Savannah Mall


Savannah Mall is an enclosed regional shopping mall on the southside of Savannah, Georgia. The mall opened on August 29, 1990 and has three anchor stores: Bass Pro Shops, Dillard's, and Target. A 10 unit food court on the upper level of the mall features restaurants such as Subway and Sbarro. The food court features an animal-themed carousel.

History

When opened in 1990, Savannah Mall was expected to succeed Savannah's older Oglethorpe Mall. Savannah Mall was considered upscale and featured stores exclusive to the market like Blockbuster Music, Abercrombie & Fitch, Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, United Colors of Benetton, and The Disney Store. Belk and J.B. White opened with the mall. Parisian and Montgomery Ward opened in 1991. Montgomery Ward's building was slated for Jordan Marsh, but plans for this were canceled when the chain folded. Montgomery Ward pulled out of the mall in 1998 when the company began struggling. Also that year Dillard's acquired J.B. White and retired the JB White name. Parisian and Belk both left the mall in early 2003. At this point, many stores were leaving the mall and by 2005, there were more than 20 vacancies, with some stores relocating to Oglethorpe Mall, and others exiting the Savannah market altogether.
In August 2003, Bass Pro Shops opened in the space vacated by Parisian. Target opened its first Savannah area store in the mall in October 2004. Target demolished the Belk building to construct a new, two-level building. Target occupies the second level, and Burlington Coat Factory re-entered the Savannah market with a location on the first floor in 2006. Steve & Barry's opened in 2004 in the former Montgomery Ward. A.C. Moore opened as a junior anchor in 2007.
In 2008, the mall's owners undertook multimillion-dollar renovations with improvements focused on energy conservation, lighting and additional ADA access. The mall also received a new logo and modern features like Wi-Fi internet access.

Today

As of 2020, the mall has a handful of local businesses and about 10 national chain stores such as Hibbett Sports, Sbarro, and Victorias’s Secret. However, most of the mall is vacant. Texas Roadhouse relocated out of the mall in 2019. Similarly, in early 2020 Burlington relocated to a nearby vacant Toys “R” Us. A.C. Moore closed with the rest of the company.