Mall in Columbia

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Mall in Columbia, Interior View, Original Section

The Mall in Columbia (sometimes called Columbia Mall) in the planned community of Columbia, Maryland, is a large regional shopping mall with five anchor department stores (Sears, J.C. Penney, Nordstrom, Macy's, and Lord & Taylor) and over 200 specialty stores. It also contains a 14-screen AMC movie theater and one of the few L. L. Bean retail stores outside of Maine. The Mall is located in the Town Center area of the city. It opened in 1971 with two major anchor stores: Hochschild Kohn's (which was replaced by Hecht's in the mid-1970s) and Woodward & Lothrop (a.k.a. Woodies, which closed in late 1995 and was replaced by JC Penney), as well as a McCrory's and Lerner's, which were minor anchors. The Mall has undergone two major expansions since its opening: the Sears wing opened in the early 1980s, and the Lord & Taylor and Nordstrom wings (along with a renovation of the entire Mall and parking lots) opened in the late 1990s. In 1996, the Hecht's store (now Macy's) added a third level. A Cheesecake Factory restaurant opened on the Mall property near the movie theater in late 2005. The Mall's Hecht's store became Macy's on September 9, 2006. The mall is operated by General Growth Properties, which acquired it with the Rouse Company in 2004.

A December 2007 decision by local General Growth Properties managers to abandon the Mall's traditional "Poinsettia Tree" Christmas display in favor of a larger "Santastic" display sparked a grassroots movement by several hundred Columbia residents for the return of the display which had come to be viewed as a local tradition. The story was picked up by the Washington Post, and the publicity led mall managers to reverse their decision and promise the return of the popular display in 2008.

[edit] Anchors

• Macy's (formerly Hecht's)
• Nordstrom
• Lord & Taylor
• JC Penney (formerly Woodward & Lothrop)
• Sears
• LL Bean
• AMC Theaters

[edit] Major Retailers

• GAP
• Banana Republic
• Abercrombie & Fitch
• Abercrombie kids
• Hollister Co.
• Restoration Hardware
• Victoria's Secret
• H&M
• Williams-Sonoma
• American Eagle Outfitters
• Aeropostale
• dELiA*s
• Ann Taylor
• Ann Taylor Loft
• J.Crew
• Talbots
• Martin + Osa (opening summer 2008)
• Janie and Jack (opening summer 2008)
• Apple Store
• Forever 21
• Buckle (opening late 2008)
• Express
• Bath and Body Works
• The Limited
• Fossil
• J. Jill
• Le Gourmet Chef
• Sephora

[edit] Restaurants

• Cheesecake Factory
• P.F. Chang's
• Champps Americana
• Uno Chicago Grill

[edit] External links

• Columbia Mall consumer page
• Washington Post Article on Poinsettia Tree Controversy by Metro Section Columnist Marc Fisher, Thursday, December 13, 2007,Page B01

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