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Asheville Mall


orulz

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My family moved to Asheville in 1986. From what little I remember, Ivey's and Upton's were among the stores there at the time that are no longer there. At that point, at least one department store was still hanging on downtown (J.C. Penney's - they moved in around 1989 or 1990 when the "Gallery South" addition opened.)

I never saw Bon Marche, but from my understanding, it was a local department store on Haywood Street downtown since the early 20th century. It was housed in the four story building that is now the Haywood Park Hotel, and later (1940s) moved to an art deco building across the street (forget what's there now). I did not realize this store ever had space at the Mall.

When did the Asheville Mall open in the first place? I seem to recall reading that it was around 1979. They would have had a hard time getting much business in their location until 1980, when I-240 opened; the 2-lane tunnel on US70/Tunnel Rd was chronically congested.

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Asheville Mall opened in 1972. It had the same developers as Crabtree Valley Mall: Plaza Associates. Sears is original to the mall, and Ivey's and Upton's were in the former locations of Bon Marche and Meyers-Arnold, respectively. Apparently, Ivey's bought out Bon Marche (which would help explain how Ivey's ended up in Charlottetown Mall, since there's no record of them opening a store from scratch there that I can find, but I digress), and Upton's bought out Meyers-Arnold. Belk was at Asheville Mall in the '70s, but didn't open there until after the mall opened.

Interesting about JCPenney. I figured they were a late entrant into the mall, but I don't think I've ever heard of them still being in Downtown Asheville in the '80s. Didn't Innsbruck Mall have a JCPenney at one point?

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To the best of my recollection, the main anchor (and the only store resembling a department store) at Innsbruck was Brendle's. (As of 1986, anyway.) Innsbruck was already pretty run-down by the late 80's, and all I remember about the actual enclosed portion was lots of dark wood in the decor, a sort of green "astroturf"-like flooring, an escalator that never worked, a Christian bookstore, and the DMV license plate office.

As I recall, until the late 80s or early 90s, J.C. Penney's was in a 2-story building (plus a full basement that also held merchandise) on Battery Park Avenue. I vaguely remember that Penney's was clad in some sort of green stone or tile. That building was torn down about four years ago and the (ugly) 7-story 21 Battery Park condo building erected in its place. There may have been a couple years between when the store downtown closed and the one at the mall opened, I didn't pay close attention to such things at that age. I do remember the first time I walked through the "Gallery South" part of the mall, and marveled at the cool rainbow-colored wavy neon lights on the ceiling (which now look kinda dated)

The building on Battery Park Avenue was apparently not Penney's original location downtown, though they moved well before my family came to town. Previously, they were in a 5- or 6-story building at the corner of Haywood and Walnut (the building is still standing, and has since been converted to condos.)

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I saw the condos in the older Penney's building on the architect's website after you mentioned them. That's a great project. The Battery Park project however sounded a little dull, though I didn't see the pictures of that one.

The newer JCPenney on Battery Park was likely built in the late '50s or early '60s, which would explain both the two floor with basement layout and additionally part of their hesitance to move to a new mall at first. It is however likely that Brendle's was not an original anchor at Innsbruck. That doesn't mean that Penney's was there, but more than likely something else of that general size was. Maybe something like W.T. Grant.

I've also determined through some Google searching that the Bon Marche went out of business downtown in 1979, which means that Ivey's probably bought the chain (or the chain's stores) somewhere in that time period. What's a little puzzling though is that the old Asheville Mall Ivey's, now the Dillard's fashion store, looks a lot like it was built as an Ivey's.

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Didnt know where to talk about this since there isn't an off topic section here. Anyway according to buisness week Asheville is a gem of a buy if your are looking for a house. It came in #9 in the top ten places home prices rose for the first 3 quarter of the year. The cat is out of the bag so to speak about Asheville. Its about time if you ask me. You can find the info here. Here is the link to the slideshow. It has a great skyline shot also...

http://realestate.msn.com/slideshow.aspx?c...mp;imageindex=9. In the short term it seems that Asheville has continued on its steady growth and any retail including mall (lifesyle centers) should do just good. Hey Orulz how about adding an off topic section so I can search the web for great news about Asheville and pass it on to all of NC.

Edited by NcSc74
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Most people who live here already are sick of Asheville landing on these lists, because all it means for us is more rich people moving in and jacking up the cost of living, to the point that those of us who live here is that we become those who lived here, because we can't afford it anymore.

This is why people are vandalizing new subdivision construction sites and heaving bricks through realtors' windows.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Took a while to follow up on the TRC approval of this project, but it looks like Barnes & Noble is moving up to the mall:

Elevation Drawing Showing B&N (pdf file)

It will go in the area where Annabelle's/McGuffey's once occupied between the Belk entrance and a mall entrance. So I guess this means B. Dalton will definitely close. I wonder what will become of that store.

Edited by rooster8
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  • 1 year later...
  • 4 months later...

A friend of mine runs a blog devoted to Southern retail and needs some help with historical information on Asheville's malls for an upcoming series of posts. Specifically he's asking about Asheville Mall and Innsbruck Mall. At Asheville Mall, he wants to know more about a "lost" two-story portion of the mall he remembered from the late '80s that wasn't there when he went back to visit in 2007. At Innsbruck, he has a theory that Montgomery Ward was located there prior to opening in Asheville Mall. But if it wasn't Wards, then what was the mall's other large anchor?

Any assistance you can provide is appreciated and welcome.

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I moved to Asheville in 1986, though I was very young at the time and probably don't have any clear memories until 1988 or so. At that point Innsbruck mall was already rather deserted. Brendle's was the main retail tenant - I don't think Asheville ever had a Montgomery Wards until the one in the Asheville Mall opened sometime in the early/mid 1990s.

As for the lost 2-story section, I remember it too, somewhat. My mom took me shopping with her at the mall pretty often, but there was very little up there on the second floor so we pretty much never went up there. I'm pretty sure it was eliminated at about the same time as the Gallery South addition was built somewhere in the neighborhood of 1990. As I recall, there was practically nothing up there. It was accessible from the second story of some of the department stores like Belk and Ivey's. It wasn't "open" like modern malls are - it had a full floor. This could be my mind playing tricks on me, but I remember that it had a green carpet floor - almost like astroturf (ridiculous, I know.)

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I moved to Asheville in 1986, though I was very young at the time and probably don't have any clear memories until 1988 or so. At that point Innsbruck mall was already rather deserted. Brendle's was the main retail tenant - I don't think Asheville ever had a Montgomery Wards until the one in the Asheville Mall opened sometime in the early/mid 1990s.

As for the lost 2-story section, I remember it too, somewhat. My mom took me shopping with her at the mall pretty often, but there was very little up there on the second floor so we pretty much never went up there. I'm pretty sure it was eliminated at about the same time as the Gallery South addition was built somewhere in the neighborhood of 1990. As I recall, there was practically nothing up there. It was accessible from the second story of some of the department stores like Belk and Ivey's. It wasn't "open" like modern malls are - it had a full floor. This could be my mind playing tricks on me, but I remember that it had a green carpet floor - almost like astroturf (ridiculous, I know.)

Oh, man. Trying to remember that second story at the A-Mall is going to drive me nuts. I do believe there was one and, like Orulz said, that it connected to Ivey's which is the current Dillard's location. I've worked within a few blocks of both malls for nearly 30 years now and, though I'd rather be nibbled to death by ducks than go to either one, I have been around for many changes. Yes, Brendle's was the main tenant in Innsbruck Mall for many years. It took up the entire location that is now Big Lots and Office Depot. After Brendle's closed, they divided the space into two stores. There was not a Montgomery Ward there at all. There was a large cafeteria on the upper level on the northeast end. One of those places with initials for a name, like J&S, but not J&S, best I recall.

As for the A-Mall, I seem to remember escalators being in the hallway area that now goes down alongside Dillard's and to the Gallery South area. There was a Litchfield's restaurant in that area, too. They had great Rueben's, btw. The opening into the Ivey's store was in or adjacent to the kitchen/housewares department. Belk's was never a two-story store until their renovation several years back and the second floor section of the mall didn't connect to that store. The Asheville Mall offices were in the second floor and, it seems, there were a few stores up there. Maybe the cigar shop?

Edited by Lootles
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  • 4 months later...

Oh, man. Trying to remember that second story at the A-Mall is going to drive me nuts. I do believe there was one and, like Orulz said, that it connected to Ivey's which is the current Dillard's location. I've worked within a few blocks of both malls for nearly 30 years now and, though I'd rather be nibbled to death by ducks than go to either one, I have been around for many changes. Yes, Brendle's was the main tenant in Innsbruck Mall for many years. It took up the entire location that is now Big Lots and Office Depot. After Brendle's closed, they divided the space into two stores. There was not a Montgomery Ward there at all. There was a large cafeteria on the upper level on the northeast end. One of those places with initials for a name, like J&S, but not J&S, best I recall.

As for the A-Mall, I seem to remember escalators being in the hallway area that now goes down alongside Dillard's and to the Gallery South area. There was a Litchfield's restaurant in that area, too. They had great Rueben's, btw. The opening into the Ivey's store was in or adjacent to the kitchen/housewares department. Belk's was never a two-story store until their renovation several years back and the second floor section of the mall didn't connect to that store. The Asheville Mall offices were in the second floor and, it seems, there were a few stores up there. Maybe the cigar shop?

I found out quite a bit about Asheville Mall recently. What surprised me was that the back parking deck and old part of the mall were apparently built cheap and have had problems, so the owners have all done a nice job keeping that from being an obvious or dangerous problem. I did notice that the concrete on the back parking deck was quite shall I say old looking...I was a bit stunned about how old it looked considering that part was built in 1989, and the back entrance likewise looked way older than that as well. I also understand that the upper Dillard's was actually completely rebuilt as Montgomery Ward (not original to the mall). It is obvious that somehow they have taken a mall that I understand has been at times unpopular and extremely controversial into the ultimate victor taking down retail downtown, at Innsbruck (whatever it was originally called) and lastly Biltmore Square.

Maybe my memories were completely wrong on the "second level". Apparently the only "second level" was the old upper level dining area of J&S Cafeteria that later became B Dalton with Piccadilly underneath. That would make sense since I remember Piccadilly being on a "lower level". I also understood a second level was planned as well, but was fought hotly. One of those reasons was that apparently that whole entire wing of the mall would need to be rebuilt from scratch to support it. While Asheville Mall did what it had to survive, the reality is that they basically murdered Biltmore Square. While the city obviously did not want a third mall, it seems one mall took over completely on too small of land, but managed to pull it off very successfully. Nevertheless, I quite frankly do not like the sea of parking decks there. Perhaps rebuilding the older mall with the upslope part two levels and downslope part 3 levels might not be such a bad idea. However, I think it should match the original mall in design (skylights, high windows), add some water features and plants and give the mall a true log cabin, mountain feel. I would also demolish the entire 2000 addition to make room for a new three-level Dillard's to tack onto the 1989 addition. The double-Dillard's is odd.

As to Innsbruck...this mall just seems to have gotten the shaft. It is apparently the oldest, but its lack of room to expand except upward and quick crushing by Asheville Mall makes it a miracle it lasted as long as it has. It looks like whatever renovations it has gotten were cheap at best...it still looks like 1965. It took a lot of people posting on my blog about it to get it straight what its anchors were. It was Mason's first, Sky City second and then it was subdivided into Brendle's and Office Depot. Brendle's closed with the chain then Big Lots came much later. Ingles was the other anchor...apparently built before 1970 and closing in 2005. Eckerd was in the mall, but where I'm unsure of. The area does have an obvious crime problem (I saw a store clerk at the replacement Ingles running down a shoplifter), and the actual mall portion has pretty much been relegated to small local businesses not dependent on regular shopping traffic. However, the lower level "strip" portion is largely occupied with some offices or something in the background. It could reasonably be converted to a two-level mall in that area if the need was there, and that portion of the mall is still successful otherwise.

I actually blogged on how this mall could be redeveloped while still holding onto the enclosed mall. It is too bad in that time that instead of creating a ridiculous and monstrous redesign of Asheville Mall that JCPenney and another department store couldn't have just moved in and brought it back. There is an empty anchor pad up front that has never been filled that would have made a decent two-level JCPenney and the disconnected Sky City could have been demolished for a decent two-level department store. As of today, this would make a nice urban renewal project blended with the mall to make it fun. Asheville may have a glut of retail on Tunnel Road, but they do not have everything. I get so sick of how people just "give up" on the first generation malls. Sure some of them are just too bland to remain, but some just strike me as needing inspiration.

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As to Innsbruck...this mall just seems to have gotten the shaft. It is apparently the oldest, but its lack of room to expand except upward and quick crushing by Asheville Mall makes it a miracle it lasted as long as it has. It looks like whatever renovations it has gotten were cheap at best...it still looks like 1965. It took a lot of people posting on my blog about it to get it straight what its anchors were. It was Mason's first, Sky City second and then it was subdivided into Brendle's and Office Depot. Brendle's closed with the chain then Big Lots came much later. Ingles was the other anchor...apparently built before 1970 and closing in 2005. Eckerd was in the mall, but where I'm unsure of. The area does have an obvious crime problem (I saw a store clerk at the replacement Ingles running down a shoplifter), and the actual mall portion has pretty much been relegated to small local businesses not dependent on regular shopping traffic. However, the lower level "strip" portion is largely occupied with some offices or something in the background. It could reasonably be converted to a two-level mall in that area if the need was there, and that portion of the mall is still successful otherwise.

I've worked down the street from Innsbruck since 1980 and can answer some of your questions. Brendle's was in the space currently occupied by Big Lots and Office Depot. It occupied that entire space for a very long time. I don't really remember if they downsized to half the space before closing or not, but I don't recall them and Office Depot being occupants at the same time, side by side. Ingles was (obviously by the outside decor) on the other side across the parking lot from where the new Ingles store is. That space is still vacant. Eckerds was in the space where Anna's Linens is now. The lower strip portion used to have two occupants, one a religious publishing company and there was an underground restaurant. When I moved here it was called The Rathskellar and then was The Windmill, and then the Windmill European Grill. I think it may have been a location of Franks Roman Pizza at some point, too. The restaurant closed a few years back when the mall underwent renovations. The restaurant was owned by the Shastri's, parents of Vijay Shastri - who has the Flying Frog downtown. Vijay worked there as chef as a teenager.

I'm trying to remember what was in the Dollar General Store location before it was DGS. I don't recall Sky City ever being at Innsbruck Mall - but maybe they were before 1980. Also, there was a cafeteria at the eastern end of the second floor of the mall where all the large windows are. It may have been a precursor of J&S. I do remember it had a similar name but which letters exactly, I cannot recall. It was there for a very long time before closing.

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  • 3 weeks later...

While doing a little Google News Archive research I learned that Sears was originally just the first floor with the second being office and warehousing. This article from 1993 seems to indicate that the main impetus was the announcement of Montgomery Ward.

Sears to open major clothing display

Might be old news for some of you, but it's new info for me.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 11 months later...

While doing a little Google News Archive research I learned that Sears was originally just the first floor with the second being office and warehousing. This article from 1993 seems to indicate that the main impetus was the announcement of Montgomery Ward.

Sears to open major clothing display

Might be old news for some of you, but it's new info for me.

Montogomery Ward? Most of them shut down a few years after this (around 1999 or so)

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  • 3 weeks later...

It sort of feels like I'm talking to myself, haha, but Belk is currently in the process of renovating their store. The part of the store to the left of the main entrance on level one is closed off, and to the right is a new, beautiful, huge women's shoe department. The former women's shoe department is closed off for renovations now. The shoe department is huge and space out, and it takes up the entire space from the mall entrance (around Starbucks) to the main entrance, so it's almost an entire quarter of the lower level. It looks the exact same as the women's shoe department at the Haywood Mall, except that the one at the Asheville mall is surprisingly larger. It's so spaced out too!

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I noticed while driving by this weekend that they are remodeling the main entrance facing South Tunnel. I'm guessing this is related to ULTA. I couldn't tell if they are putting an entrance on the outside of the mall or not.

Yes, they are! I noticed that in the Citizen Times two weeks ago. I must admit the exterior of the mall is rather hideous, and the inside is pretty bad as well. I was very happy to see the new tile inside the mall in the Belk/Food Court wing, but then I noticed that they didn't put that in the main areas of the mall, and that was a HUGE mistake. I usually stick around Belk and Abercrombie & Fitch and don't go to the main wing, but when I do it just looks so bad. I think CBL should definitely add tile to the rest of the mall. Another great thing would be to get Old Navy to add an exterior entrance, Also, get rid of those crappy stores Manhattan and GNC (sorry if anyone shops there). GNC could move, but Manhattan needs to go. I think they should replace it with a store unique to Asheville like (Ann Taylor) LOFT, and create an outdoor entrance for them, and renovate the entrances (this way the front will look so much better, and have nice storefronts!). CBL needs to get off of their butts and do something with this mall! I mean I know it's not going anywhere anytime soon, and it will stay successful. However, there are a fairly large amount of people that ditch Asheville and S/Tunnel Road to go to Haywood Mall and The Shops at Greenridge. Seriously though I see WAY more people at the Haywood Mall that I know than at the Asheville mall, and I've been to the Asheville Mall about 3 times as much as Haywood.

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Yes, they are! I noticed that in the Citizen Times two weeks ago. I must admit the exterior of the mall is rather hideous, and the inside is pretty bad as well. I was very happy to see the new tile inside the mall in the Belk/Food Court wing, but then I noticed that they didn't put that in the main areas of the mall, and that was a HUGE mistake. I usually stick around Belk and Abercrombie & Fitch and don't go to the main wing, but when I do it just looks so bad. I think CBL should definitely add tile to the rest of the mall. Another great thing would be to get Old Navy to add an exterior entrance, Also, get rid of those crappy stores Manhattan and GNC (sorry if anyone shops there). GNC could move, but Manhattan needs to go. I think they should replace it with a store unique to Asheville like (Ann Taylor) LOFT, and create an outdoor entrance for them, and renovate the entrances (this way the front will look so much better, and have nice storefronts!). CBL needs to get off of their butts and do something with this mall! I mean I know it's not going anywhere anytime soon, and it will stay successful. However, there are a fairly large amount of people that ditch Asheville and S/Tunnel Road to go to Haywood Mall and The Shops at Greenridge. Seriously though I see WAY more people at the Haywood Mall that I know than at the Asheville mall, and I've been to the Asheville Mall about 3 times as much as Haywood.

I'm honestly hoping that the Asheville Mall having a strange layout, out-of-date appearance, and generally poor construction quality will cause the city's retail center of gravity to shift back towards downtown.

Think about it. Asheville has the best downtown retail scene of any city in North Carolina. If you were, say, Macy's, looking to (finally) locate a store in the Asheville area, what would you do? They could add another anchor space to Asheville Mall, but the mall's very out of date in an already traffic-choked area. Any updates to the mall would pretty much have to be in the vein of "Tear the whole thing down and start over!", which would be painful and cut into their business for years during construction, and who knows when it would happen anyway. Even that wouldn't address the congestion. Or, they could go downtown, where there is already another thriving retail scene.

Wachovia could move elsewhere downtown (Maybe build a new building, wouldn't that be nice!), and then Macy's could renovate the Wachovia Building facing Pritchard Park as their store. Parking, you ask? The Wachovia building already has parking underground, plus the parking deck across the street at Rankin Avenue was designed so that several more levels could be added in the future.

It could work, but then you have to be careful not to kill the goose that laid the golden egg. Part of why downtown is so popular is its weird quirky stores; if mall-style retailers all moved back downtown, what would the impact be on the quirky stores?

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