Hanes Mall opens, and a city lines up
At 9:45 AM on August 6, 1975, a ribbon-cutting ceremony marked the opening of Hanes Mall in Winston-Salem, with Miss North Carolina in attendance.
The first phase to open was the north wing. It was a two-story enclosed section with bright corridors, new finishes, and a clean interior layout that guided people in from the entrances and down the main walks.
The mall opened with three anchor department stores fronting the north wing: Belk, JCPenney, and Sears. Dozens of shops and services opened at the same time.
Early tenants included Anderson-Little for menswear, Kinney Shoes, and a branch of NCNB bank operating inside the mall.
The opening drew heavy traffic from the start and established Hanes Mall as a new regional shopping destination.
It quickly became a regular weekend stop and an everyday errand location for Winston-Salem and nearby communities.
1970 land deal, then the north wing build
Hanes Mall was developed by the Richard E. Jacobs Group on former Hanes family land along Stratford Road, and it took its name from that earlier ownership.
The Hanes family had run local businesses for a long time. In 1970, Pleasant Hanes Jr. sold the family's land to make way for the project, and construction followed.
The construction that followed produced the first phase as a north wing built as a two-story enclosed section.
The design put all the stores inside, with hallways under a roof and lighting that could be adjusted, instead of having stores face the street.
The building was laid out to work with anchors at the edges and smaller tenants running through the interior between them.
The layout expected lots of cars, so they built big parking lots on the property.
By the time the north wing opened in 1975, the land along Stratford Road had changed from a single family's property to a large shopping center designed for people to walk inside and drive there by car.
Early anchors, sunken seats, and Cookie House
After the opening, Hanes Mall went from big crowds on the first day to a steady flow of shoppers.
Belk, Sears and JCPenney stayed as the main stores from the beginning and kept running as the main stores in the original group.
In the 1970s, the interior included terraced, sunken seating areas built into the common space.
They broke up the corridors and created places to sit along the main walking routes. The mall also had a clock tower used as an interior meeting point before it was later removed.
With long enclosed corridors and these interior features, the mall became a regular hangout for teenagers and served as a social gathering place as well as a shopping center.
From the beginning, Hanes Mall drew shoppers from across Forsyth County and the broader Piedmont Triad and developed into a social and economic centerpiece for Winston-Salem.
Some tenants remained in place for decades. Cookie House continued operating inside the mall year after year and became one of the last original inline tenants still running from opening day.
1990 south wing, food court, five anchors
Success has a predictable side effect. It asks for more square footage. Hanes Mall stayed highly successful through the late 1970s and 1980s, and in 1990, it expanded in a way that changed the whole property.
A new south wing opened, effectively doubling the mall's size. Two new anchors arrived, and a modern food court finally gave shoppers a centralized place to eat, not just a snack between stores.
One of the new anchor spaces was originally meant for Ivey's. Plans shifted when Ivey's was acquired by Dillard Department Stores, Inc., and the store opened as Dillard's instead.
The other new anchor was Thalhimer's, a Richmond-based department store that did not keep its name for long.
In 1992, it converted to Hecht's. In 2006, it rebranded again as Macy's, giving the same building a new banner without changing its footprint.
By the end of the 1990s, the mall had grown to about 1.56 million square feet, with five anchor stores and more than 200 specialty shops at its peak.
It was firmly super-regional, big enough to feel like its own weather system.
A hillside mall stitched through JCPenney
The 1990 expansion added a second wing and set the basic circulation pattern that still defines how Hanes Mall is used. The original north wing and the newer south wing meet at JCPenney.
Shoppers moving between the two halves pass through JCPenney itself because there is no separate connector corridor between the wings.
The mall was built into a hillside, and the entrances reflect that grade change. Entering from the south side brings visitors onto the first level.
Entering from the north side brings visitors onto the second level. Most of the mall spans two floors, while Belk and the former Macy's each include a third level.
The footprint is encircled by an outer ring road called Hanes Mall Circle. The surrounding road network feeds into a large parking area with about 7,800 spaces.
The site has five major entrances from Silas Creek Parkway, Hanes Mall Boulevard, and Stratford Road, directing traffic into the parking areas and toward the main entrances.
Roads, the four-screen cinema, and the 2004 renovation
By the late 1980s, road construction around Hanes Mall began adapting to the growth of retail development beside the property.
Hanes Mall Boulevard was built to accommodate the expanding commercial corridor.
In 1992, a new I-40 interchange opened directly at Hanes Mall Boulevard, improving access for regional traffic and making the mall area easier to reach by highway.
As the corridor developed, it grew into a 2.9-mile retail strip with more than 250 surrounding businesses, including big-box stores and restaurants tied to the mall's traffic.
The area around the mall shifted from its earlier, less developed character into a concentrated commercial district built around vehicle access and continuous retail use.
A four-screen General Cinema theater opened soon after the mall and ran for 24 years. It closed on October 19, 2000, when its lease ended. The building was later razed.
In 2004, a Texas Roadhouse opened on the former theater pad, and a Golden Corral was built nearby on the former theater parking lot.
Inside the mall, an interior renovation around 2004 updated decor and amenities.
On the lower level, a full-size carousel operated as an attraction for families and children and became one of the mall's distinctive interior features.
Departures: Sears 2019, Macy's 2020, COVID
During the 2000s, Hanes Mall added national retailers to keep its tenant mix current. Under CBL & Associates ownership, Dick's Sporting Goods opened at the outparcel in 2006.
In late 2011, a two-level H&M opened inside the mall, noted at the time as only the second H&M in the Carolinas.
Outparcel development around the mall continued to expand with additional dining and retail uses.
Anchor store losses followed in the next decade. Sears, one of the original anchors from 1975, was included in a new round of closures announced in November 2018.
The Hanes Mall Sears closed in February 2019, ending a 44-year run and leaving a large vacant anchor space.
Macy's announced its own departure soon after. In January 2020, Macy's confirmed the Hanes Mall store would close. The store ran clearance sales and closed by March 2020, becoming the second anchor loss in two years.
The closure occurred as the COVID-19 pandemic began affecting retail in 2020. CBL & Associates filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in late 2020 while the mall continued operating.
In May 2019, Dave & Buster's opened in part of the former Sears wing, bringing an entertainment and dining use into the property as the mall began replacing traditional anchor space with new types of tenants.
New uses, 89% full, and the 50-year mark
After the Sears closure, the former anchor space moved toward non-retail use.
Novant Health purchased the Sears building and its auto center in 2018 for $14.5 million and planned to convert the property into a medical facility connected to its nearby hospital services.
In 2021, the former Sears site was used as a temporary mass COVID vaccination center while longer-term plans for the building moved forward.
The former Macy's building also shifted away from retail. Truliant Federal Credit Union bought the empty Macy's building in 2020 and spent about $8 million turning it into a large office and operations center.
In January 2023, Truliant opened its operations center in the old Macy's store, moving about 250 office workers into the building and making sure the space was busy every day.
Hanes Mall continued operating with three traditional department store anchors: Belk, Dillard's, and JCPenney.
The mall's tenant list included about 140 specialty stores and eateries, and it remained the largest shopping mall in the Winston-Salem area.
In late 2024, about 89% of the mall's retail space was occupied. In August 2025, Hanes Mall celebrated its 50th anniversary.
The mall has been a backdrop for first jobs, long retail careers, first dates, and holiday traditions, with fifty years of local routines turning into memories.
