Harding Mall; Nashville, Tennessee
Howdy, folks. It’s been a while. Due to school, work, and a little R&R (not to mention some content generation for this website) on the east coast this past week we’ve been a bit busy. Though fear not, we’ll churn up more interesting stuff for you to ponder well into the future.
Like the former Harding Mall in Nashville, Tennessee.
Opened in the 1960s, the 300,000 square foot Harding Mall was a small enclosed center featuring one major anchor and one junior anchor on the south side of Nashville. In later years the major anchor was Dillards and the junior anchor was Marshalls, but we’re sure history dictated some changes here and there and that wasn’t always the case. Over time, Harding Mall became eclipsed by larger, super-regional malls also in south Nashville like Hickory Hollow, The Mall at Green Hills, and Cool Springs Galleria. All of the aforementioned are still moderately or extremely successful today, and draw shoppers from all over central Tennessee. Harding Mall’s fate was sealed by this competition; it closed in 2005 and was promptly demolished following a few unsuccessful years repositioned with tenants catering to the spanish-speaking market. By Summer 2006 it was replaced by a shiny new Wal-Mart Supercenter. Not shocking, not even a unique situation, but a bit sad nonetheless.
Harding Mall scored design points for its general shape and decorative accoutrements. The mall space itself wrapped around the large Dillards anchor on three sides, creating a C-shape. Marshalls hung off to one end, and a cool backlit fountain was somewhere near the middle of the mall. The rest of the center was somewhat dated as well, and the logo is pretty neat too.
We visited in May 2001 during the mall’s major downswing, and at a time when smaller, ancillary enclosed malls began to fall out of favor in lieu of larger behemoths like the others nearby. Check out the pictures of the mall while it was still around below, and also take a look at some demolition photos posted here. And, feel free to share a few of your own memories and opinions as well.
on March 23rd, 2007 at 8:50 pm
The Dillard’s was originally Castner Knott, that much I can tell you.
on March 24th, 2007 at 3:22 am
Castner-Knott was part of Mercantile, which was purchased by Dillard. I’m surprised this store became a Dillard–they already were in the market, having purchased Cain-Sloan, the more upscale Nashville store in the 80s. Dillard didn’t do that well with Cain-Sloan, and Caster’s was the sentimental local favorite, although it operated less complete (no furniture), more downscale stores. I think the junior anchor was a variety store–probably not Woolworth’s, which was a short distance away at 100 Oaks. there may have been a supermarket there in the beginning, as well. probably a Kroger–HG Hill was across the street and the mall probably predates Winn-Dixie’s unsuccessful entry into the market. The mall had a very popular Walgreen’s.
There used to be dark, dirty neglected K-Mart across the street. In 1990, it looked like it hadn’t been touched in 20-25 years.
15 years ago, the clientele was mostly white and solidly middle class. The surrounding area, known as Paragon Mills was one of the few truly racially integrated areas of Nashville. A that time, the Latino community was tiny and concentrated near St. Patrick’s Church on the near South Side of Atlanta, an area that also was showing signs of gentrification. The mall did a fair business, but already seemed anachronistic. The real competitor here would have been Hickory Hollow, further South, a huge but very generic complex. Green Hills draws a totally different demographic, ditto Cool Springs. Green Hills has been around since at least the 60s, Hickory Hollow since the 80s. My guess is that the demographic changes in South Nashville, and the general weakness of small secondary malls like this accounted for its death. In addition, this area of Nashville never attracted the kind of growth one that’s happened in what’s considered “West Nashville” or Franklin County, which are both more affluent. .
on March 24th, 2007 at 3:27 am
The junior anchor was a Marshall’s for awhile.
on March 24th, 2007 at 11:36 pm
Walgreens became Supercuts and other stores, before it was torn down. Marshalls - now keep in mind this is just speculation - may have been Kresge, or maybe Rose’s?
on March 26th, 2007 at 10:42 pm
Figures that there’d be several updates since I last checked this site, due to how busy I’ve been with school.
Anyway, what store was in what looks like a 3rd anchor space for this mall on the upper-right hand corner of the store directory pic? I’m betting there used to be probably some long-gone anchor that was in that space at one time….
Really love the pics of this mall, too! (and particularly the fact that a lot of neon was still present in the mall, even around the time of its closure, and visible in the demolition pics taken about 11/2-2 years ago) It’s too bad malls with more personality(like this one) seem to not be more common, since the bigger super-regional or regional malls often have sadly killed off these smaller malls(such as Harding) that had real character of their own.
on March 26th, 2007 at 11:26 pm
The store in the upper right was actually a movie theater. It was a 6-plex discount theater. I used to go there when I was in college. I didn’t like it because it seemed “ghetto” but it was cheap!
Also the Luby’s cafeteria was the best there. Much better than their location at Cool Springs…the food seemed simpler, not as fancy.
on April 10th, 2007 at 6:29 am
These pictures and the article really brings me back. I remember when the chinese restaurant Wok Inc. was located at 100 Oaks and then moved to Harding Mall. I used to eat there all the time, both at 100 Oaks and Harding Mall. I have many fond childhood memories of both malls. I’m looking for pictures of 100 Oaks (and Harding Mall) from the 1980s. I wish I would have taken some pictures of 1980s 100 Oaks. If anyone has any, I would love to see them.
—
nfsmusic.blogspot.com
spawntheshell@gmail.com
on April 10th, 2007 at 6:32 am
These unique pics and the article really brings me back. I remember when the chinese restaurant Wok Inc. was located at 100 Oaks and then moved to Harding Mall. I used to eat there all the time, both at 100 Oaks and Harding Mall. I have many fond childhood memories of both malls. I’m looking for pictures of 100 Oaks (and Harding Mall) from the 1980s. I wish I would have taken some pictures of 1980s 100 Oaks. If anyone has any, I would love to see them.
—
nfsmusic.blogspot.com
spawntheshell@gmail.com
on August 3rd, 2007 at 11:46 pm
The junior anchor at Harding Mall in the 70’s was Murphy’s. It became a Marshall’s in the 90’s, but it was some sort of Service Merchandise store in the 80s. There was also a cool movie theater there called the Capri Twin. It became a second-run dollar theater in the mid-80’s. The other minor anchor was a grocery store. I believe it was called Big Star. The Castner-Knott added a second story and the mall went through a renovation in the late 80’s. The Capri was replaced with a larger Carmike Cinema at the location vacated by the grocery. My favorite memory of Harding Mall, though, was the Karmelkorn store on the center court. It made the entire mall smell like caramel and butter. Good times.
on August 17th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
Totally groovy!
a) Who owned this mall?
b) A list of stores, please?
c) When was it renovated, if whenever?
on August 17th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
I have an account on Storetrax so I’ll answer your questions:
a. Mission Property Company owned the mall, at least in its last days.
b. The storetax map lists these stores:
Stitchin’ Post
Framin Shop
Adullam Church
RJS Fashions
Harding Mall Health Foods
Mr. Gatti’s
The Good Wok
GQ Menswear
Treasures
Hollywood Nails
Foot Locker
Nino’s
A.F. Jewelers
Kebab Gyro Greek Restaurant
Harding Mall Lock & Key
Luby’s Cafeteria
Nicholas’ Tailor Shop
Visions Hair Salon
Obo’s Cafe
Marshalls
Davis Furniture
Jewels & Gold
Gifts Galore
Alpha School of Massage
Rack Room Shoes
Dillard’s Hair and Nail
Athlete’s Foot
Subway
Super Cuts
Mattress Firm
AmSouth Bank
Baskin Robbins
Pro Health Clinic
Mail Boxes Etc.
Dillard’s
c. Never, apparently.
on August 17th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
For those who are curious, the GC Murphy was indeed Service Merchandise before it was Marshalls. According to Google News archives, Marshalls opened in 1983. I’ll whip up a map.
on August 17th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
Here you go: http://www.angelfire.com/mi4/forgottenmi/harding.jpg
on August 17th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
Thanks!
a) Did the Firestone have an interior mall entrance?
b) Any information on the “unsuccessful years” with the Spanish tenants?
on August 17th, 2007 at 4:56 pm
I don’t know — I’ve only been in Tennessee once, so I’ve never been to this mall. The information I got was from Google News, Storetrax and other websites.
on October 20th, 2007 at 1:42 am
Wow! Thanks for stirring up some REALLY old memories! I remember this mall from my years in Nashville when I was a student at Vanderbilt in the late 1970s to early 1980s. This was a nice, well-kept little mall. I remember the unusual design with the anchor store,Castner-Knott, right in the middle.
However, this mall seemed to get very little attention from most of the college students I knew. At that time, 100 Oaks, which was pretty close to Harding Mall, was still thriving. But the biggest shoppping venue (at least for those students who had cars, or could bum rides off friends who did) was Hickory Hollow, which had just opened.
Also, Rivergate, to the north on I-65, was a large, popular, and very nice shopping destination. When I returned to Nashville for a reunion in 2000, I drove around town a little to see how things had changed. It was sad to see that Harding Mall was apparently on its last gasp. And I was shocked at how Hickory Hollow, which had been so beautiful and new when I was a student, was now incedibly run-down and seedy. As for Rivergate, I haven’t seen it 25 years, so I don’t know if it’s as nice as it once was–or even if it’s still in existence.
Thanks for this great website–keep up the great work!
on March 22nd, 2008 at 12:28 pm
From around 1976 or so, I remember Harding Mall having Bookworld, Radio Shack (directly next to Castner Knott), Port-O-Call records and tape, a rare coin/stamp shoppe with baseball cards coming later, Walgreens with a restaurant grille, G.C. Murphy Variety (east wing accross from Capri Theatre), and Irelands restaurant (accross from Walgreen). I also remember the smell of popcorn and getting Icees at Karmelkorn. About that period, my dad bought a shortwave receiver at RS—I also remember seeing the cool color light organs (very popular during the disco years) RS had for sale. These color organs would respond to audio beat from the stereo system–looked cool in the eyes of a child.
Marshalls came in towards the mid 80’s (83 sounds right). The health food store was there as long as I could remember to the time the mall closed for good. I don’t remember Big Star grocery, but there was a cloth world fabric store where the larger carmike was–never went in there.
Of note, HM mall received major alterations toward the close of the 80’s (removed plastic tublular benches and replaced to what you see in the pictures), interior lighting, and added stores in the interior connectors (as shown in the section with Sam Goody and Family Christian Stores). Other alterations were done around 1992 with the exterior and ingress/egress, parking lot lighting, repainting of the Castners Signage and so forth. About that time the mall picked up secondary tenants and more ethnic related clothing stores; though its renaissance was short lived.
A poscript: I have read (either in Nashville Tennesseean or Nashville Scene) where HM was the first completely enclosed shopping center (though called a mall) in Tennessee. 100 Oaks is commonly credited for being Nashville’s first regional mall. Opening year of 100 Oaks would be 1967 (though one source states 1968?).
I have seen three dates of HM opening: 1963, 1966, and 1969. My friend Mike (who lived in Naahville then) told me 1969 was the year Capri theatre opened. He first remembers going to the mall when it was new when he was eight, which would be 1966. A newspaper clipping that I remember seeing when they announced closing a couple of years ago gave a 1963 date for opening (not sure if it was Tennesseean or Scene papers).
on April 24th, 2008 at 11:54 am
The Capri Twin opened March 26, 1969 at Harding Mall and “The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit” was the first movie. It was a single screen theatre until it was twinned at some point between July 1978 and July 1979.
on April 29th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Wow, I stumbled upon this website by accident trying to google Irelands Resturant. I lived off of Paragon Mills Road and remember at the age of eight, taking my little red wagon around the mall as it was being built to gather cola bottles that I returned to the 7-11 that was nearby. All the construction workers had me covered. I grew up with this Mall until I moved from Nashville in 1989. Port-of-Call was our favorite record and “head shop”. I’m really missing it. Seven Mile Creek ran right behind it.
on May 13th, 2008 at 1:49 am
I remember seeing Jaws 3-D at the Martin, and playing the Scramble machine in the lobby, while we waited for everyone to get food. But I just remember the theater, itself being really nasty. And small..It was the first movie I saw upon moving to Nashville. From then on, we went the extra few miles down the road to the Cinema South, until the Carmike Brentwood Three opened up.
And I think the Baskin-Robbins was the only store to survive from the malls birth, to it’s death.