Harundale Mall
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Harundale Mall was located in Glen Burnie, Maryland. It was one of the oldest enclosed malls in America. The mall was located at the intersection of Ritchie Highway and Aquahart Road. Harundale Mall has been replaced by Harundale Plaza located at the same location. The mall was built in Anne Arundel County by James Rouse. Rousse later developed Columbia, Maryland, in Howard County. Columbia was one of the first modern planned communities. Harundale Mall rivaled Southdale Center in Minnesota, the other indoor mall at the time.
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[edit] Opening
Harundale Mall opened in October of 1958. It was the first indoor enclosed shopping mall on the East Coast of the United States. Harundale is credited as the first air conditioned mall in the United States. For many years, large cages in the mall featured talking Myna birds. Harundale took itself seriously and a signature "rock" was located in the middle of the mall memorializing the mall's construction and those who constructed it. A water fountain was located next to the rock and a set of stairs to the second floor offices allowed mall-goers to watch the water from the fountain "top out" and fall back into the fountain's pool below. Mall-goers could also throw coins into the fountain's pool from the stairs. In addition to the mall offices, a "community room", and restrooms, the second floor had an entrance to the second floor of the Hochschild Kohn's Department Store. Hochschild Kohn's was the only store in the mall with two stories. At one point in the mall's history, a Horn and Horn Smorgasbord Cafeteria operated on the second floor as well. The second floor "community room" could be rented for weddings and provided a place for public meetings.
Pre-dating the Harundale Mall was a strip shopping center in the south eastern corner of the mall property. This strip center originally included an Eddie's Super Market and a White Coffee Pot Restaurant.
When Harundale Mall opened, it had two major anchors that were Hochschild Kohn's and Food Fair. It also had three other smaller anchors that were Read's Drug Store (with a soda fountain), S.S. Kresge five and dime store, and G.C. Murphy five and dime store. Harundale also had about 50 other smaller tenants and food establishments. One of the more noteworthy food establishments was an eatery towards the center of Harundale Mall which for many years was the Italian Delight Restaurant. This restaurant featured a "below grade" floor. As a result, the workers at this establishment ended up looking much shorter than the average mall-goer standing "at grade".
The mall opened to much fanfare in 1958. Traffic was backed up for two miles on Maryland Route 2 just to get on the parking lot on opening day. This was truly something people had never seen before. Several politicians (including John F. Kennedy, the junior Senator from Massachusetts) were even present for the opening day. Harundale Mall was a major shopping destination for over 30 years.
[edit] Decline
Hutzler's Department Store closed a nearby location in Southdale abd replaced the mall's Hochschild Kohn's Department Store in the mid-1980s. Other newer additions to Harundale Mall included Erol's TV and Video Club, Foot Locker, and Rite Aid. Throughout the 1980s, most of the older enclosed malls in northern Anne Arundel County similar to Harundale Mall were generally in a state of decline. This included nearby Jumpers Hole Mall, the Severna Park Mall, and the Glen Burnie Mall. The Harundale Mall did better than some of these other older malls. But it too was in a downward slide. In 1987, Harundale Mall's slide was quickened with the opening of the Marley Station Mall less than two miles away. Several of Harundale Mall's few remaining higher-end stores (like Foot Locker) left the aging mall for this newer mall. Hutzler's, also in trouble as a chain, closed in Harundale Mall in 1988. The mall management talked with JC Penney to replace Hutzler's. However, JC Penney chose Marley Station instead. The closed Hutzler's was instead replaced by a Value City Discount Store in 1989. Value City was not the store needed to save the mall. A more rapid decline started in the early 1990s. This was fueled by changing demographics in the area, lower-income stores' coming to the mall, and a rise in crime. In 1998 the mall was quietly closed. Many of the stores had already left by this time. The only size-able business still open was the Value City. Most of the mall was torn down and the signature "rock" in the middle of the mall was removed for later use (see Harundale Plaza).
[edit] Harundale Plaza
In 1999, the mall reopened and redeveloped as Harundale Plaza, a strip shopping center. This shopping center consists of Value City, A.J. Wright, Super Fresh supermarket, Outback Steakhouse, and a U.S. Post Office, plus several other typical strip-mall stores. The signature "rock" from Harundale Mall is now at Harundale Plaza.
