Anonymous' Commentary:

My grandparents and their 5 children moved from downtown Atlanta to a Pat Mell Rd (Olive Springd Rd) neighborhood house just one mile from the not-yet-developed mall in 1957 or so.

The 5 bedroom ranch house was brand new and the neighborhood was up-and-coming middle class. But it was already going downhill by the time I was born in the early 80's. I'm not sure what made the neighborhood (and the mall) go downhill. The enthusiasm and vibrance of those who were teens when the mall was born was gone when they became adults and went away... And the next generation of youth just had no interest vested in a mall they considered "old news" when the larger Cumberland Mall was just 6 miles away and the new Town Center Mall seemed so glorious in Kennesaw so that area drew 2 of my aunts and their family's to settle there.

My family was all present when the Rich's and Mall opened and 3 generations of us Pepper's have haunted the center regularly from it's inception til its demise.

My mother and aunts were teenagers who attended Osborne HS and they all have many, many experiences here especially during its hayday. I will see if they would like to contribute to this page.

I was born in 82 and some of my earliest memories that can even be recalled took place at this very mall.

My shopoholic mom drug me here every chance she could, she'd shop until my feet were hurting and we wouldn't leave until I cried (I didn't have a stroller). I remember the Japanese garden, moreso from words and the feeling of awe it gave me rather than mental images. It did inspire my grandmother to plant two Japanese tree's in our own front yard, one of the two, a cherry blossom tree, survives today even though Cobb Center's garden is long gone.

I went to see Santa Claus there since I was a baby. I think some years they had both a mall Santa and a Rich's Santa. During one visit, 1986 perhaps, Santa came to my Mom after I spoke to him and told my mother my peculiar Christmas wish: for my Mommy to be able to walk again (she was paralyzed, in a wheelchair).

The mall was NEVER a very busy place after 86, even at Christmas, the busiest place was always Rich's. My mother had bought all of my furniture and 70% of my elaborate child wardrobe from that store.

I remember visiting the little bakery kiosk inside of the Rich's for a cookie each time we were there. They had a kids "cookie club" and I had a little stamp card to show them. The entire first floor carried a faint, delicious aroma. I remember the cosmetic kiosks in Rich's being a mesmerizing place, my grandmother bought all of her favorites: Lancome, Clinique, Estee Lauder cosmetics and Ann Taylor perfume there. It was located on the South Cobb drive entrance where Womens clothing was. Inside of Rich's there was no customer elevator, so the only way for my wheelchaired mom and I to go to the 2nd floor was a big clangy freight elevator located in the back storage.

An employee was always happy to assist me and my disabled mom up there and back. In 1986 or so, at the jewelry counter in Rich's, my mother shopped while I sat bored on the step of the kiosk. Some adult man approached me and tried to lure me away with him. Thankfully, my mother caught him and intervened. The creepman was chased out of the store by a couple of store employee's.

My mother kept me on a 6ft wrist leash after that.

I remember in the girl kids clothing section there was a dressing room and just outside of it was a wonderland of Lisa Frank merchandise.

I remember there being a Kessler's which we frequented. I remember the Woolworth's: their quarter bins and eating at the little diner inside of it. (At the entrance of the store, to the right).

I don't remember a Grant store nor being inside the drug store. I do recall the Eckerd's that replaced it, I somehow remember shopping in there alone in its later years (after 96?). It was dingy, and very dated during those last visits before it closed.

During these latter years, there was also a GNC nutritional store (on the North side of the mall) it was one of the only 4 or so stores remaining. I remember going to one of the shoe stores (Florsheims or Bakers?) in the 80'sbfor specialty shoes ordered by my grandmother and for a trip to the eyewear store.

In Spring of 1987 or 88 Smyrna held their Miss Jonquil Pageant at the newly renovated mall. I was a contestant. I've some photos of the event which I'll share later.

I've a cloudy memory of mention of a fire having occurred, and that was why part of the mall remained closed. My mom spoke of it as though it were a tragic event, it was a mystery.

A parallel: our 5 bedroom family home burned to the ground in 94.

The thing I remember best about the Turtles Record store was its sign somewhere outside of the mall. High on a pole was a Turtle figurine which appeared to be running on top of a record disc.

I've a vague recollection of going to see "fireworks at the mall". It's as vague as my memory of the Japanese garden though. I remember after the last year they did this (88, 89 or 90?) and the disappointment we felt ny going there and finding out there was no more show. Cobb Center Mall was already dead or gasping for its last breath when it was named "Four Season's Mall". Most residents in the area looked at this with disapprovement.

I remember the mall being demolished and a "stupid looking" Publix and shopping center being strung along either side of the Rich's. The back lot was empty for many years before the county put in ball fields and declared it a park.

There was a theatre which remained vacant for a long time. It was renovated, reopened, and renamed King Cinema. It was well revieved and had fairly good attendance. I saw 'All Dogs Go To Heaven' there, "The Players Club' (my friend and I were underage, we snuck into it), and went on my first teen movie date there and saw 'Titanic' when it opened. Epic! Such a wonderful memory, and I'm so glad it happened there and the building remains very much intact! In the always-vacant parking lot, I practiced driving for the first time. I remember stunting on the wet pavement and spinning out/drifting.

Diagonal to Cobb center was Burgers Farmers Market. It was always there. It wasn't until sometime after 2003 that it closed, and changed hands twice so far. In the shopping strip behind it was a successful pizza restaurant that stood for decades and folded before the farmers market did.

I've read comments elsewhere online speaking of a "Davis" restaurant across from the store on South Cobb Dr. This was before my time,but my aunts recall it. A little further down South Cobb Drive sat "Vittles". It is still there. It has pretty good American fare for ridiculously cheap prices. Across from it is Adventure Outdoors which is an indoor gun range, gun shop, and outdoor sporting goods superstore. It was a Hispanic grocery store before, and a Cub Foods before that. I believe it was a Zayre's department store(?) before this. My mother and I went there frequently. She lost her wallet there once, and surprisingly, the finder returned it to her fully intact!

In front of that store always was, and still is, a Chinese restaurant called Peking Garden... Untouched in appearance for exactly 30 years. My aunt recalls when it was built to be a German/Alpine restaurant. She and my mom speak of the little 2 screen Miracle cinema that was directly behind it. I am more familiar with the Dairy Queen nect door. I loved that place dressed up as a goofy red-roofed barn and a little play space in front. It was hit by a tornado in the early-mid 90's before renovation. It closed a while after and sat vacant until a year or 2 ago. A hibachi/Japanese to-go restaurant has since moved in and business seems good.

C.D. Ellis’s Commentary:

Hello, just thought i'd let you know, on this page there are stated to be photos. There are no photos accessible. Just a side note: I grew up going to this mall and even worked in the Rich's store there. If there is any info you are wondering about just ask me. Thanks! --C. D. Ellis

Allie’s Commentary:

The story of Cobb Center Mall is a little different than the original poster stated. The mall actually opened with three anchors; Rich’s, Colonial Grocery (where the above poster thought the Rich’s auto center was located. This is an easily understood mistake; when accessing the mall from the Benson Poole entrance, the large loading dock doors of the old Colonial space did give it a vaguely mechanic shop kind of look. While it sounds odd now, to consider a grocery store in a mall, even the far more upscale Lennox mall contained a Colonial grocery at its opening. It’s also easily understood because the only time I can remember the space being occupied after Colonial renamed itself Big Star and moved down the street in the early 1970s was briefly in the late 1980s by a discount store named Cartwheels), and the W.T. Grant store (that later became a Kessler’s).

Even in the beginning, Cobb Center was never Smyrna’s biggest shopping destination. Belmont Hills shopping center, about two miles away, was far larger (for instance, that is where the Turtle’s Records was located. My mother states that an independent record store was at Cobb Center, but by the eighties it was a Starship Records where I bought my Dirty Dancing soundtrack). The Rich’s was Cobb Center’s main draw, but it was not Rich’s first branch store. That honor goes to Rich’s Lennox, but Cobb Center and Rich’s Belvedere followed close behind. Out of these four original stores (Downtown, Cobb, Lennox, Belvedere) only Lennox is still in business, now under the Macy’s name. The architecture of that Macy’s store is a twin to the Cobb Center Rich’s, with one large exception. Facing South Cobb Drive, the store had two entrances only separated by a few feet. The second of these entrances was to the “Budget
Shop.†Originally, the store also contained a version of the famous Magnolia Room restaurant, but it was closed during the 1970s. However, a silver swinging stainless steel door that led to the restaurant remained, and when a saleslady when venture into it, you could catch a glimpse of the old restaurant. There was also a bakery and book section on the ground floor, both of which were gone by the mid-eighties. There was (and the building still stands) a Rich’s Auto, but it is a freestanding building by the Pat Mell entrance, next to the movie theater. I am unsure when the auto center closed. The movie theater was built in the exact style of the Rich’s department store, but I am unsure if Rich’s ever owned it. I was born in the late 1970s, and for the first part of my life the movie theater opened and closed repeatedly. It has been closed since the late nineties, but still stands, now painted a horrid blue color.&nb
sp; There was another auxiliary building on the premises, a colonial style Trust Company bank on the Benson Poole side of the property. Although the building was empty for well over a decade, Smyrna purchased the building when the mall was demolished and it is now used as a banquet hall. Federated closed the Cobb Center Rich’s in 2004, when it announced the merger of Rich’s-Macy’s stores around Atlanta. The building still stands.

Most people around here all agree that it was the 1987 renovation that doomed the mall. It was a disaster. In the middle of the mall, near the Rich’s entrance on the Kessler’s side of the mall, was a beautiful remnant of the mall’s unenclosed days, containing trees, foliage, goldfish ponds, and bridges that was very popular (even after they enclosed it in glass). This was torn away to put in a five or six stall food court. Only one of these spaces was ever rented. The contractors went bankrupt, et cetera. The renovation also ran out some smaller stores, and happened to coincide with Kessler’s decision to close the Cobb Center store (which was closed before the chain went under). By the end of the renovation, the entire Kessler’s wing was empty, but did have an oddity. The hallway featured a round sunken space accessed by stairs. Why? Who knows? Davis Cafeteria closed before the renovation, and when belo
ved local eatery Howard’s wanted in, the owners halved the old Davis space (which was cavernous, and included fireplaces. It was so big that Howard’s half had a large waiting area, a huge bar space, and several dining rooms), but the second half never rented. By the early nineties, Howard’s decamped a few miles away. Woolworth’s (and this location was a great example of mid-century Woolworth’s architecture, especially as the store was never updated) closed the location by 1992. The space actually was rented fairly quickly to a sporting goods store that stayed with the mall until the end. However, I do think that losing Woolworth’s was a horrible blow. Howard’s was gone, the food court was a bust, and the Dunaway/Eckerd’s drugstore had closed its lunch counter. Even the hot dog stand and ice cream parlor had closed by the time Woolworth’s left, meaning there was no place to eat at the mall. Also, there were no k
id-friendly stores left. The long part of the mall (it was in the shape of an off center T) still had a tux rental place, a Lerner’s store, et cetera, but no place you could pick up a toy or game. Cobb Center was also doomed by its location (the very worst part of town), and the fact that the best chance tenants for its empty anchor stores (Sears and JC Penney’s) already maintained stores (of some sort) at Belmont Hills and Cumberland.

Cobb Center’s best claim to fame was its Christmas setup. In front of Woolworth’s, it had the standard Santa in throne, but behind Santa was Rudolph’s house. Periodically, a window would open and an animatronic Rudolph would lean out and wish everyone a merry Christmas.