MCALISTER SQUARE MALL: GREENVILLE, SC
Chris Edward's Commentary:
October 18, 2003 (user submitted)
McAlister Square was built in the late 1960s in the middle of new subdivisions on Greenville's east side near downtown. Its original anchors were Ivey's (later bought by Dillard's) and Meyers-Arnold (later bought by Upton's), although a Belk-Simpson department store was added in the early 1970s. For years McAlister Square thrived, facing competition only from small Bell Tower Mall and a declining downtown.
In 1978, Greenville Mall opened, followed two years later by Haywood Mall, which was and is South Carolina's largest mall. Although some of McAlister Square's higher-end stores relocated to Haywood Mall, McAlister Square held its own for many years and remained fully or almost fully leased through the mid-1990s, despite a major fire in 1981 that destroyed part of the Ivey's wing. In 1995, however, Dillard's relocated to Haywood Mall, apparently just seeking a larger and more modern store that McAlister Square wouldn't or couldn't provide. Although smaller stores largely filled the Dillard's space, sales at McAlister Square declined, as the mall faced growing competition from Haywood Mall, which expanded in 1995, and Greenville Mall, which was repositioned as a high-end mall in 1995. By the late 1990s, some chain stores in McAlister Square closed, only to be replaced by mom-and-pop stores. As a small mall with only two department store anchors remaining and mid-market stores,
McAlister Square could no longer compete with high-end Greenville Mall and larger Haywood Mall.
Although McAlister Square was nearly fully leased in the late 1990s, in 1999 Belk closed its department store and many small stores at McAlister Square quickly closed. A few months later, Upton's closed its department store when the chain went out of business. The remaining stores at McAlister Square- a Chinese fast-food place, a Radio Shack and a Foot Locker- held on for a long time after the rest of the mall closed. Today the complex has been converted into offices, although a few small stores remain and some new restaurants have opened. McAlister Square is thus the mall that won't die.
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Joel Foster’s Commentary:
User submitted Jul 2006McAlister Square opened in 1969 as the second enclosed mall in South Carolina. Dutch Square in Columbia was the first, opening in 1968. I remember going Christmas shopping in Downtown Greenville in 1968 and finding shoppers elbow-to-elbow in the streets. Just a year later, downtown began its rapid decline.
The single level mall was originally laid out in barbell style with two anchors, Ivey's on the north end, and Meyers-Arnold on the south. Both anchors had 2 levels. Provision was apparently made for expansion from the beginning, as I seem to recall a temporary wall on the east side at center court. I know there were outer walls that later became stores for the east hallway behind this wall. During the Christmas season, I believe 1969, we went into this area for what I remember as a petting zoo, and I think they had a manger scene set up in this area as well. It was just an unfinished shell at that time. Sometime in the early 1970s, Belk Simpson built a third anchor store, also 2 levels, connected to the end of this east hallway. The earlier constructed shell was finished inside and populated with more specialty stores. Mall restrooms were constructed in this hallway, near Belk Simpson, but I only remember using them once. I don't remember any public facilities in the orig
inal commons area, just in the anchor stores.
Greenville Mall, another single level mall with 2 anchors, opened in 1978, but McAlister Square did not suffer dramatically due to the opening, as the original incarnation of Greenville Mall seemed doomed from the start. The mall did suffer after the opening of Haywood Mall in 1980, but economic conditions at the time contributed to this decline, and Haywood Mall did not perform up to expectations in the beginning as a result of these same conditions. Many locals preferred the small, cozy single level McAlister Square to the sprawling, dual level Haywood Mall, and continued to shop there for quite a while as a result.
From 1978 through 1984 I worked for a small, now defunct clothing chain, originally known as It’s the Levi’s Place, then It’s for Levi’s, and finally, It’s. I assumed the Store Manager position of the freestanding store on South Pleasantburg Drive, less than a mile south of McAlister Square, in 1980, just before the opening of Haywood Mall. 9 months after the opening of Haywood Mall, I assumed the Manager's slot in the Haywood Mall location. Incidentally, I finished my career with It’s on January 5, 1986, after completing inventory in my final store in Dutch Square in Columbia.
Christmas 1981 was shaping up to be a dismal season for retailers in Greenville due to the devastating national recession. My store was on target to drop in sales about 20% from the 1980 Christmas season. On Saturday evening, December 12, around 6:30pm, I stepped next door to Hickory Farms to get something to eat. While there, I heard a report on the radio that a fire had been reported at McAlister Square. I returned to my store to see if we could get some more information. As the night wore on, we realized that this was no small event. I told my Assistant Manager to be prepared for a busy 2 weeks. I wasn’t wrong.
As reported, a customer or two and an employee of the Pier 1 Imports store, located in the north corridor near center court, noticed that there was a smell of smoke in the back of the store. Pier 1 was L-shaped, wrapping around behind Hickory Farms. As they walked back towards the front, the ceiling ‘exploded’, and they ran out of the store just ahead of the fireball. Apparently the fire had been smoldering for some time.
The mall was constructed prior to code improvements in fire protection. Studs and framing were wood, rather than steel as found in Haywood Mall. No firewalls were constructed above the drop ceilings. With the exception of the anchor stores, none of the specialty shops were protected by sprinklers. The commons area had a perimeter sprinkler system, but without firewalls, the fire went up inside the facades and over the perimeter sprinklers and into the ceilings of the commons.
The entire mall sustained heavy smoke damage. 6 stores, including Pier 1, Hickory Farms, and some clothing and shoe stores, burned to the ground, along with the commons area outside the stores. Fire crews were able to save the surrounding structures. All of the merchandise in the specialty stores, as well as Ivey’s and Meyers-Arnold, were declared a total loss. Belk Simpson chose to have a fire sale a few days before Christmas. It was later reported that employees of several specialty stores, not understanding the severity of the fire, ignored the order to evacuate the mall and decided to wait out the fire in the offices of their stores. Several were treated for smoke inhalation, I believe.
The cause of the fire was determined to be an electrical error in a panel behind Pier 1 that had been made during construction in 1969. Needless to say, at Haywood Mall, we were swamped with requests to help customers replace lost layaways, and with shoppers that had to find another source for Christmas presents. My store achieved an increase in excess of 40% over prior year for the month of December. More than a thousand people were out of work at the worst time of the year as well.
I have not lived in Greenville since 1984. Returning to McAlister Square to shop in a specific store in the late 1990s, I found it a shell of it’s former self. Today Greenville Technical College occupies much of the mall, along with offices, restaurants, a few small specialty stores, and several radio station studios. The mall may be ‘dead’, but there’s still a lot of activity, unlike many malls suffering similar declines.