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Friendly Center & The Shops at Friendly


StevenRocks

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there was once a plan a number of years ago to convert Friendly Center into an enclosed shopping mall but I guess it was just too expensive. I like it the way it is. Its kinda unique because alot of cities don't have open air malls and when the weather is good its great to be outdoors.

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there was once a plan a number of years ago to convert Friendly Center into an enclosed shopping mall but I guess it was just too expensive. I like it the way it is. Its kinda unique because alot of cities don't have open air malls and when the weather is good its great to be outdoors.

Yeah. I was there yesterday... we walked from store to store... we've got Four Seasons, we don't need Friendly Center to be enclosed, especially on a day as nice as yesterday

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Friendly Center in about 1966:

friendly1967.jpg

The block to the left (where Thalhimer's, which later became Hecht's, was originally located) is the only original 1957 store block still standing. The Colonial/Belk/Woolwoth's block facing it, also original, was demolished in the early 1990s to build the new Belk store.

The K&W and Paul Rose blocks date from the early 1960s and are still there, although they've been significantly altered and expanded. The Winn-Dixie site is about where Eckerd is now, at the end of the new block of stores which features Barnes & Noble. This was also slightly before the construction of the Terrace Theatre.

Photo is from the 1967 Greensboro City Directory. I added the captions.

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Friendly Center in about 1966:

friendly1967.jpg

The block to the left (where Thalhimer's, which later became Hecht's, was originally located) is the only original 1957 store block still standing. The Colonial/Belk/Woolwoth's block facing it, also original, was demolished in the early 1990s to build the new Belk store.

The K&W and Paul Rose blocks date from the early 1960s and are still there, although they've been significantly altered and expanded. The Winn-Dixie site is about where Eckerd is now, at the end of the new block of stores which features Barnes & Noble. This was also slightly before the construction of the Terrace Theatre.

Photo is from the 1967 Greensboro City Directory. I added the captions.

Another awesome photo. I didn't know that Thalhimers (Ellis-Stone) was facing Friendly originally. I also didn't realize Paul Rose was as massive-looking as it was. It looks bigger than Belk in this photo.
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I didn't know that Thalhimers (Ellis-Stone) was facing Friendly originally. I also didn't realize Paul Rose was as massive-looking as it was. It looks bigger than Belk in this photo.

Paul Rose actually was considerably bigger than the old Belk store. Belk was maybe 25K-30K square feet at most, and was originally one floor with a mezzanine. They completed the second floor in the early 1970s.

The Thalhimer's was actually an Ellis Stone for its first few years, as was the downtown GSO store. The shopping center branches were pretty much the size of a Limited and carried nothing but womens' clothing and accessories. There was a similar one at Summit Shopping Center too. When Thalhimer's moved to the current location about 1970, it also only had one level; the second floor was added 5-10 years later, and then it was expanded again several years later to the current size.

Friendly Center was part of that first wave of shoping centers where the department stores were never really designed to compete with the downtown stores. They were more the convenience store equivalent of a department store. Ivey's used to have several locations like that in Charlotte too; the tiny one at Cotswold even lasted until the Dillard's buyout, I think.

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Thanks for all the additional historica ifo. I knew some of those tyhings but I didn't know the details.

Belk Friendly Center's old store as I remember it was after the expansion. It had a definate '70s vibe, but I knew the store was part of the original mall from pictures and things I read. By the time it closed, it had become very outmoded, and belk was losing a lot of sales to Hecht's because the store was so small it couldn't carry much.

Speaking of the small Ellis-Stone/Thalhimers branches, they were Thalhimers primary suburban expansion vehicle for many years. Not only did Friendly and Summit (currently CitiTrends?) have the small stores, so did Four Seasons. Thruway and Parkway Plaza had them in Winston-Salem, as well as Hanes Mall.

The current Hecht's Friendly Center building was built in 1967 as Thalhimers. I think the expansion to the second floor occoured sometime after 1980, because the escalators and upstairs ceilings are very Carter Hawley Hale, which owned Thalhimers at the time. The last expansion was in 1997, after they changed over to Hecht's.

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Friendly Center in about 1966:

friendly1967.jpg

The block to the left (where Thalhimer's, which later became Hecht's, was originally located) is the only original 1957 store block still standing. The Colonial/Belk/Woolwoth's block facing it, also original, was demolished in the early 1990s to build the new Belk store.

The K&W and Paul Rose blocks date from the early 1960s and are still there, although they've been significantly altered and expanded. The Winn-Dixie site is about where Eckerd is now, at the end of the new block of stores which features Barnes & Noble. This was also slightly before the construction of the Terrace Theatre.

Photo is from the 1967 Greensboro City Directory. I added the captions.

wow, that's amazing you found that photo!

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wow. I see the old K&W is where Eckerd and Old Navy is today. K&W was moved further west. Its interesting to see how the stores and restaurants have shifted over time throughout the shopping center.

Actually, Eckerd is where the old Winn-Dixie was. I caan't remember what's in the old K&W now; it's just to the north of Hecht's, right across the "street". The vacant lot between Woolwroth's and the K&W in the photo is now Hecht's.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I wonder if this development will be the end of Friendly Shopping Center expansions? Since it's opening in 1959, it has continued to expand, etc. Doesn't seem like there is anywhere else it could go as it is landlocked by suburbia, Green Valley Office Park, and the hospital. Any thoughts?

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Good one! :rofl:

Well you never know, Wal-Mart might want to have some of that residential land rezoned so they can join in all the Friendly Center Chaos.... hmm...

::flees:: ;)

Residential development on Friendly Center property would be awesome.... Greensboro's own "mini"-Midtown? :shades:

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