Category: Arkansas

It’s rare that we encounter a shopping mall in such a terrible condition as this one.  We were headed south in March 2008 and enroute we discovered the gem of Phoenix Village Mall.  Opened in 1970, Phoenix Village Mall was not only the first mall in Fort Smith but also the first in all of Arkansas.  Unfortunately, though, after several decades of co-existence with Fort Smith’s other mall, Central Mall, Phoenix Village has died a slow, protracted death and is currently waiting for its date with the wrecking ball.

Fort Smith is a regional manufacturing center, transportation hub, and anchor city of a large area of west-central Arkansas and east-central Oklahoma.  With a population of 80,000 and almost 300,000 in its trade area, Fort Smith is the largest blip on the radar between Little Rock and Oklahoma City.

Most of Fort Smith’s current retail scene is along the Rogers Avenue/AR 22 corridor, home to many strip malls, box stores, and chain restaurants as well as Fort Smith’s current successful mall, Central Mall.  However, a secondary retail strip exists on the south side of town along Towson Avenue, and at the intersection of Towson and Phoenix lies the nearly-defunct Phoenix Village Mall.

Phoenix Village Mall’s history dates back as far as the late 1950s, when local developer Jewel Morris began looking for a site to consolidate his two furniture stores.  He settled on a site on the northwest corner of Towson and Phoenix and purchased the land from a “General Store” owner who was puzzled why anyone would want to locate a store so far from downtown.  By the 1960s, another developer, Howard Gentry signed on, and the two worked to develop a 100,000 square-foot center for the growing suburban population.  This center opened in 1961 anchored by TG&Y discount store and a Piggly Wiggly supermarket.

The center proved a success, so Morris and Gentry decided to expand and purchased 35 adjoining acres to the site, which more than quadrupled its footprint.  During the process, 35 houses were relocated to nearby Pocola, Oklahoma. They proposed a suburban outdoor “Village” concept, which consisted of a U-shaped set of buildings, but quickly discovered that they could be even more daring and scrapped those plans.  Instead, they set out to build the state of Arkansas’ first enclosed mall. 

In 1969, the first anchor store opened at the new Phoenix Village Mall, a Woolco store.  The mall itself opened in 1970, and throughout the 1970s the mall had Beall Ladymon, two local department stores (Hunt’s and Greg’s) as well as Hancock Fabrics.  In 1979, Woolco closed and was replaced with Venture, and in 1980 an expansion to the mall added 139,000 square feet, bringing the total size of the mall to 489,000 square feet.  Meanwhile, the 864,000 square foot Central Mall opened three miles away, yet interestingly both malls would compete head-to-head for nearly three decades.

Phoenix Village Mall continued to be successful into the 1980s, until 1987 when a deal was struck to sell the mall to an out of state investor.  The deal was to close on Black Monday, the day the stock market crashed, and the next day the sale fell through.  In addition to that problem, the bank that Morris and Gentry used to finance the project called in their loan and forced them to go into Chapter 11 bankruptcy until they could secure a buyer.  They lined up a buyer, but the buyer’s financing fell through as well, and the bank foreclosed.  Before the buyer’s financing fell through, the buyer began encouraging stores in the mall to leave because they announced plans to tear down the mall for redevelopment.  Even though the buyer ultimately went away, the damage had been done, and the mall was left with a high vacancy rate into the 1990s.

In the early 1990s, original owners Morris and Gentry once again were able to assume ownership of the mall and reinvigorate it to 92% occupancy.  This success sailed on for several years, until the mall’s age and ultimately, competition, sealed its fate as a dead mall.  In 1998, the mall’s main anchor, Venture, went out of business and liquidated all stores, leaving a gaping wound on the south end of Phoenix Village Mall.  Stores began to defect, and in 2004 the partnership attempted to unload the mall again, and this time there were talks of wooing popular tenant Target to the site.  However, financing fell through again and in November 2005 the bank foreclosed once again and the local partnership lost the mall once again, this time probably for good. 

Meanwhile, in 1999 Central Mall embarked on a redesign which repositioned it as not only the best mall in Fort Smith, but the anchor to Fort Smith’s main shopping corridor which extends east of Central Mall along Rogers Avenue.

2005 also saw the rapid departure of 30 some stores, as the mall emptied out rapidly amid rumors of redevelopment and its current state of disrepair.  A spring storm damaged the mall’s roof and it was not repaired; pools of water now collect in the cavernous, unrenovated interior.  As of 2006, the only tenants left in the mall were a non-profit religious group, two surgery centers, a bank, and a barber shop.  All of these have outdoor access, except for the barber shop which is just inside one of the mall entrances.    

We visited Phoenix Village Mall in March 2008 and were amazed at the state of disrepair.  It appeared the mall was being prepped for demolition, as many of the interior corridors had been stripped of their flooring and some fixtures were also visibly altered.  We gained access to the mall at the only unlocked entrance, which we quickly learned was only meant to access the barber shop and the bank.  There is also intact signage from the Venture store, which closed in 1998.  Beyond these businesses, the corridor was blocked by yellow tape indicating the mall was closed.  We attempted to take a few pictures, and even “go around” the tape, but the “friendly” man working in the barber shop appeared and promptly kicked us out even after we requested politely to take a few pictures for this site.  Sad.  So, although we apologize for the dearth of interior pictures on this page, there are a few more featured on flickr.  As usual, let us know what you think. 

  

  

  

  

 

 

 

 

Over the years we’ve spent a great deal of time investigating why malls die.  We’ve found a great number of reasons, and one of the most popular of these has been competition.  We hate to sound general, but it’s happened all over the place, and probably close to you too.  The newer, shinier mall (replace ‘mall’ with ‘Lifestyle Center’ or ‘Big Box Power Center’ or whatever, same difference) becomes instantly popular and leaves the smaller, older center by the wayside.  However, this process usually takes a while, typically at least several years if not longer before total dominance is shifted from one retail center/area to another, and the losing mall finally gives up and meets Mr. Bulldozer.  However, that’s not necessarily the case here. What we’re about to investigate is rather unique, in that the dominance of one center shifted to another instantaneously; as one shiny new mall opened, the older, smaller mall was immediately abandoned, seemingly overnight.

First, a bit about the area.  With just about 60,000 residents and over 150,000 in the metropolitan area, Jonesboro, Arkansas is the regional anchor city for the northeast part of the state.  Jonesboro is, however, culturally and economically linked to the larger metropolis of Memphis, Tennessee, about 70 miles to the south.  That said, Jonesboro does enjoy a degree of autonomy, being the seat of local government as well as for having Arkansas State University, and being a regional center for agriculture and trade.

Most of the typical Big Box strip malls, chain restaurants, and businesses in general in Jonesboro are located in the southeast part of town along Highland Dr, S. Caraway Rd., and Stadium Blvd.  Indian Mall, named after the University mascot, is located in this area, and opened here in the late 1960s featuring Blass, TG&Y, Sears, and a supermarket.  Blass became Dillards, TG&Y closed in the 1980s and Dillards used its mall-fronting space for an expansion, and the supermarket closed and was converted to a food court.  Also, in 1976, JCPenney attached itself to the small 300,000 square-foot center, adding a stub wing onto the north end.  Indian Mall’s decor was relatively unchanged throughout its four-decade lifespan, which is neat for us mall historians, but don’t look for it being around too much longer. 

By the mid-1990s, Jonesboro’s population had doubled since the 1960s debut of Indian Mall and, as the commercial center of all of Northeast Arkansas, could definitely support a larger and more modern mall.  The small Indian Mall chugged along into the 1990s, when its owner, Warmack & Company, proposed building a new mall just to the east of Indian Mall along Highland Dr. at Stadium Blvd.  Under the plans, Indian Mall was to have been changed into a Big Box or mixed-use retail center.  The new mall even got a name, Southern Hills Mall, and land was set aside for the development.  Unfortunately, though, due to a myriad of reasons it never materialized, and a competing mall developer stepped in to take the reigns and build Jonesboro a new center. 

David Hocker & Associates was the competing developer’s name, and offered up plans which did materialize in 2006 in the form of The Mall at Turtle Creek.  The new 750,000 square-foot center opened, and took with it most of Indian Mall’s stores.  JCPenney and Dillards had brand new digs there, and almost overnight many of Indian Mall’s remaining in-line stores seemingly packed up and moved down the street.  Almost immediately, Indian Mall was left completely vacant, except for Sears and Dillard’s Clearance Center. So, after nearly four decades in operation, the Indian Mall was felled in one swoop.  And, because its owner’s development wasn’t selected to become the new mall, Indian Mall sits there like a deer in headlights.  As of Summer 2007 the mall is technically open, but only functions as a corridor for mall walking and to get between the two remaining anchors.  Nothing else remains at Indian Mall and it’s only a matter of time before the property is redeveloped, and the mall’s website recently went down forever. 

The photos here were taken in June 2007.  Feel free to add your own thoughts or anecdotes and be sure to check out the Mall at Turtle Creek posting as well.  We felt they stood better together chronologically yet as separate posts.   

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

While we may not be able to represent all 50 states in 2007, contributor Michael Lisicky is helping inch us along with this dead mall, the University Mall in Little Rock, Arkansas:

I am not from Little Rock. I have never been to Little Rock. But recently I flew to Little Rock, just for the day, to check out the retail scene. It’s one of the few places in the country that has escaped the homogenization of Macy’s but is also home to one of the country’s few locally-named stores left, MM Cohn. My first stop, and my main stop, was the University Mall on the west side of Little Rock. I am not a historian of the mall. I do know that it was built in 1967 as a predominantly one story mall. The mall was home to a large Penney’s, a Montgomery Ward and a 40,000 square foot MM Cohn. MM Cohn is over 121 years old and, of course, no longer run by the founder’s family. (More on that later.) In 1972, Cohn’s added a second level bringing it to 86,000 square feet. The mall was constantly in battle with its neighbor the Park Plaza Mall. That mall was built in 1965 was anchored by Blass, which along with Pfeifer’s, was taken over by Mr. Dillard. (Blass became Pfeifer-Blass in 1968 and then all stores just became Dillard’s. Its downtown store lasted
until 1990, quite a feat for a chain that has hated downtown locations. Oops I’m off on a tangent again.)

Back to University Mall. Over the years the two malls were built and rebuilt over and over again, each fighting for dominance. University added a second story and parking garage, Park Plaza basically just started all over again and then added a roof. By the late 90s it became clear who won the battle, Park Plaza. Stores began to leave, crime rose. In 2001 Montgomery Ward shut its stores, along with their stores everywhere else, and the mall became emptier, MM Cohn closed its second level. The decay continued. Stories about a new mall to open in Little Rock’s western side began to emerge and that fueled the debate of what to do with University Mall.

University Mall is run by the major mall developer, Simon. What is left of the mall? Well not much. According to a Penney’s worker the mall is just waiting for its stores’ leases to end. Penney’s is leaving but probably not until November. The worker said the mall is to be “condemned and razed”. There is no other answer. What is left, besides Franke’s Cafeteria, and the signature tent roof, is MM Cohn.

What is left of MM Cohn? What is left of the store that was once compared to Neiman-Marcus and Nordstrom? What is left of the store that was the premiere store of not only Little Rock but Memphis and Oklahoma City? Very little. The store is, as others have mentioned, like an indoor yard sale. It’s a mess. The merchandise is low end and uneven. The store has a strong odor. It’s the type of place that your grandmother would shop in. But at the same time I love MM Cohn! I love its logo and its heritage and history. Unfortunately the store is as dead as the mall. Its parent company, Dunlaps, is rumored to be in trouble. Dunlaps has been the kiss of death for many of its
acquisitions and though it has kept some of its local names it also killed names like Porteous and Heironimus. They both died a painful death and so is MM Cohn. The mall hasn’t helped.

Cohn’s abandoned downtown store, closed in 1989 after Dunlaps took it over, sits there waiting to reopen. The McCain Mall store in North Little Rock is small and yes, smells. Its Searcy, AR store 45 minutes from the city is no bigger than a Big Lots. But I have comfort that it is still there and that its logo and name still exist. It’s why I fell in love with department stores. But soon Cohn’s will be just a distant memory. A memory with a rich proud history.

So here’s to University Mall. The end is near. The end is near for many malls but at least with just 20 stores under its belt University Mall let me see a Little Rock legend, even as it prepares to go to sleep.

 

UPDATE July 2007: Sadly, MM Cohn is currently liquidating all merchandise and going out of business at all locations, including at University Mall.  Also, we’ve attached a photo of downtown Little Rock featuring the retail scene there circa 1958 courtesy David Aldrich and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.  Enjoy!