Opened in late February 1986, the mall was originally anchored by Rich's, Macy's and Sears. The Mall is almost identical toGwinnett Place Mall. The Macy's store was the first in Atlanta not to have originally been part of the Atlanta-based Davison's chain, which became Macy's during its opening. The largest mall in the state when it opened, a fourth anchor, Mervyn's, joined the mall later in 1986. Town Center is part of a major retail hub in northern Cobb County, Georgia along Barrett Parkway. It is located between parallel parts of I-75 and I-575, just north of where the interstates meet or split from each other. The mall itself has seen several significant changes over the years. Built with a pad for an additional wing, a new wing extending north from the east wing was finally added in 1993 with a Parisiandepartment store as the second to open in the Atlanta area with the first being at Phipps Plaza. This was also likewise done in 1995 at Gwinnett Place Mall with the same being as their third Atlanta location. This brought the store count at the mall up to 220 stores and the amount of anchor store up to five. No other mall in both the area and state had five anchors at the time except for North Point Mall, which opened also in 1993 and added the fourth Atlanta area Parisian three years later. Enormously successful and drawing away customers that originally shopped at older Cumberland and Cobb Center Malls, the mall was first renovated in 1995 but has never been expanded aside from the Parisian addition. Store consolidations and retractions, however, have varied the anchor line-up in recent years. First, in 1996, JCPenney took over the former location of Mervyn's, which pulled out of Georgia in late 1995 but at North Point as mentioned, Parisian replaced that store there. Second, Rich's and Macy's were merged into one store, prompting the closure of the three-story Macy's that had been there since the mall's original opening. However, part of the store was refurbished and is now used as a Macy's Furniture Gallery and now operates as Macy's Furniture Gallery, Macy's Furniture Clearance Center and Macy's Men's Store. Macy's now occupies the former Rich's location. Occupancy rates remain very high at the mall, and most major chain specialty stores are found in the mall. However, the mall is facing competition from all the big box stores on Barrett Parkway, two "lifestyle centers" that opened up on each end of the county and more upscale malls such as Lenox Square. However, on May 13, 2008, the mall announced a year-long renovation project and also added H&M. The project was finished in May 2009 with new food court designs, family restrooms, children's play area, signage, and soft seating areas. On February 7, 2017, Macy's announced that Macy's Backstage will be opening inside Macy's in Spring 2017. On May 29, 2020, it was announced that Sears would be closing as part of a plan to close 28 stores nationwide.
