Salute to Montgomery Ward

Three things always stand out when I think of Carolina Circle Mall. Carousel, Lime/Pink, and Montgomery Ward. Tonight, we'll take a look at this particular Montgomery Ward.

In 1872 when Aaron Montgomery Ward started his successful business named after him, I'm sure he didn't expect that his business would have the opportunity to open at a certain landmark mall in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Greensboro has actually had 2 Montgomery Wards. The first one was in Downtown Greensboro which lasted until the '50s or '60s. I'm not real sure, I can't find the site that had that information.

In 1976, Montgomery Ward returned to Greensboro in the form of an anchor of the Carolina Circle Mall.

Carolina Circle's Montgomery Ward was very contemporary. I'm not talking '00s contemporary, I'm talking '70s territory. The main thing that stood out was the shag carpeting. Just looking at that picture on the left makes me wanna get down tonight. Another feature was bright tiling along the exterior of the store. However, this was removed some time around the renovation.

Much later in its life, it was renovated, however retaining the Roller Derby/Price is Right style.

As you all know, the mall was failing which was also rubbing off on Montgomery Ward. It was doing pretty good, but not good enough. During the '90s, Montgomery Ward began downsizing a bit.

I bet you're wondering what Montgomery Ward sold. Well, it was very similar to Sears. It had a little bit of everything including lawn/garden, tools, electronics, clothing, furniture, etc. Of course, I usualy hung around the electronics.

According to research, Montgomery Ward was apparently the most popular store at Carolina Circle. A lot of people I've talked to have said that was they're favorite and it was also the last store to close at the mall.

The store's layout was interesting as well. In the '90s and most of the early '00s, the televisions were located in a dark corner next to the mall entrance on the first floor. The escalators were apparently in the center of the whole thing. Customer Service was at the loading dock entrance on the first floor. On the second floor, there was a beauty salon sort of in the center. That place had strong hair spray because you could smell it all over the place.

Across the street spearate from the mall was the Montgomery Ward Auto Express. It was mainly a car repair shop containg a lot of things you would find at Advance Auto Parts.

In 2001, the folks at Carolina Circle shut down the mall corridor leaving Montgomery Ward as the only store open at the mall. Both mall entrances were blocked off and the TV's were moved to another part of the first floor. At this time, Montgomery Ward wasn't doing much business, but acceptable business.

Also in 2001, the entire Montgomery Ward chain announced it was closing all of its stores including the one at Carolina Circle. Of course, everyone packed into that Montgomery Ward looking for bargains. I bought a Sony TV, Sony boombox, and a Sony VCR there during their Going out of Business sale.

About a week before it closed in 2002, Montgomery Ward shut down its first floor section leaving only half of the second floor open. Here's what I remember about my last trip to Montgomery Ward and my last trip to Carolina Circle. I walked into Montgomery Ward with a shock. Only half of the second floor was open and most of their electronics were crammed into that small section of store. Believe it or not, they were even selling a retro Montgomery Ward brand 1980's television set!

On the last week of January, Montgomery Ward closed its doors also closing Carolina Circle Mall. A sad day indeed.

Montgomery Ward was always one of my favorite stores there at the mall including Camelot Music, carousel, and others.