Jasper Mall opens on Highway 78, 1981
Jasper Mall opened on August 8, 1981, as a fully enclosed shopping center along Highway 78 East, built around a single interior concourse and surface parking for local shoppers.
Its developers were George Ewing and the Simmons family, working as Jasper Mall Associates, planning the property with roughly 350,000 square feet of retail space.
JCPenney relocated from downtown Jasper into the mall as an anchor on opening day, with Kmart occupying the opposite end, setting the pattern of anchor-to-anchor shopping.
The new mall featured one level with small shops between the anchors, in a climate-controlled setting.
Inline stores were arranged in a straight concourse, with service corridors and a central common area for temporary kiosks during seasonal peaks.
The project was designed to give Walker County, Alabama, and nearby towns access to a consolidated retail site.
Parking lots lined the front of the property, allowing direct access to the main entrances and anchor facades.
The opening brought national specialty retailers and local shops under one roof.
Stores clustered near each anchor sold clothing, shoes, gifts, and services that drew steady traffic between JCPenney and Kmart.
The interior included wide tile walkways that opened clear sightlines from one anchor to the other.
Ceiling heights allowed natural light through entrance vestibules, giving the property a uniform look.
The mall quickly became a retail hub along Highway 78, shaping shopping patterns in Jasper thanks to its anchor pair, enclosed concourse, and dedicated parking.
This initial configuration remained in place for decades, shaping all later changes.
Main information about Jasper Mall
| Location | 300 Highway 78 East, Jasper, AL 35501 |
| Opening date | August 8, 1981 |
| Developer | George Ewing and Simmons family |
| Owner | Kohan Retail Investment Group |
| Management | Kohan Retail Investment Group |
| Gross floor area | 350,000 sq ft |
| Number of anchors (current) | 3 |
| Current anchor tenants | Belk, Dunham’s Sports, Rural King |
| Parking spaces | Approx. 3,700 |
| Website | www.shopjaspermall.com |
New owners take over in the 1990s
In 1996, Jasper Mall changed owners for the first time when Sharp Development Group bought the property from Jasper Mall Associates.
The sale put the mall under a company that specialized in managing regional centers across the Southeast.
The new owner kept the single-level layout intact, with JCPenney and Kmart still anchoring opposite ends of the concourse.
Stores between them included national chains common to mid-size malls in the 1990s, along with local operators filling smaller spaces.
Sharp managed leasing directly, focusing on keeping spaces filled and maintaining a balanced mix of retailers. Structural elements of the building stayed the same.
Parking lots remained along the front, entrances led directly to the anchors, and the tile-floored concourse stretched in a straight line between them.
The design still followed the original 1981 plan, but Sharp began exploring options to expand the footprint.
By the end of the decade, plans had advanced for a major addition. A new department store would be introduced, requiring new construction and a reworked section of the concourse.
These preparations set up Jasper Mall for its only major construction project after opening, leading into the early 2000s.
Expansion adds Belk and new square footage in 2002
In 2002, Sharp Realty carried out an expansion that increased Jasper Mall's scale and reshaped its anchor set.
About 80,000 square feet of new space was added, including a major department store.
Belk opened its doors in March 2002, occupying roughly 60,000 square feet at the north end of the mall.
The store became a third anchor, joining JCPenney and Kmart, and gave the property an added draw for apparel shoppers.
The project extended the concourse to connect directly into Belk, reworking entrances and circulation paths.
Inline retailers were shuffled to take advantage of the new traffic patterns, with fashion and accessory tenants placed closer to Belk while other categories filled central and west side spaces.
This expansion helped the mall offer a broader range of department store choices in one enclosed site.
Shoppers could move between a national discount store, a traditional department store, and a regional apparel anchor.
The three-anchor setup created a new phase for Jasper Mall, aligning it with the standard model of early 2000s enclosed centers.
Headwinds before the 2017 anchor exits
Through the 2000s and early 2010s, Jasper Mall continued with its three-anchor lineup and a mix of small national and local stores.
JCPenney, Kmart, and Belk anchored opposite ends of the concourse, with tenants in apparel, footwear, and services between them.
By the mid-2010s, national retail chains began closing underperforming stores in smaller markets.
Enclosed malls in secondary regions faced the loss of key anchors, leaving vacancies that were hard to fill.
Jasper Mall's management braced for these changes as corporate decisions by its two longest-running anchors loomed.
Belk remained a stable presence, but both Kmart and JCPenney were under review by their parent firms.
Sears Holdings announced multiple waves of Kmart closures beginning in 2016, and JCPenney announced its own store reduction plans in early 2017.
The mall entered late 2016 with all three anchors still operating, but with clear signs that two were at risk.
Vacant inline space had already increased, and the concourse relied heavily on traffic moving between the anchors.
Once the closures were announced, the property would face its biggest change since the 2002 expansion.
Kmart and JCPenney closed in 2017, Reshaping the Site
Jasper Mall lost two of its original anchors in 2017, ending a retail era that had defined the mall since it opened.
Kmart was the first to go, included in Sears Holdings' December 28, 2016, closure list.
The store shut its doors by March 2017, leaving the west end vacant for the first time.
JCPenney soon followed. On March 17, 2017, the company announced a list of locations to close, and Jasper Mall was included.
That store closed on July 31, 2017, closing the last original anchor tenant.
Belk was left as the only department store still in business at the property.
The impact was immediate. The concourse no longer had traffic moving between three anchors, and the inline shops saw footfall decline.
Vacancies began spreading beyond the anchor spaces, with temporary tenants filling some stores on short-term leases.
The mall now faced a crossroads. With two large anchor boxes empty, management sought tenants to occupy the spaces.
These closures marked the steepest decline in Jasper Mall's history and created a gap that shaped the next phase of redevelopment.
A new use pattern emerges with film, nonprofit use, and a sporting goods anchor
In 2018, directors Bradford Thomason and Brett Whitcomb turned their attention to the fading corridors of the shopping center, filming the merchants who stayed behind and the shoppers who wandered through its silence.
The result was their feature documentary, "Jasper Mall," which debuted at the Slamdance Film Festival in January 2020 before finding a broader audience on streaming, a lasting chronicle of the mall's uneasy transformation.
In 2020, another kind of tenant moved in. Raising Arrows, a nonprofit, took over part of the vacant interior for its programs.
What had been a retail space was refitted with tables and chairs, creating classrooms and gathering areas for local families.
The move showed how unused storefronts could be adapted for community needs, even as traditional leasing lagged.
A different path opened in 2021 when Dunham's Sports announced plans for the former JCPenney box.
Work advanced through the year, and on November 12, 2021, the new store welcomed customers.
It offered everything from weights and treadmills to tents and fishing poles.
Dunham's brought Jasper Mall a new anchor next to Belk and reawakened a cavern that had stood empty for four years.
Rural King opens in 2025, completing the anchor set
The west end of Jasper Mall, empty since Kmart's 2017 closure, became the focus of a city-backed redevelopment effort.
On January 17, 2023, the Jasper City Council approved an incentive agreement to secure Rural King for the former Kmart space.
The deal committed funds to prepare the property for a new farm and home store.
Construction and interior work continued over the next two years. Rural King announced on March 31, 2025, that its Jasper location was open at 300 US 78.
The company scheduled a grand opening weekend for April 4–6, 2025, inviting shoppers into the 90,000-square-foot space that once housed Kmart.
With Rural King in place, the mall regained three functioning anchors for the first time in eight years.
Belk continued to operate in the 2002 expansion wing, Dunham's Sports filled the former JCPenney space, and Rural King completed the lineup in the west end.
This full anchor roster restored the mall's full scale and balance to the concourse.
After years of contraction, Jasper Mall once again held a tenant in every anchor space, marking a new chapter in its long retail history.
I live in Jasper and have seen this mall go from a glorious place to shop, as you stated, to a dead mall. It is so sad that Jasper has been unable to replace the stores with those we once had that would entice people to shop there. We go to Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, or Cullman, AL, to shop. It is so sad that our community has no place for teenagers to go to. Even the excellent food places have vacated. It would be nice if they could open a movie theater for entertainment since Jasper has no movie theater at all. I hate to see this mall close its doors. I know Jasper has been trying to vitalize their downtown area, and they have done a fantastic job, but still, nothing to do except eat! We need investors badly.
Thank you for sharing your perspective on Jasper Mall. It's a reminder of the important role these places play in our communities and why their revitalization is so important.
I use to love goìng to the mall especially around Christmas time. I still go, Lin Garden, Dunham's and Bed and bath. I visited Garfields ONCE but their choice in music leaves a lot to be desired....
Thank you for sharing your experiences at Jasper Mall, especially during the festive season. It's heartening to hear you find reasons to visit despite the changes. Your feedback is valuable in understanding the mall's evolving atmosphere.
I grew up with all of us kids hanging out at the Jasper Mall on weekends and doing every kind of shopping right there. it was the place we all loved going to and was full of shops and a vibrant part of our community. no matter if you went to school at Cordova, curry, Jasper, oakman, parish or wherever it was a place where we could go and meet other kids and make new friends outside of school that was safe and we didn't have to worry about getting into any trouble or have to hang out in dangerous parking lots. we could shop, eat, hit the music store whatever. I miss it and wish it was the way it was when we was growing up for our kids.
Thank you for sharing your fond memories of Jasper Mall! It's heartwarming to hear about the role it played in your childhood. Though the mall has evolved, it remains a community hub, and perhaps it can become a new favorite spot for the current generation, just in different ways.