Groundwork and Grand Opening – How Gadsden Mall Entered the Retail Game
Before bulldozers moved a single clump of dirt, the stretch of land near Barrel Springs was mostly known as the flats. In September 1972, that changed.
Colonial Properties, a Birmingham-based firm with a growing commercial portfolio, saw a chance to pull business away from Gadsden’s downtown grid and plant it closer to the new highways.
By March 1973, construction crews had their boots on the ground. A little over a year later—on July 31, 1974—the Gadsden Mall officially opened.
It was the first enclosed shopping mall in Etowah County and a draw from day one.
Sears and Belk Hudson were the headline tenants, both abandoning their downtown buildings to stake out fresh square footage in the new retail strip.
Several others followed: Pizitz, Morrison’s Cafeteria, Elliott Drugs, and the Rifkin twin-screen theater.
This was a major shift for Gadsden. The mall concentrated commercial energy along U.S. Route 411 and I-759, tapping into regional traffic.
Over 500,000 square feet of retail space opened all at once.
The mall’s setup was basic—one floor, three anchor slots, and wide central corridors—but it hit the timing right.
National chains were expanding fast in the mid-70s. Shoppers wanted air conditioning and parking lots instead of storefront sidewalks.
Gadsden Mall gave them that, wrapped in fresh drywall and chrome fixtures.
The mall pulled in business from nearby cities like Attalla and Rainbow City. On Saturdays, teenagers showed up with nowhere else to be.
It became one of the easy things to do in Gadsden, Alabama—grab a slice, see a movie, maybe pick up a shirt from Goody’s or a cassette at RadioShack.
By the late ’70s, mall culture had officially landed.
Anchor Deals and Leasing Turns – The Shifting Floorplan of Gadsden Mall
From the late ’70s into the early ’90s, the core lineup of Gadsden Mall stayed mostly intact.
But like most regional malls, the tenant mix started shifting as retail chains merged, collapsed, or moved out.
JCPenney didn’t show up until 1991. That addition filled a long-vacant spot and gave the mall a third anchor again.
It helped keep customer flow steady through the ’90s, even as national brands started pulling back from smaller cities.
Pizitz had already been absorbed by McRae’s in 1987, which eventually folded into Belk, leaving one less department store in play.
Belk held firm in its original spot, making it the longest-running anchor on site.
In 2001, JCPenney pulled out. The space sat empty for a stretch until mall management—then under PREIT—decided to remodel.
They carved out a new anchor footprint, and in 2008, JCPenney came back, banking on a national refresh campaign.
That didn’t stick. In March 2017, the company listed the Gadsden location among 138 stores to be shuttered. By July 31 that year, the lights were off again.
Sears lasted longer, but not by much. On October 15, 2018, Sears Holdings announced the closure of 142 locations.
Gadsden Mall also made that list. The store closed by early 2019, leaving Belk as the only original anchor still open.
That left a lot of floor space up for grabs—square footage that mall owners needed to fill.
Spinoso Real Estate Group took over management and began pitching to new tenants.
They started tweaking the mix: less department store, more discount retail and specialty chains.
Martin’s Family Clothing eventually took over the old JCPenney site. It was their first time in a mall setting—another tilt away from traditional anchor tenants toward regional retail experiments.
Remodels, Real Estate Pivots, and the Business of Keeping Foot Traffic
When the 2008 remodel went live, the mall didn’t just add JCPenney—it tried to refresh the entire shopping lineup.
Books-A-Million and Jos. A. Bank came in. Both sat closer to the interior corridor, aiming to draw walk-ins deeper into the retail strip.
The floor plan got tweaked, the bathrooms updated, and the finishes brought up to date. However, cosmetic changes only go so far when national chains shrink.
After 2018, things got more experimental. Spinoso and Summit Properties USA leaned into mixed-use ideas.
Instead of chasing another traditional anchor, they brought in The Alley—an 18-lane bowling alley with an arcade and food options.
It opened in the old Sears shell and was pitched as a destination spot, something to keep people in the building longer than a 15-minute shoe stop.
By early 2024, Food City moved into the rest of the Sears space. This was a rare play: a full-service grocery store inside a mall and one with its own exterior entrance.
Food City launched with a full deli, meat department, and regional produce—aimed less at foot traffic and more at repeat grocery trips.
That’s a different model than what Gadsden Mall had started with.
The mall’s cinema also got a boost. Premiere Cinemas started converting the old setup into a recliner-seating, dine-in theater with alcohol service and expanded concessions.
The company is calling it the Premiere LUX upgrade. Price tag: $3.4 million.
The project’s moving ahead without closing the current theater, and the city of Gadsden is backing the deal with a tax abatement through 2032.
The goal was clear—make it a draw in its own right, not just a side option after shopping.
The remodels, entertainment builds, and grocery play weren’t just about filling square footage.
They were bets that foot traffic could still be built, just through different doors.
Public Scrutiny and PR Fallout – When the Gadsden Mall Made Headlines
In November 2017, the Gadsden Mall got pulled into national news—and not for anything it did as a business.
It happened during a high-stakes Senate race. Allegations surfaced that Roy Moore, a candidate with deep ties in Alabama, used to approach girls at the mall during the early 1980s.
Multiple reports claimed he’d been banned from the premises, though no written record of any ban ever turned up.
Local sources backed parts of the story. Some former employees said they were warned about Moore at the time.
Others pushed back, saying it was gossip that had grown over the years. Mall management didn’t release a statement at the time.
By then, the building had undergone multiple ownership and management changes—Colonial Properties had handed things off years earlier, and by 2017, Summit Properties USA and Spinoso were handling operations.
The timing couldn’t have been worse. The mall was already mid-transition, trying to find its footing after losing two major anchors.
It wasn’t looking for more attention—especially the kind that doesn’t lead to leases or foot traffic.
But the story didn’t blow over right away. National outlets picked it up, and cable news ran segments with shots of the mall’s exterior.
Online forums turned the building into a shorthand for the allegations themselves.
Nobody filed suit against the mall, and it wasn’t accused of any wrongdoing. But the building—and, by extension, the retail tenants inside—got caught in the middle of a political firestorm.
For a few months, a place that usually kept a low profile in trade papers and leasing directories was crawling on every network.
Once the election ended, the coverage died down. But the mall’s name, for better or worse, had entered a broader conversation it never asked to be in.
Nothing political ruined the Gadsden Mall. Online shopping have caused many brick and mortar to close, the doors. history would repeat. and Malls could became popular again. the convenience of Internet shopping will have a lasting effect.
Thanks for saying it plainly. There is no conspiracy, no scandal. It is just a slow shift in how people live—and a possibility that it could shift back again someday.