Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Signal Hill Mall, Statesville, North Carolina. Postcard, late 1970s. (courtesy Pat Richardson)

Signal Hill Mall, Statesville, North Carolina. Main entrance, October 10, 2009. (photo by cantnot)

Signal Hill Mall, Statesville, North Carolina. Parking lot between Sears (former Woolworth & Hills) and JCPenney, October 10, 2009. (photo by cantnot)

Signal Hill Mall, Statesville, North Carolina. Former Winn-Dixie, October 10, 2009. (photo by cantnot)

14 comments:

  1. I can see Belk and Woolworth, but what's the other store? And what's Woolworth now?

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  2. Woolworth is Sears now.

    At the back is a JCPenney and a big empty storefront (heck, a third of them are empty now) that used to be Peebles.

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  3. Wow...never knew this mall existed. I always figured Statesville had to have its own shopping area, but didn't know it was an enclosed mall. Next time I'm up there I'll have to visit.

    Is it just me, or is that the biggest Woolworth ever? Maybe I just didn't see enough of them when they were still around to make a good comparison...

    Has anything taken the place of the Winn-Dixie? Looking at the satellite photos, the parking lot there looks pretty bare, so I'm guessing no. Was this one of the ones that closed in 2004-2005?

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  4. Jake: As Anonymous said, Woolworth is Sears now, and JCPenney and the old Peebles (formerly Spainhour) are at the back of the mall.

    Anonymous: Thanks for the info.

    Matt: Woolworth built several large suburban locations in the '70s. They were not as large as sister chain Woolco, but at 60,000 square feet or so, they were double the size of typical Woolworth stores.

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  5. Matt: I don't know anything about the Winn-Dixie. It looks like it was a very small store, and likely was replaced in the '80s.

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  6. Wowee, you've got to love this one! Nice example of a larger Woolworth's, and the Winn-Dixie is great too.

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  7. Somewhere along the line the Winn-Dixie moved to a shopping center across the street but it closed down a year or so ago. A new Food Lion just opened in it's place.

    The parking lot is pretty much always bare. The mall is dying store-by-store. The rumor for years has been that the whole thing is going to be torn down and rebuilt as a two-story affair.

    No word on how true that is but whoever owns the mall sure doesn't seem to be making any effort to keep the stores that are left there or fill up the empty spaces.

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  8. Jumping on the postcard bandwagon! :)
    Without Keith anymore, who else can we count on?
    This is a great postcard. The area looks so pretty. Wonder what it looks like now?
    Scott

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  9. does this mall even have a website? I searched for one but came up empty handed :-(

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  10. Dave: I agree. It's almost an idealized Southern mall of the era. Beautiful.

    Anonymous 1: Thanks for the additional detail. The proximity of this mall to Charlotte's Birkdale Village and Northlake Mall can't be helping it. A twenty-minute drive provides for much more solid shopping.

    Scott: No clue what the site looks like today. I haven't been to Statesville in years.

    I don't usually post postcards, but this one really spoke to me. It's still not like Malls of America, because Keith's collection was incredible, or yours at BIGMallRat, because yours is very comprehensive.

    I really miss Keith's site, but everybody goes through droughts. I know I have. I just hope he'll get back to us someday.

    Anonymous 2: Nope. No website. Very sad.

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  11. the word is the management of the mall or the owner, has no plans to lease the empty spaces in the future. the latest store closing there was a place called Memory Lane which was down near Belks.

    The three longest sitting empty spaces are the old shoe store that was across from Pennys, the old Peebles (formerly Spainhours) next to Pennys, and the old Pet Pros that sits next to Sears.

    If my memory is correct, there are now 13 or so empty store spaces since I was there back in the summer.

    They wont rebuild there. the news is they going to build a big new shopping mall off exit 45.

    Statesville mall owner, who are you and what is your plans for the eyesore of our city?

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  12. They're probably planning to let the mall go under and sell the land to another developer.

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  13. C&J Associates and Burr Collier are the owners of the mall. There is now a website for the mall, even though it is pretty ugly and hasn't been kept up to date. To keep all of you up to date with what's happening at the mall, Sears closed in April 2012 and J.C. Penny is closing by April 8 of this year, leaving Belk as the sole anchor of the mall. I have heard from some of the associates at both Belk and J.C. Penny that the developer is considering closing down the mall, though I don't know if this is true or not.

    JC Penny Article: http://www.statesville.com/news/j-c-penney-will-close-statesville-store-april/article_d301f098-97b0-11e4-abf7-470a37340280.html?mode=jqm

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