Springdale Mall

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Springdale Mall is a defunct shopping mall located in Mobile, Alabama. The site is bounded on the north by Lowes Home Improvement warehouse, space for future development and the neighborhood of Westlawn. Airport Boulevard and its system of service roads mark the southern site boundary, while I-65 and its frontage roads mark the west. A corridor of high voltage power lines, originating from a power plant in nearby Chickasaw, AL, march through the eastern parking lot. In addition, a large drainage canal, associated with Wragg's Swamp and the Dog River, winds around the eastern and north portions of the site.

Opening in 1960, as an open-air regional shopping center at the intersection of Beltline Highway (I-65) and Airport Boulevard, Springdale was anchored by CJ Gayfers Department Store and Delchamps supermarket. Competition would arrive in late 1967 in the form of Bel Air Mall, a state-of-the-art enclosed mall which was anchored by Sears and Hammels. In the mid 1970s, an enclosed wing was completed adjecent to the east end of the CJ Gayfers building. This wing was anchored by Montgomery Ward and a six screen multiplex, Springdale Cinemas, as a junior anchor.

In the late 1980s, Toys "R" Us co-anchored the Montgomery Ward building. In 1988, a second enclosed wing was developed between Gayfers and McRae's, which had opened in 1987. This 'west mall' featured more nationally knonw in-line retailers such as Gap, Express and Victoria's Secret. Largely due to the regional appeal of the flagship, iconic three-level Gayfers Deparment Store, Springdale enjoyed a healthy existence in the face of competition from other regional shopping centers for much of the 1990s.

Barnes & Noble debuted its first South Alabama location in Springdale Plaza in 1993. Old Navy would make its appearance in the Mobile market a couple of storefronts down from Barnes & Noble in 1995. In 1996, Springdale completed an extensive relandscaping program which upgraded much of the mall's surface parking and lighting. 1998 would mark the beginning of unfavorable times for Springdale Mall. In August of that year, Mercantile Stores, the owners of CJ Gayfers and a host of regional department store nameplates, was purchased by Arkansas-based Dillards. A month later, the ailing Montgomery Wards store would close. Despite having a large, thoroughly remodeled Dillards store exist directly across the street at Bel Air Mall, Dillards maintained Gayfers as a full-line Dillards store in Springdale, but without several of Gayfers signature amenities, such as The Coffee Kettle casual dining restaurant and bakery.

Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, much of the in-line retail space in both of Springdale's enclosed wings was converted to big box retail space, with some new tenants even featuring nominal rear entrances into the desolate mall corridor. In 1998, Springdale Cinemas was upgraded to eleven stadium seat theaters. 1999 would see Burlington Coat Factory occupying the vacant Montgomery Wards space. The west wing enclosed mall of Springdale would be demolished for a Best Buy store in 2001. In 2004, Dillards was completely demolished for a Sam's Club membership warehouse, auto service center and additional surface parking, while Toys "R" Us would relocate to a freestanding building on nearby Bel Air Boulevard. Belk entered the Mobile market in 2005, when the North Caroline-based department store chain acquired Profitts and McRae's from Birmingham, Alabama-based Saks Incorporated. In recent years, Springdale Cinema totally ceased operation. A bevy of eateries and ancillary retail have successfully developed on Springdale's prominently sited outparcels, including Logan's Roadhouse and Romano's Macaroni Grille. This mall was featured in the 1994 Pamela Anderson film Raw Justice.