A Visit to Georgia Square Mall 

I'm from Commerce and I basically grew up in this mall. I remember when Pizza Hut and York Steakhouse used to be at the main entrance where the dying food court is. There used to be McDonald's and Chick Fila A upstairs. There used to be fountains in front of both Davidson's and Belk. There was a movie theater where the police department is. I used to love Morrison's then Picadilly bought them. American Cookie Company and Spencers are about the only two stores still around from the old days. This truly makes me sad knowing that it's days are numbered. Now everything is out on Epps Bridge Parkway and Oconee Connector

The first time I ever went to this mall was in 1985 before the automatic doors. The reason I remember this is because I held the door open for an elderly lady and she stopped and said to me "I thought you were all dead!" 😁Such a shame to see it deserted now.

I am a native Athenian, and I can tell you that Georgia Square Mall underwent MULTIPLE renovations in its lifetime. At least every five or six years. None of them were very attractive.

Back when I was a UGA student the mall was already starting to die. I went in a couple times early in my time as a student mostly for the retro video game store, but always thought it would've been cool to see the place in its heyday. My wife and I went to the Macy's during its closing sale shortly before we left Athens for good. I think the Atlanta Highway area still has potential and the plans for mixed-use development (heavier on the residential side from what I've read), but I'm a bit skeptical it will be able to compete commercially with the shops in Downtown, far-off but hugely successful Mall of Georgia, the outlet mall in Commerce, or the nearby center off of Epps Bridge.

Once Macy's moved out and all the business starting going over to the Epps bridge/Oconee connector side, that's when it pretty much started sealing the mall's doom. Especially after JC Penney's and Sears left. It's sad to see it die. I remember back when I was a kid and all the stores were full. Even back to when there was a chick fil a and pizza Hut there. I also remember a restaurant called Morrison's that changed to Piccadilly's. That's the one I miss. The other biggest thing I miss was the dollar theater that was once behind the mall. It was cool. They got movies a little later than the other theaters in town but they were always worth the wait since they were cheaper.

I've lived in a neighboring town to Athens all my life. Georgia Square Mall has quite a few memories for me. It really makes me sad to see how empty and dead the place is now. I remember when it was thriving and busy. We didn't make a lot of trips to the mall just because we lived half an hour away and we didn't have the money to regularly shop at the mall, but I do have some fond memories of the times I went. I remember when the theaters were split between the ones outside in the large separate building in the parking lot and the ones where the ACCPD office is presently. The indoor theaters were actually lower than the main walking level, and I was always excited to pass by and look down into the dimly lit lobby where you got your popcorn and tickets and look at the arcade games. While I don't remember it vividly because of how young I was, I remember seeing Masters of the Universe there. I remember back when many of the stores were actually restaurants because there wasn't really a centralized food court area. McDonald's was upstairs. While there wasn't a playground, there was a small carousel. That sticks out so much for me, mostly because it was so different. And, of course, there are several years of the obligatory pictures with Santa and the Easter Bunny when they were there in the main area. I always wanted to be one of those "mall kids" that I saw in movies or TV. I would imagine what it was like to hang out with friends, flirt with or gawk at all the cute girls, play in the arcades, try all the different places to eat. And there was always something new coming to the mall every few months. A new store. An event. It seemed so adventurous and exciting. Now? It's like watching part of my childhood dreams die.

Growing up I practically LIVED in that mall. My parents were almost always at work so my older sister would walk me to the mall since we lived right next to it. By the time I turned 12 my parents told me and my sister that we shouldn't go anymore since most of the shops at the mall were closed, and that since we were getting older we should start helping more around the house instead of going to the mall and wondering around not buying anything. They said it was a complete waste of time going to a mall with barely any shops. I still haven't gone there in many years. Every time we pass it on the way to school I miss being able to go on hot summer days or after school. I miss being able to buy pretzel-bites and look at all of the cool jewelry from Claire's. The worst part is, is that every Christmas, me and my family would go and take Santa photos in that mall. That little area that looked like a house in the mall was always decked out during Christmas and kids would take pictures with Santa. I remember every year when I was younger, me and my sister would sit on a big red couch next to Santa, and tell him what we wanted for Christmas. Recently my parents told me that the mall was going to be changed since a company bought the mall. I thought that meant that they were going to add more shops or paint the walls. But not until I saw this video did I realize that the mall was going to be mostly taken down. This is devastating and I legit almost cried while watching this video. No matter how many malls I go to, this mall will always be my favorite because of the sentimental value it holds in my heart.

I've lived in Athens for 54 years. I remember when this mall opened. It was predicted that its opening would destroy downtown Athens, but the opposite happened. 3 of the 4 anchor stores (Sears, Belks, and Davisons, which became Macy's later) moved from downtown to the mall, leaving room for independent stores to open and flourish. The fourth, Sears, wasn't too far down the road from downtown originally. When this mall opened, it had 2 toy stores, 2 bookstores, 2 record stores, a video arcade, a McDonald's, a Pizza Hut, a movie theater, a Chess King (remember that one?), an Orange Julius, an Orange Bowl (whatever happened to them?), and a Spencer's. There were planters throughout the mall with banyan trees. The people who own this mall made poor decisions, including keeping the rents at ridiculous levels, all while there was cheap land all around them for businesses to move into. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

i remember when i was younger and i took a trip to georgia with my family, and my grandmother took me inside of the store and i absolutely loved it. it’s honestly really upsetting to see all of the stores go out of business.

Man grew up in Athens. My only experience their was trying to buy games workshop figures unsuccessfully. It's weird seeing my stomping ground in a youtube video

Listen that Spencer’s and Victorias Secret were THE place to be when I was in middle school! Circa 2007

I am not a fan of the color scheme for the interior of this mall. With that being said, the retro storefronts stand out even more. It is pretty cool to see that a portion of the mall in front of Belk will remain. The Sears corridor reminds me a bit of the now demolished Valley View Mall in Dallas Texas.

This mall looks like a sister mall to the now gone Madison Square Mall in Huntsville. Both CBL malls and Madison Square was built in 1983. It should also be noted that Madison Square received a near identical renovation around the same time.

This mall was my whole childhood

My dad used to work at the Chick-fil-A on the second floor of Georgia Square Mall. After school during summer my mom, sis and I would go there to pick him up from work or to visit him when he was working. That was when the mall was still thriving in the early 2000’s I do miss the days of walking to the food court to eat some subway or McDonald’s. Watch Avatar on the little tv’s I just hate that the mall will soon go away. As I’m typing this I am at the mall going to Retro Age.

This is one of the last two, two story malls I have yet to visit Georgia Square Mall, and Augusta Mall in Augusta GA. This is a very nice mall it’s nice that they are going to keep a little portion of it where belk is the question is what will be there though. We will have to wait and see.

grew up with the mall. it’s so sad to see it so empty.

I live in Athens,Georgia. So,this is pretty cool to see this.

This is my local mall. You know your mall is dying when there are two army recruitment centers.

It is unfortunate to see the mall in this zombie-like state cuz I do remember when it used to be very lively in the late 2000's & early 2010's. The only thing that keeps me still going to the mall is Retro Age the game store since there's not a lot of retro game stores left around here in the area.

i grew up going to this mall. i remember when it opened and it is sad to see how far it has fallen. they had a fantastic arcade.

Damn... I haven't been to that mall since early 2002, it was still bustling back then, that jc penny is where I bought all my Levi's jeans at the time. Weird to see it a ghost town now.

I see we have another one that hasn't taken down their Sears signage.

the ga square mall was my childhood I'm very disappointed it's starting to die down now.

As someone who is from Athens and grew up going to this mall is honestly sad to see it’s a ghost town now

When these were built, I wonder how long the developers and architects thought malls would last?

Aside from the second floor carpet, I like the way this mall looks too. Some parts of it, especially by Sears, give off a pretty liminal vibe. Shame it's going to be demolished. And for yet _another_ "walkable" lifestyle center with residential. 🙄 Awesome video nonetheless!

Great video as always!!!

I know the layout of that place like the back of my hand. Back in the day I went there mostly for the movie theater, the arcade, the bookstore, and the game store...all of which are now long gone. I haven't set foot in the place since 2019, when it was still somewhat lively. Strange to see it so empty now.

5:24 is my fave song ever :3 Love Borderline. Another banger of a video DG.

Ah thanks for covering this place man. It's a mall ive been going to all my life and was just there Wednesday and the parts that are supposed to come down hasn't yet so im hopping it never dose but i know it will unfortunately come down eventually

I use to go here a good amount in high school, early 2000’s. Had fun and was fairly busy. Was sad to see all the stores start moving out and now it being a shell of its former self. How the entire mall is still standing is beyond me as it seems only the barber shop is the one to get decent business. I only go back for Great American Cookies and Retro Age Athens.

Athens will be the largest city I can think of that will have NO mall or even a lifestyle center. No major mall-centric area, just a few mall-like and lifestyle center-type stores scattered across the city, and even those are very limited. I thought the mall situation in Macon had become very sad over the past decade+, but Athens takes the cake by far. There's not even a Dillard's or JCPenney remotely nearby. I guess the Mall of Georgia's reach about an hour away (and Tanger Outlets at Commerce about 30 minutes away) made department stores and specialty shops not see relocating or entering within the market worthwhile. While this wasn't much of a problem pre 2010, the retail market continues to contract and online shopping isn't helping, although that's hardly the only issue. I wish I could've seen Georgia Square Mall about 12 years ago, right before it entered its decline, so I could've at least seen it in its last thriving years.

I've played a few holiday concerts in here with the UGA trombone choir- which probably sounds weird. Also, there are plans to tear the mall down, and or, convert parts of it apartments.

Such a sick soundtrack man. This is my introduction to your work and the genre as a whole honestly. Hoping you might’ve made it up to Newburgh, NY before they turned the mall into a casino…lol. Cheers!

nice big mall

Crazy to think I used to visit the mall so often a few years ago. But to see it deteriorate is saddening. There's still some purpose to malls but now it has to find that purpose as it had most definitely lost it in the late 2010's.

Thank you for another great video!!

This was the place to be in the 90s. Now it’s just a sketchy place you wouldn’t want to bring your kids to.

I went there a few years ago looking for something or other, and while I was eating at the food court, some girl tried to recruit me to a cult.

It's a real damn shame this more than half of this mall is going to demolished except for the two floors of the Belk's portion of the mall. Really beautiful mall. But this is progress now, I guess. Knock down the past to build for the future.

My childhood.

Wtf, I'm visiting my friend who lives a mile from Georgia Square Mall and RU-vid serves me this video 🤯

So while the sections there are fairly slow, and we've definitely lost a lot of stores, I have to wonder if you went on a weekday, and why you didn't show the foot court or that entrance at all. The weekdays vs weekends are much different, and the food court, while only having two stores, is usually a much busier part. Saturdays especially aren't "dead", for the most part, as someone who works in the mall. Weekends are usually the busiest times, but even then, sometimes weekdays can get busy. I just thought that was interesting, editing-wise. I also find it interesting you didn't show much of Spencers either, which is a fairly popular store next to the Retro gaming store.

This mall has become dead!

There's a lot working against that mall being from the area myself I can say it's biggest killer is uga the college kids are more interested in the down town area as well as the area has the highest drug rate than any part of the city

It looks remarkably similar to the former Madison Square Mall that CBL also developed. Do you know if they are sister malls or did they just get designed by the same party?

Good video Doomie. Have a nice rest of your day.😊

you should come to manassas mall in manassas virginia this mall is rlly dead and so is fair oaks mall in fairfax virginia fairfoaks mall isnt necessarily dead but it rlly used to packed in the early 2000's and 2010's it recently got dead around 2019

Gurl I go there almost every week lol

Interesting layout.I have a video of the interior of abandoned albemarle mall in albemarle nc . Should I post it?

I stopped going to the georgia square mall. I started going to tanger outlet in commerce, georgia. Its not that many ppl at the georgia square mall anymore. Are they closing it down soon?

ever since they took out earthbound i cant bring myself to go anymore

Trust me the bricks are the only things in Athens that are "too white". Even though the mall looks like it's being well kept unfortunately those large ham beasts waddling around inside have not been kept up.

Doesn't look too dead.

So sad 😢

0:00 What's the name of the music in the beginning?

Pretty sad to see this one in the state it's in. Even when I was in college at UGA, it was as "respectable" a mall could be in a place like Athens. It was no Lenox Square, of course, but how "fancy" can you expect a mall in Athens to be? I was there from 2006-2010, so the renovation happened right in the middle of my sophomore year. Back then, all 4 anchors were open, and had a slate of stores that a college student could appreciate: Gap, American Eagle, Aeropostale, even New York and Company and Victoria's Secret for the ladies. Even a new Hollister opened around the time of the renovation. Most notable to me was the vintage "Compagnie Internationale" Express store that still had a good bit of the pseudo-French theming that Express stores of late 80s/early 90s era had. And the Express Men's store attached to it that I used to like to shop in was just an old Structure with the "Express Men" name plastered onto it.

The only reason to go here anymore is for mandarin express lmao

Its nothing more than a giant fleamarket now. Ghetto place

Cute

BTW it doesn't surprise me that most zoomers are walking around today with the "drip"😂😂😂