Mall of Georgia

Mall of Georgia is an enclosed super-regional shopping mall located in unincorporated Gwinnett County, Georgia, near the city of Buford, 35 miles (56 km) northeast of Atlanta. Opened in 1999, it is currently the largest shopping mall in the state of Georgia,^[2] consisting of 195 stores on three levels.^[1] Featured in the mall is a large village section, comprising lifestyle tenants and restaurants in an outdoor setting, as well as a 500-seat amphitheater. In 2018, the Mall of Georgia renovated the indoor food court area by updating the seating arrangements, furniture styles, and color schemes. The Mall of Georgia was built by and is still owned by Simon Property Group. A portion of the Ivy Creek Greenway runs along the shopping mall area. The mall features the traditional retailers JCPenney, Belk, Dick's Sporting Goods, Macy's, Dillard's, and Von Maur, in addition to a 20-screen Regal Cinemas which also features IMAX. The anchor stores are Von Maur, Macy's, Dillard's, Belk, JCPenney, Havertys Furniture, Barnes & Noble, Dick's Sporting Goods, and Regal Cinemas.

Mall of Georgia

Main entrance plaza of the Mall of Georgia
Location	Gwinnett County, Georgia, U.S.
Coordinates	34.065411°N 83.984702°W / 34.065411; -83.984702
Opening date	August 13, 1999; 25 years ago (1999-08-13)
Developer	Simon Properties
Management	Simon Properties
Owner	Simon Properties
No. of stores and services	225[1]
No. of anchor tenants	9
Total retail floor area	1,845,186 sq ft (171,423 m2)[1]
No. of floors	2 with partial third floor (3 in Macy's and Dillard's, third floor mezzanine in Dick's Sporting Goods)
Website	www.simon.com/mall/mall-of-georgia

The adjacent Mall of Georgia Crossing is anchored by Best Buy, TJ Maxx, Target, Hobby Lobby, Nordstrom Rack, HomeGoods, Ulta Beauty, and Staples.

History

The Mall of Georgia officially opened August 13, 1999 drawing shoppers away from Gwinnett Place Mall, and featured Dillard's, JCPenney, Lord & Taylor, and Nordstrom as its anchor stores, with Bed Bath & Beyond, Haverty's, and Galyan's (now Dick's Sporting Goods) as additional junior anchors.^[2] Lord & Taylor, Dillard's, and JCPenney opened on August 11, 1999, two days before the official opening of the mall.^[3] The Mall of Georgia also has a 20-screen Regal Cinemas and an IMAX Theater. In 2000, Atlanta-based Rich's was added on,^[4] and many more mall stores were added, bringing the total number of stores in the mall to more than 200. Lord & Taylor was repositioned and shuttered entirely; it was replaced with Belk in 2005.^[5] Following Federated Department Stores' (now Macy's, Inc.) decision to consolidate nameplates in 2003, the Rich's store at Mall of Georgia was dual-branded as Rich's-Macy's, and the Rich's name was dropped entirely in 2005. In 2015, it was announced Von Maur would be joining the center, replacing Nordstrom.^[6] In late 2024, the mall began the process of de-theming the mall removing the geographic section names, murals from each region, unique lighting fixtures for each section, and the town and city names which were above the stores on the second floor.

Current anchors

• Belk (2005–present)
• Dillard's (1999–present)
• JCPenney (1999–present)
• Macy's (2005–present)
• Von Maur (2016–present)

Former anchors

• Lord & Taylor (1999-2003)
• Nordstrom (1999-2015)
• Rich's (2000-2005)

Statue

The statue atop the mall is of Button Gwinnett, one of the first men to sign the United States Declaration of Independence and for whom its location of Gwinnett County is named.^[7]

The Statue