Top stories
Mall of Georgia
USINFO | 2013-10-30 10:22
| Location | Buford, Georgia, USA |
| Opening date | 1999 |
| Developer | Simon Properties |
| Management | Simon Properties |
| Owner | Simon Properties |
| No. of stores and services | 200+ |
| No. of anchor tenants | 5 |
| Total retail floor area | 1,786,000 sqft (165,900 m2) |
| No. of floors | 3 |
Mall of Georgia is an enclosed super-regional shopping mall located in the Mill Creek District of Gwinnett County, Georgia, near the city of Buford, 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Atlanta. Built in 1999, it is currently the largest shopping mall in the state of Georgia consisting of more than two hundred stores on three levels. The mall's anchor stores include Belk, Dillard's, JCPenney, Macy's, and Nordstrom; other major stores include Barnes & Noble, Dick's Sporting Goods, and Havertys. Also, located in the Mall of Georgia Crossing is Nordstrom Rack, T.J. Maxx, and Target. Also featured in the mall is a large village section, comprising lifestyle tenants and restaurants in an outdoor setting, as well as a 500-seat amphitheater. The mall attracts many high end stores such as Armani Exchange, Swarovski, Clarks, J.Crew, Guess, bebe, and Aveda. Simon Property Group manages the Mall of Georgia.
The Mall of Georgia opened August 13, 1999 featuring Dillard's, JCPenney, Lord & Taylor and Nordstrom as its anchor stores, with Bed Bath & Beyond, Havertys and Galyan's (now Dick's Sporting Goods) as additional mini anchors. The Mall of Georgia also has a 20 Regal Cinema and an IMAX Theater, which is 1 of at least 5 in the State of Georgia; other IMAX theaters are located at Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta, The National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning and Regal Augusta Exchange Stadium 20, AMC Southlake 24 in Morrow & IMAX in Augusta. In 2000, Atlanta-based Rich's was added on, and many more mall stores were added, bringing the total number of stores in the mall to more than 200. Lord & Taylor closed in 2003, and was replaced with Belk in 2005. Following Federated Department Stores' (now Macy's, Inc.) decision to consolidate nameplates 2003, the Rich's store at Mall of Georgia was dual-branded as Rich's-Macy's, and the Rich's name was dropped entirely in 2005.
The statue atop the mall is of Button Gwinnett, one of the first men to sign the United States Declaration of Independence and for whom its location of Gwinnett County is named.
