North Point Mall, a super-regional shopping mall, located in Alpharetta, Georgia (a suburb of Atlanta).The mall opened on October 3, 1993 as one of the largest shopping malls in the country. The mall, originally a Homart property, is now owned and managed by General Growth Properties. (“North Point Mall” Is also the name of a fictional shopping mall in the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City video game.)
The mall, which played an instrumental role in transforming Alpharetta from a bucolic town of pastures and horse farms into the bustling community of mansions, upscale restaurants, and shops that it is today, opened with space for six anchor stores (the most in one mall in Georgia at that time). Only five of these spaces were originally occupied: Rich’s, Lord & Taylor, Mervyn’s, JCPenney, and Sears. It was originally believed that Macy’s would be a sixth anchor, but the R.H. Macy Co. was bankrupt that year and sold out to Federated Department Stores, which owned Rich’s, a year later. One of the more distinctive elements of the mall was the Rich’s store, which was designed with numerous distinctive historical elements and a more elaborate design to pay tribute to its lost flagship store in downtown Atlanta, which had closed only two years earlier. Though it became a Macy’s in 2005, the outside of the store retains the elaborate sculptings of the original store.
Fierce Competition
North Point Mall continues to serve one of the most affluent parts of metropolitan Atlanta and continues to remain successful despite competition from the newer and bigger
Mall of Georgia in Buford. North Point’s success can perhaps be the result of contributed to its appealing mix of stores (including L’Occitane, Apple Computer, J. Crew, Gap, Pottery Barn, Coach, Teavana, Abercrombie & Fitch, Ann Taylor, Starbucks, and Victoria’s Secret, to name just a few of the nearly 200),.
Unique Foodcourt Feature
While North Point Mall is known as a major upscale retail center throughout Georgia and parts of the Southeast, it is perhaps most famous for the carousel that sits behind an enormous floor-to-ceiling window in the Food Court. Crafted in Brooklyn, New York by the Fabricon Carousel Company, the carousel’s hand-painted fiberglass animals were modeled after those of a vintage Victorian carousel on Coney Island.
Anchors
Dillard’s (Opened 1996, 248,151 sq ft (23,054 m2))
JCPenney (Opened 1993, 120,843 sq ft (11,227 m2))
Macy’s (Opened as Rich’s 1993, renamed Macy’s in 2005; 240,000 sq ft (22,000 m2))
Belk (Opened as Lord & Taylor in 1993, re-opened Belk in September 2007)
Sears (Opened 1993, 134,886 sq ft (12,531 m2))
Out-Lot Restaurants
California Pizza Kitchen
The Cheesecake Factory (opened 2004)
American Girl Boutique and Bistro (Grand Opening: August 18, 2007) (this store/restaurant is actually inside the mall, not in an out-lot)
