Four Seasons Town Centre

Four Seasons Town Centre is a three-story shopping mall in Greensboro, North Carolina. Opened in 1974, it was the first enclosed shopping center in Greensboro. Currently it is anchored by Dillard's and J. C. Penney and it is the only indoor shopping mall within Greensboro's city limits; however, nearby Friendly Center, an outdoor shopping plaza, has many of the same tenants. Four Seasons today is managed by General Growth Properties. The shopping mall is located at the I-40 interchange with Gate City Boulevard (formerly High Point Road), southwest of downtown.

History

Assembly of the land that would eventually become the site of Four Seasons Mall began in late 1958, when Joseph S. Koury, a local developer, began purchasing land south of downtown Greensboro with the intent of developing new suburban housing and shopping centers. The Four Seasons site, at the new intersection of Interstate 40 and US 29-A/US 70-A (modern day Gate City Boulevard), was earmarked as the location for the signature development of Imperial Construction, the predecessor company to Koury Corporation, which was also owned and operated by Koury.^[3]

The first development on the site, a Holiday Inn hotel, opened in 1970. The mall eventually followed, with two levels and 900,000 square feet (84,000 m²), opening in stages between 1974 and 1975. The mall was designed for expansion, with the main mall building featuring both a third floor and basement level, both of which would eventually be used for retail space in the mall's future.

Interior of the mall, seen from the indoor amphitheatre on the first floor

Originally known as Four Seasons Mall, it featured Belk, J. C. Penney, and Meyer's, a Greensboro-based department store owned by Allied Stores, as primary anchors. Miller & Rhoads, Frankenberger's, Thalhimer's and McCrory's were secondary anchors. There were also large Eckerd Drugs and Winn Dixie stores at Four Seasons, as well as a Piccadilly Cafeteria and a four-screen General Cinema.

Meyer's was soon replaced by Jordan Marsh, another Allied Stores nameplate, and that space was sold to Ivey's by 1980. JCPenney discontinued its auto service operation at Four Seasons in 1983, and the freestanding building that housed it was razed a few years later.

In 1987, Four Seasons Mall completed its third story expansion, giving the mall over 1 million square feet (93,000 m²) 200 stores, and a large new food court. It also assumed its current name at that time, along with a new, more contemporary logo.

Ivey's was acquired by Dillard's in 1990, just after a major renovation to its store that connected it to the mall's new third level, and Thalhimers was sold to the The May Department Stores Co. later that same year. Belk also expanded and renovated its store, adding a third shopping level and over 50,000 square feet (5,000 m²) of selling space.

When the Thalhimers nameplate was discontinued in 1992, the Four Seasons store closed because it was too small, at 20,000 square feet (2,000 m²), to carry a full line of department store merchandise. It was scheduled to be replaced with a Hecht's store, but May instead decided to expand its Friendly Center Hecht's and build a freestanding Hecht's three miles (5 km) west of Four Seasons at Interstate 40 and Wendover Avenue.

In the late 1990s, Four Seasons Town Centre further renovated its interior with a dramatic redesign by Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates. This renovation added a large fountain and amphitheater to the mall's center court. A number of permanent vendor spaces and kiosks were added to the mall's large corridors, as well as living room-like soft seating areas.

In 2002, Dillard's expanded its store by 80,000 square feet (7,000 m²) and underwent a total renovation. Additionally, all exterior public mall entrances were redesigned over a period of three years following the Dillard's renovation.

In the early 2000s, the closure and demolition of Carolina Circle Mall left Four Seasons as the only enclosed shopping mall in Greensboro.

On December 23, 2006, a shopper was shot just outside Baby Gap on the second floor of the mall. Due to the large holiday crowd, the event was reported extensively. The incident marked the second shooting at the mall in little more than a month; a man was killed on November 21, 2006, when he was shot in the parking lot outside the mall's J.C. Penney store.

On May 19, 2014, Belk announced that its Four Seasons location would close in February 2015. In a statement, Belk officials said they want to "focus our resources and efforts on the major expansion and remodeling of our Friendly Center store, which we will reopen this fall as a Belk flagship store."^[4] After a store closing sale that started on November 8, 2014, the store closed for good on January 18, 2015, just short of its 40th anniversary at the mall.

Anchors

• Dillard's - 212,047 square feet (19,700 m²), three levels. (originally 140,000 square feet (13,000 m²), two levels.) Interior renovated and store space reconfigured to add third shopping level in 1989. Complete expansion and renovation in 2002. The store will relocate to the former Belk in the Fall of 2016.
• JCPenney - 217,975 square feet (20,251 m²), three levels, third level unoccupied. Interior renovated in 1983 and 1998. Exterior entrances renovated in 2003.

Former Anchor

• Belk - 211,994 square feet (19,695 m²), three levels. (originally 160,000 square feet (15,000 m²), two levels.) Interior renovated and expanded to add third shopping level in 1990. Exterior entrances and parts of interior renovated in 2005. The third level was sealed off in 2009 as a result in decline in sales. In 2014, Belk announced that it would consolidate and close this location following the holiday season. The store officially closed on January 19, 2015. To be replaced by a relocated Dillard's in the fall of 2016.

See also

• Carolina Circle Mall
• Friendly Center

References

External links

• Four Seasons Town Centre

Coordinates: 36°02′25″N 79°50′15″W / 36.0401966°N 79.8373775°W / 36.0401966; -79.8373775