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Greenbriar Mall

Back Entrance
Location	Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Coordinates	33°41′18″N 84°29′36″W / 33.6884°N 84.4933°W / 33.6884; -84.4933
Opening date	1965
Developer	Crow Carter & Associates
Owner	Hendon Properties
No. of stores and services	100+
No. of anchor tenants	7 (4 open, 3 vacant by April 2021)
Total retail floor area	678,072 sq ft (62,995.0 m)
No. of floors	1 (3in Macy's, 2 in the former Burlington/Upton’s/JCPenney’s)
Website	shopgreenbriar.com

Greenbriar Mall is a shopping mall in the Greenbriar neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia that opened in 1965. The anchor stores are Beauty Master, Dollar Tree, Greenbriar Furniture, and Citi Trends. There are 2 vacant anchor stores that were once Burlington and Fallas. It was home to the first mall Chick-fil-A location.

History

Greenbriar Center opened in August/September 1965 as Atlanta's third enclosed mall, after North Dekalb Center, in July 1965, and Columbia Mall, in August 1965. The mall was designed by Atlanta architect John Portman's firm Edwards and Portman. The design of the mall was like many of the early malls in Atlanta, with an anchor store on each end and an enclosed concourse. The complex opened with Rich's on the east end and JCPenney on the west. It was the second-largest suburban Rich's when it first opened. JCPenney closed their store on September 28, 1985, after 20 years of operation. In 1987, Uptons took over the former JCPenney site and a Circuit City store opened outside the mall. In mid-1992, Cub Foods opened a location on a mall outlot facing Lakewood Freeway. Later in 1992, the Uptons and McCrory's stores in the mall closed for good. A Burlington Coat Factory store opened on September 1, 1995, but relocated in 2019.

Greenbriar Mall housed the very first Chick-fil-A location. Local Atlanta businessman S. Truett Cathy took the chicken sandwiches served at his Dwarf House in nearby Hapeville and opened the Greenbriar store in 1967. Chick-Fil-A announced that the location would close permanently on May 20, 2023. Record Bar opened one of its stores there, to be later supplanted by Camelot Music. There was also a Happy Herman's Liquor Store, a Woolworth's dimestore and a branch of the Atlanta Public Library.

In 1991, music producer Jermaine Dupri met the duo who would become Kris Kross at Greenbriar.

In 1996 a Magic Johnson Theatres multiplex opened at the mall, and in 2002 Magic Johnson himself made an unsuccessful effort to buy the mall but the theaters, unable to recover after the Great Recession, (by then managed by AMC Theatres) closed in 2009. At that point the mall was seen as a somewhat stagnated property, although still mostly occupied. On December 6, 2019, Burlington Coat Factory relocated to Camp Creek Parkway.

On January 6, 2021, it was announced that Macy's would be closing in April 2021 as part of a plan to close 46 stores nationwide. After Macy's closed, there were no traditional anchor stores left.

References

1. Craig, Robert M. (November 8, 2013) . "Shopping Center Architecture". New Georgia Encyclopedia.
2. "Company Fact Sheet". Chick-fil-A. Archived from the original on August 10, 2007. Retrieved July 28, 2007. 1967 -- First Chick-fil-A in-mall restaurant opened in Atlanta's Greenbriar Mall
3. Hollis, Henri (May 17, 2023). "Revolutionary Chick-fil-A location announces closure at Greenbriar Mall". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Archived from the original on May 17, 2023. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
4. Willis, Kiersten (February 21, 2020). "Jermaine Dupri recalls how he discovered Kris Kross at Greenbriar Mall". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
5. Poole, Sheila M. (November 22, 1996). "Magic Johnson Theaters Could Be Magnet for Atlanta Commercial Development". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ProQuest 247434481. Archived from the original on September 10, 2016 – via HighBeam Research.
6. "'Magic' Johnson Tries to Buy Atlanta Mall". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. September 7, 2002. ProQuest 336918209. Archived from the original on September 11, 2016 – via HighBeam Research.
7. Tobin Ramos, Rachel (October 6, 2009). "Magic Johnson cinema at Greenbriar Mall to close". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Archived from the original on February 21, 2013.
8. Torpy, Bill (December 21, 2009). "Greenbriar Mall boosters hope for its survival". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Archived from the original on July 19, 2017.
9. Thomas, Lauren; Rattner, Nate (January 6, 2021). "Macy's is closing dozens of stores this year. Here's the full list". CNBC.

• Buildings and structures in Fulton County, Georgia
• Shopping malls in the Atlanta metropolitan area
• Shopping malls established in 1965
• Buildings and structures in Atlanta