| Location | 10300 Little Patuxent Parkway Columbia, Maryland, United States |
|---|---|
| Opening date | 1971 |
| Developer | The Rouse Company |
| Owner | General Growth Properties |
| No. of stores and services | 202 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 7 |
| Total retail floor area | 1,400,000 sq ft (130,000 m2) |
| Parking | 7,200 spaces, including 3 parking garages |
| No. of floors | 2 |
| Website | www.themallincolumbia.com |
The Mall in Columbia (sometimes Columbia Mall or colloquially "The Mall") is the central shopping mall for the planned community of Columbia, Maryland, United States. It has five anchor department stores (Sears, JCPenney, Nordstrom, Macy's, and Lord & Taylor) and over 200 specialty stores. It includes a 14-screen AMC Theatres and one of the 13 L.L.Bean retail stores outside of Maine.[1][2] The mall is located in the Town Center area of the city and attracts shoppers from surrounding counties in Maryland.
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The Mall 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 JCPenney in July 1996[3]), as well as a McCrory's and Lerner's, which were minor anchors.
The Mall has undergone several major expansions since its opening, with the Sears wing opening in 1981, along with an expansion of approximately 370,000 square feet (34,000 m2) and about 55 specialty stores.[4]
In 1997, the Hecht's store (now Macy's) added a third level. The Lord & Taylor wing opened in November 1998 (along with two new parking garages); the Nordstrom wing opened in September 1999. Also at this time, 20 to 30 stores opened in a new 60,000-square-foot (5,600 m2) wing near Hecht's. The interior was renovated by replacing the floors, lighting, skylights and air conditioning units by the end of 1998.[5]
A Cheesecake Factory restaurant opened on The Mall property near the movie theaters in late 2005. The Mall's Hecht's store became Macy's on September 9, 2006.[6]
The Mall is operated by General Growth Properties, which acquired it from the Rouse Company in 2004.[7]
A December 2007 decision by local General Growth Properties managers to abandon The Mall's traditional "Poinsettia Tree" Christmas 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,[7] and the publicity led mall managers to reverse their decision and return the popular display in 2008.[8] Part of what makes the "tree" unique is its watering system and plant specifications.[9]
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