The year is 1976. Disco is in full swing. The Apple computer has been launched. The CB Radio has peaked in popularity. The Betamax and VHS VCRs have been released.
The date is Wednesday, August 4, 1976. Legionnaire's disease has struck and has killed 29 at the American Legion convention in Philadelphia. The number one song in America is Don't Go Breaking My Heart by Elton John & Kiki Dee.
But in Greensboro, North Carolina, at exactly 10:00 AM on Wednesday, August 4, 1976, the famous Carolina Circle Mall opened up. 22 stores were open including the Ice Chalet, Belk, Ivey's, Montgomery Ward, Orange Julius of America, Chick-Fil-A, Carlyle and Company, Thom McAn, Butler's Shoe Corporation, and etc. The activites that took place during the three day period were concerts by an Eastern Music Festival group and "Bluegrass Experience", visits by characters from Alice's Wonderland, and a hot air balloon exhibition. Mayor Jim Melvin and Bob Alpert did the ribbon cutting ceremony at 10:00 AM that day.
Over the years, many interesting events happened at the mall including a 1977 visit by some deer, a lot of fun on the Ice Chalet, a 1988 renovation, carousel, and much more. My first trip to the mall was sometime in early 1990. From day one, I loved the carousel. The carousel stands out as my most cherished memory of the mall. I saw many great movies at the Circle 6 Theatres like Home Alone 2, The Lion King, and many more.
Around late 1995, the mall began to show its signs of death. Retailers began pulling out of the mall, shopping traffic took a serious turn for the worse, and by late 1996, the carousel was removed.
January of 2002 was the month of death. This was the month that Carolina Circle Mall closed... permanently. It was a sad day indeed and you can thank Montgomery Ward for its nationwide shut-down for that move.
For several years, the mall stood there rotting. A weekend flea market did however open inside the former Belk for a little while, but not long.
Another sad day happpened on Thursday, June 30, 2005. EME Demolition began knocking the mall down and by September 2005, the mall building was no more.
Within two weeks from now, the mall will get new life in the form of The Shoppes at Pyramids Village when the new Wal-Mart opens.
The Wal-Mart might revamp Northeast Greensboro, but it will be no complete replacement for the once great Carolina Circle Mall which brought us such great memories from the Ice Chalet, carousel, Montgomery Ward, movies at the Circle 6 Theatres, interesting food from Piccadilly Cafeteria, and many more. That's where Carolina Circle City comes in. This blog was created to share many of my memories, your memories, information, news, and much more. Carolina Circle Mall might be gone, but the memories will never fade away.
Once again, happy 30th birthday Carolina Circle Mall!
1 comment:
Happy Birthday!
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