Cumberland Mall


The Cumberland Mall is a shopping mall in the Cumberland district of Metropolitan Atlanta near the suburbs of Smyrna and Vinings. It was the largest shopping mall in Georgia when it opened on August 8, 1973.

History

Cumberland Mall in Atlanta was the first four-anchor mall built in Georgia. The original anchors to the mall were Rich's, Davison's, Sears and JCPenney. The mall is two-levels and includes a multi-story parking deck to accommodate the large crowds. The mall was modeled after similar Landover Mall in Maryland and was so far superior to Cobb County's first mall that the older mall was unable to ever recover.
Cumberland Mall remained one of the leading malls in the region for over a decade before Town Center Mall in Kennesaw opened in 1986. Cumberland Mall originally featured many distinct design elements to heighten the original mall experience, but as competition forced a major reshuffling of the mall, much of this was stripped away in the renovation of 1989. Some of the original tenants that were lost at this point were Magic Pan, McDonald's, Piccadilly Cafeteria and Cashin's Restaurant among others. One of the additions, however, was a food court, which had not existed previously.
In 2003 Cumberland Mall lost its first anchor, Macy's. The vacant store resulted in a major redevelopment plan. The redevelopment included the demolition of the old Macys, which was replaced with a new mall entrance complete with an open-air wing. This mall has restaurants such as Buffalo Wild Wings, Maggiano's Little Italy, The Cheesecake Factory, P.F. Chang's China Bistro, Stoney River Legendary Steaks, and Ted's Montana Grill. Other changes included the demolition of the JCPenney, which planned to close its store, for the construction of a new Costco. The changes also included a complete interior renovation with new skylights and an expanded food court. These changes were planned to keep the mall competitive, even with only two traditional department stores remaining: Macy's and Sears. All the renovations were completed in early 2007. In 2015, Sears Holdings spun off 235 of its properties, including the Sears at Cumberland Mall, into Seritage Growth Properties. On March 11, 2015, Tomorrow's News Today - Atlanta detailed Kroger's plans to take over the upper level of Sears and reopen it as a 93,000-square-foot grocery store by the summer of 2016. On January 12, 2016, Kroger announced that it was no longer coming to Cumberland Mall after all. On August 22, 2018, Sears announced that it would be closing in November 2018 as part of a plan to close 46 stores nationwide. After the store closed Costco and Macy’s are the remaining anchors left. As of Monday, June 8, 2020 Ted’s Montana Grill has officially closed its doors for good due to COVID-19 financial restraints; so now the only restaurants left are Buffalo Wild Wings, Maggianos Little Italy, The Cheesecake Factory, P.F. Chang’s Bistro, and Stoney River Legendary Steaks!
The mall is connected to the Cobb Galleria Centre via a pedestrian walkway that bridges Cobb Parkway.

Current anchors