Oak Hollow Mall in High Point, NC: Closed in 2017, Now Used by the University

When the Glass Still Reflected Faces

The entrance remains beneath a line of glass panels that once filled the inside with sunlight.

Inside, some furniture is left along the old walkways, and large nutcrackers are kept in storage near the former Dillard’s.

Oak Hollow Mall first opened in 1995 with more than 80 stores and four anchor tenants.

By early 2017, just 11 stores were left, and the university, as an owner, chose to shut the mall down.

Today, the building functions as a shuttle hub for trade shows, a voting site, and a storage space for decorations used during certain seasons.

The main corridors are usually dark, with puddles and broken ceiling tiles, plus dust that has built up.

Launch and Leasing at Retail Scale

When Oak Hollow Mall opened on August 9, 1995, it entered the Piedmont Triad market with 1.3 million square feet and four anchors: Dillard’s, Belk, Sears, and JCPenney.

The mall was located at the intersection of Eastchester Drive and East Hartley Drive, with more than 4,000 parking spaces and two interior floors.

It was built as a main retail center to serve both local shoppers and people from nearby cities between Greensboro and Winston-Salem.

At the time, Westchester Mall was still operating on the other side of town.

But Oak Hollow Mall drew enough shoppers to take away much of Westchester’s business.

Within a few years, Westchester Mall had closed and was later changed into Providence Place, which became home to First Wesleyan Church and some small local businesses.

Oak Hollow Mall’s early lineup included national chains like Circuit City, Goody’s, and Pier 1 Imports, as well as a 22,000-square-foot Regal Cinemas.

There was a period when going to the mall on Saturdays for a walk, a meal, or a movie was typical for many.

Locals in High Point, North Carolina, would talk about things to do, and they were usually talking about this spot, even without naming it.

Lease Losses and Retail Retreats

Starting in the early 2000s, the list of stores at Oak Hollow Mall started thinning out.

The mall didn’t lose all its shops at once, but it was obvious when some stores didn’t come back and spaces stayed empty.

Goody’s, a mid-tier clothing store, closed in August 2005. Circuit City, which once occupied 30,000 square feet, closed in November 2008.

Its space was later used by High Point University for classes.

Steve & Barry’s moved in, lasted until late 2008, and then closed as well. By 2011, the effects began to show at the anchor level.

JCPenney, unable to meet company-wide profit requirements, closed its 86,000-square-foot location in July.

Sears announced it would leave in late 2011, began liquidation in February 2012, and finished closing by April.

The interior mall, though technically still open, was already starting to feel empty by then.

Belk remained until 2014 before moving to the Palladium Shopping Center.

Pier 1 Imports, which was just over 8,000 square feet, stayed until June 2015 before leaving for good.

Golden Corral closed by April 2012, and the building was later demolished.

Regal Cinemas, which used to be busy in the evenings, closed in October that same year.

Dillard’s stayed but changed its format, closing its upper level and turning the rest into a clearance center.

Shopping there wasn’t the same experience anymore. The layout that once formed a full loop now stopped halfway.

Large sections became quiet, with the lights turned off behind glass.

Sale Terms and Institutional Control

On February 24, 2011, CBL & Associates sold Oak Hollow Mall to High Point University for $9 million.

Publicly, the plan was to keep the mall running as a retail space, and CBL stayed on as manager.

Fewer stores renewed leases, and the mall began shifting to other uses.

The LLC tied to the university, 1924 Holdings, assumed control and oversaw its operations directly.

No major renovations followed. The building itself stayed mostly the same, but how it was used changed.

Some areas were converted for new uses without much notice.

A big section was used as a Sears call center until early 2017.

Another was retained as a senior center site. The main concourses, though, took on a different role entirely.

People online described rooms filled with decorations, including hundreds of nutcrackers kept for university events.

During the holidays, lights and large decorations were taken from the mall and used elsewhere in town.

The building itself was never gutted or rebuilt. It had just stopped behaving like a mall.

Shutdown Date and Operational Drawdown

In January 2017, the university announced that Oak Hollow Mall would fully close on March 10.

Only 11 stores were still open at that point.

The Sears call center, which had used part of the former retail space, was planned to close by the end of February.

Once that lease ended, there was little left holding the main mall structure together from a retail standpoint.

1924 Holdings issued the formal statement. The statement mentioned closure and said nothing about redevelopment.

The words used were plain: continued operation was unsustainable.

No major sendoff followed. Just a final week of scattered store hours, after which the gates rolled down one last time.

Not everything inside shut down. The former JCPenney stayed in use, not for shopping but for other functions.

It was used as a voting location, as confirmed by local residents.

Other parts of the building served university functions without fanfare.

Some were used for event prep. Some were used for storage or to hold non-classroom materials.

Dillard’s Clearance Center kept operating on its own. It had a separate exterior entrance and remained open apart from the closed-off mall walkways.

Other stores outside the mall, like Target, continued business as usual.

Inside the main structure, though, the hallways were cleared. The background music was turned off.

The quiet that had grown over time finally settled in.

Public Glimpses and User Descriptions

Even with most of the building closed to the public, scattered views of Oak Hollow Mall kept showing up online.

In 2025, the parking lot was used for shuttle service during the High Point Spring Market.

Descriptions of the interior circulated through public forums. Some described it as abandoned. Others described it in harsher terms.

Some ceilings were stained, furniture was out of place, and leftover decorations hadn’t been packed up.

One person compared it to a movie set, but one where the crew had packed up and never returned.

Video clips showed hallways with worn carpet and loose tiles near the old Sears entrance.

The gates were still there, but remained closed. A few lights inside were still on, but most weren’t.

Sunlight didn’t reach the deeper parts, which stayed dark by midday.

No major updates had taken place after the mall closed.

The space stayed as it was in 2017 – no longer used for retail, partly occupied, and locked from the inside.

The glass outside still reflected the light, but nothing behind it was visible.

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