Oglethorpe Mall is a super-regional shopping mall on the Southside of Savannah, Georgia. Named after General James Oglethorpe, the founder of Savannah, it has grown over the last forty years to be nearly one million square feet. Among some of its features are several restaurants, a 10-unit food court, approximately 150 stores and anchors of Barnes & Noble, Belk, JC Penney, Macy’s (formerly Rich’s), Stein Mart and Sears.
Oglethorpe Mall, the oldest mall in Savannah, was considered obsolete and mostly written-off by most consumers when Savannah Mall opened in 1990. Now almost two decades after Savannah Mall opened, Oglethorpe Mall, forty years after its opening, has a strong tenant line-up and an almost non-existent vacancy rating. It is currently owned by General Growth Properties.
By 1982 a 230,000-square-foot (21,000 m2) expansion wing was constructed with JC Penney and Levy’s of Savannah. Subsequently in 1986, Levy’s was acquired by Maas Brothers of Tampa, which in itself became Jordan Marsh in 1988. Beginning in 1989, the mall was gutted and aesthetically redesigned with design schemes of the 1980s. 1990 saw the completion of the renovation with a new two level parking garage. A year later, in 1991, the Oglethorpe Mall was expanding again with the addition of Rich’s and another expansion wing, following the closing and demolition of Jordan Marsh.
Since the late 1990s many modernizations have occurred, like the replacing of a section of the mall known as The Promenade (a long corridor with small shops along either side and a restaurant at the end, all decorated in what would now be defined as ’80s kitsch – Day-Glo colors, neon lights, and glass tile blocks, among many other popular construction designs from the ’80s.) with Barnes and Noble. Two years later, in 2001, a new food court opened, replacing the older sporadically placed restaurants throughout the mall. The latest change occurred in 2005 when Rich’s was converted to Macy’s.
