to be…
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Scott
March 6th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Up until the conversion of the original Macy’s to Bloomingdale’s in 2003, there was a large, submerged “pond” water feature on level one just outside the Macy’s, where the corridor leading to Nordstrom began. As I recall, this “pond” was designed to look like a natural water feature, with real rocks and boulders around the periphery, and a “stream” trickling into it, and lush greenery. This feature (no doubt a pain for mall management – I recall signs asking patrons to please NOT throw coins in) was eliminated and the floor paved over just before the conversion to Bloomie’s. I’d guess Bloomie’s made sure this happened – to help faciliate shopper access to the converted store’s first level and cosmetics department. This area now offers table seating – a quieter alternative to the noisy food court.
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Jonathan
July 1st, 2009 at 9:38 am
Atlanta has 3 stores that show up in malls from out of nowhere. Skillz, Know Style, and Trio.
Skillz is super tacky, with god-awful hip-hop clothing that is SO out of place in Perimeter Mall. I just noticed that they’ve popped into Mall of Georgia too. Horrible.
Trio shows up in every metro mall. They’ve shown up in Lenox, Phipps, Perimeter, North Point, Town Center at Cobb, etc. They sell handbags. Don’t ever try to call one of their stores – the number is always disconnected. I think they come in and take over the leases of stores that have recently closed and serve the remainder of the term. They jump around all the time, even within the same mall. Strange. No website either.
Know Style is a womens clothing store. I have no idea who owns them, but they also pop up in every metro mall. They popped up in Lenox one time on the main corridor and everyone in the Atlanta retail community caused a stink about it. How could Simon lease such a high-profile (former Ralph Lauren) store to a cheesy local retailer? They soon closed.
Skillz is the worst though. The fact that they are in Perimeter is frustrating.
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Leroy
August 4th, 2010 at 12:24 am
It’s funny how people think of Atlanta (a tiny city of only 500 thousand in the proper) as some sort of major city it’s “upscale” indeed. I can see the “wealthier” residents dining in Buckhead in their flip flops and Nascar caps! Hahahahahaahhaha! =)
Hicksville, USA. The little Hannah, ‘upscale’ redneck trailer trash fad of recent years is coming to an end. Having a low end BMW/Mercedes and taking coffee at Starbucks isn’t going to erase the Hick in you and the horrible history of the south. In the world’s eyes Atlanta is trash right along with that poorly made comedy News show based their,
heehehehhehehehee
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