Jefferson Mall is a Louisville, Kentucky, shopping mall located near the intersection of Interstate 65 and Outer Loop in southern Louisville. It is the only major mall in southern Jefferson County, and the only of Louisville’s six regional shopping centers (400,000+ square feet) serving the south and west county; the others are in the wealthier east county.
Opened in 1978 and named after the county it is located in, the mall’s original anchor stores included JCPenney, Sears, Shillito’s and Stewart Dry Goods. The mall was developed by Richard E. Jacobs Group of Cleveland, Ohio and included 936,000 square feet (87,000 m2) of space.
It was sold in 2000 to CBL & Associates Properties of Chattanooga. At that time, Louisville’s daily newspaper, The Courier-Journal, described the mall as “overlooked” in the Louisville retail scene, not as popular as Oxmoor Center and Mall St. Matthews in eastern Jefferson County. At the time, Jefferson Mall had also not been updated substantially since it opened, lacking a food court until 1999. A full renovation with new entrances began in 2003, its first full renovation.
The mall’s current anchor stores are Dillard’s, JCPenney, Macy’s, and Sears. There are 120 permanent stores and 923,000 square feet (85,700 m2) of leased space.
