Savannah Mall - History

History

At opening date, Savannah Mall was expected to finally succeed Savannah's older Oglethorpe Mall. Savannah Mall was considered upscale and had stores exclusive to the market like Abercrombie & Fitch, Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, United Colors of Benetton, The Disney Store, etc. Anchors included Belk, Parisian, and J.B. White. Montgomery Ward opened in 1991 as an alternative to Jordan Marsh, but pulled out of the mall by late 1998 when the company began to struggle. Also that year Dillard's bought J.B. White and renamed the store. Banana Republic closed in 2001 seeing the location was unprofitable and put all focus on its downtown store. Parisian pulled out of the mall in February 2003 and Belk left a few months later. During this time, many stores were leaving the mall and by 2005, there were more than 20 vacancies, with some stores such as Lady Foot Locker and 5-7-9 relocating to Oglethorpe Mall, and others such as Abercrombie & Fitch leaving the Savannah market altogether.

In August 2003, Bass Pro Shops opened in the space vacated by Parisian. This helped boost consumer traffic and keep the mall a regional shopping destination. In 2004, Target opned its first Savannah area stores by replacing the former Belk location with a new 213,735-square-foot (19,856.6 m2) building and occupying the second level. Steve & Barry's opened later that year ending the six year vacancy of Montgomery Ward. In 2006, Burlington Coat Factory opened on the lower level of the building Target had constructed. Many stores were opening inside the mall as well including Pac Sun, Charley's Grilled Subs, and A.C. Moore opened as a junior anchor taking up a large amount of space on the Target wing that had formerly been occupied by Express, Structure, and The Shoe Department.

In 2008, nearly twenty years after the mall's opening, the mall's new owner and manager, JSS Advisors, LLC (Fremont Realty Capital), completed multimillion-dollar renovations with improvements focused on energy conservation, lighting and additional ADA access. Specific improvements include a new roof, new logo, tinted skylight windows, a children's softplay area, exterior landscaping, planned areas with comfortable indoor patron seating, complimentary free Wi-Fi internet access throughout the mall, and HD televisions throughout the mall’s interior.