Shannon Mall
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Shannon Mall, once known as Shannon Southpark Mall, is an ailing mall on the southwest side of Atlanta. Located in Union City, the one-story center opened on August 7, 1980 with anchors Rich's, Davison's and Sears. In late 2006, the mall was renamed Union Station in anticipation of redeveloping the ailing center.
Intended as a superregional center in an area underserved by retail, the mall was never extremely successful, but did reasonably well for the first ten years. The mall was intended to serve South Fulton, Douglas, Coweta and Fayette Counties, but the mall was ahead of its time with the area around it not developing as quickly as hoped. However, some development in both Peachtree City and eastern Douglas County did provide enough traffic to keep the mall viable during the 1980s and early 1990s.
Initially, the mall negatively affected Greenbriar Mall due to its nearby proximity in a newer area, but the mall later became less of a threat to the center. This is because the mall already had problems of its own. The woes of the mall were not initially affected so much by competition but from a mall built ahead of its time in a poor location even though it is off I-85 near I-285. Crime rates increased around the center, which was built too close to the economically declining western suburbs of Atlanta, white flight took place around it and the customer base was never large enough or wealthy enough to adequately support it. Part of the reason for that is that a proposed megadevelopment to the south in Newnan known as Shenandoah was never started.
Shannon Mall was expanded in 1986. This is when the center was renamed "Shannon Southpark Mall." The expansion included a small wing with a Mervyn's Department Store, bringing the total anchors up to four. When Mervyn's left the Atlanta area in 1996, JCPenney took over the location. Shannon "Southpark" Mall was later renovated in 1999 and renamed back to its original moniker.
Evidence that the mall was in trouble started in the late 1990s. Major chain inline stores left the center, Macy's (formerly Davison's) closed in 1998 and JCPenney closed in 2000. The 1999 interior renovation did little to stop this exodus, either. The biggest blow was when Arbor Place Mall in Douglasville opened the same year of the renovation, taking a big chunk of its shopper base.
After the dust settled, the mall still retained Rich's (the smallest in the chain) and Sears after the other stores left, but no stores have yet come to fill the vacant Davison's/Macy's and the mall has numerous vacancies with few chain stores remaining. A family fun center called "Maxx Funn" is the newest addition to the mall, however, which opened in 2005 in the former JCPenney. Its wing was closed off in 1999, and only recently reopened. It still contains numerous dead storefronts (still intact from over seven years ago), which have yet to be boarded up or turned into other establishments. The future of the mall remains in doubt and with the Sears chain fading and the Macy's location there the only remaining major tenants, the next five years will be crucial in the future of the mall, and redevelopment is needed as future competition continues to threaten it.
