Montgomery Ward Entrance 1989

I apologize for the severe lack of posting lately, but this is certainly a good excuse for me to make a new post today. Courtesy of the News & Record, here’s the mall entrance to Montgomery Ward in November 1989.

Exterior Pictures from September 1980

These were all taken sometime in September of 1980.

Old Picture of Mall Exterior

A very good friend of mine found this on an old slide of his. This is the exterior of the mall, showing Ivey’s and Montgomery Ward. Not sure when this was taken. Looks like late ‘70s/early ‘80s.

Picture of the Day: 6/6/2011

Even such a sad event as the mall’s demolition had a very funny moment. I took this picture outside the mall during demolition on August 1, 2005. Yes, this is a piece of orange shag carpeting from Montgomery Ward!

Picture of the Day: 5/24/2011

This is the rear, outdoor entrance to Montgomery Ward. This was also the entrance I would usually use if I were just going to Montgomery Ward and not any other part of the mall. Taken July 1, 2005, during the mall’s demolition.

Picture of the Day: 5/7/2011

This is the only picture I have of the inside of Montgomery Ward. Photo taken in September 1989.

Montgomery Ward In-Store Laserdisc 1993

I assume this same video was also shown at the Carolina Circle Mall location as well.

Wow! Laserdisc!

Inside Montgomery Ward 1989

I was so tickled when I came across this one at the library. I had just about forgotten what the inside of Montgomery Ward looked like. From a September 1989 edition of the Greensboro News & Record.

Montgomery Ward Ad November 1984

This is from a November 1984 edition of the Greensboro News & Record.

Montgomery Ward Auto Center Update

Friday afternoon, I drove by the Montgomery Ward Auto Center and I noticed that crews were removing all of the Montgomery Ward signs. This isn’t really anything too significant, but it’s still interesting to point out.

Somewhat Cool Artifact

I found this the other day when I was going through junk in my bookcase.

I believe my mom got this book at Carolina Circle Mall's Montgomery Ward in November of 1989, just before I was born.

Montgomery Ward Ad 1989

This is from the November 24, 1989 edition of the Greensboro News & Record.

It's also interesting to see the use of Montgomery Ward's old slogan in this ad. "The Brand Name Savings Store".

Possible Promo Picture

Heh, that was taken yesterday.

Montgomery Ward Auto Center '06

Before I go to bed for tonight, I'll show you this little 2006 picture of the only remaining piece of the original Carolina Circle Mall. That's right, Montgomery Ward Auto Center.

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.

Life in the Rubble

On August 1, I went to Carolina Circle and took some pictures of the demolition which had been going on for exactly one month and one day. While looking at the pictures, I noticed some surviving interior features in the rubble. Also, look for pieces of scrap lime green metal from the mall.

Merry Christmas! Found this wreath in the rubble near Montgomery Ward. Like every other mall, Carolina Circle would always decorate for the holiday's.

It's hard to see, but in the middle of the picture is I think a Rayovac battery sign from Montgomery Ward.

This piece of carpet is obviously from Montgomery Ward.

Wine Chiller or Entrance

I was looking at our 20 year old Montgomery Ward refridgerator yesterday and discovered this. This thing is a wine chiller to store your wine. But what really caught my attention was the design. Doesn't it look familiar?


The wine chiller's design is very similar to the design of a few of the Carolina Circle Mall Montgomery Ward's many entrances. Apparently in the 70's/80's, that entrance design was their trademark.

Montgomery Ward Auto Express

Montgomery Ward branched off this part of their Carolina Circle Mall store into its own building.

Known as Montgomery Ward Auto Express, it sold all of your car needs. I only went in there once because we were looking for a battery.

Currently, this is the only section of the mall that survived the demolition.

Sorry for the short post, I don't know much about the Auto Express.