The last days of Georgia Square Mall
Georgia Square Mall December 2024
Nestled in the city of Athens, about an hour outside of Atlanta, GA, sits the Georgia Square Mall, a typical American mall design of yesteryear with more parking square footage than actual store space.
Today, the mall is on its last legs, the result of decades of changing American consumer habits and the declining culture of American mega-malls. The mall is but a shell of its former self (see the video below of a promo for the mall just over 10 years ago).
In December of 2024, I visited this mall to see what was left of it before it gets partially torn down and turned into a large mixed-used development with new commercial space, 1200 apartments, and a new senior living center.
Like many built just like it, the Georgia Square Mall was anchored by major department store tenants like JC Penny, Belk, and Sears. The Sears and JC Penny have since closed but the Belk remains open, although quite empty.
Inside, the mall is an eerily quiet ghost town. Most of the shop gates are closed and the ones that remained open are generic stores that sell an unidentifiable selection of clothes and shoes. The food selection is abysmal with virtually all stalls closed except for 2 it seems. The familiar center-aisle stalls are empty as well and the usual delights of the mall experience, like candy machines, photo booths, and massage chairs, are all sitting unused but lit up as if waiting for a familiar friend.
Curiously, the interior of the mall seems to continue to serve as a location for the Athens-Clark County Police Precinct and
