Hickory Hollow Mall, later Global Mall at the Crossings, was a regional indoor shopping mall in the Nashville neighborhood of Antioch, Tennessee, located just east of I-24 at exit 59 along Bell Road (Route 254). The shopping center was inaugurated on August 11, 1978, and flourished for three decades, containing 249 stores during its heyday as the largest and highest-grossing mall in Tennessee.
Many factors led to its decline during the late 2000s, plummeting to a mere 12 retailers by the year 2012, earning its status as a dead mall. Between 2012 and 2016, over $50 million was invested in revitalizing the Hickory Hollow property and 58 tenants occupied the internationally-themed mall (47.8% occupancy) by 2016. After 41 years of operation, the mall closed in 2019 and is scheduled for demolition in 2026.
History Antioch was a small rural community of farmers in the 1960s. A massive population influx in the 1970s was fueled by the construction of numerous apartment complexes after the sewer system was extended to the outskirts of Nashville.
Hickory Hollow Mall opened on September 21, 1978, on 27 acres of land in Nashville's burgeoning southeastern neighborhood amidst the explosive growth. It was Middle Tennessee's fifth mall, its second super regional mall, and one of Tennessee's first two-tiered indoor shopping centers. For its first three years, it was the largest retail space in the state of Tennessee, surpassing Goodlettsville's Rivergate Mall, which opened in 1971. The mall's structure featured three wings in a T-shaped layout connected by a large two-story atrium hub, containing a total of 137 tenants, including an arcade and a movie theater. On opening night, Mall Cinemas 1–2–3 operated by Consolidated Theatres screened first-run movies starting with Animal House, Grease, and Hooper.
Local department store, Cain-Sloan, opened on August 9, two days prior to the mall's inauguration, and was situated on the south side of the central hub (as the south wing did not yet exist). Two other department stores served as the original anchor tenants, including national franchise Sears in the west wing, and locally founded Castner Knott in the east wing. Big-name retailers occupying the inner core of the building included national chains B. Dalton Booksellers, The Gap, Kay Jewelers, Thom McAn, and Hallmark Cards. Original tenants also included locally based Kirkland's, The Tennessee Coffee Company, and the initial location of Angelo's Picnic Pizza.
Natural light was abundant through the atrium-style glass ceiling and steel latticework and the mall's center court included a glass elevator and a water feature. The Food Garden, a food court located in the west wing, was designed with multi-level seating and landscaped vegetation with eateries that included locally based The Cookie Store, as well as Swensen's Ice Cream Factory, Tater Junction, and the first Chick-fil-A in Tennessee; one of the first expansions of this franchise outside of Georgia and The Carolinas. The premises contained 5,795 parking spaces. At some point the main office obtained the phone number (615) 731-MALL.
On October 7, 1981, the Mall of Memphis opened in West Tennessee with of retail space, surpassing Hickory Hollow in retail square footage but not in overall structural size. On August 5, 1987, the $180 million facility Hamilton Place opened in Chattanooga with an overall size of , surpassing the Mall of Memphis as the largest in Tennessee. That structure held the title until 1994 when West Town Mall in Knoxville completed an expansion.
Expansion and renovation In 1982, JCPenney was added to anchor the north wing along with 24 stores in a $10 million expansion project.
Cain-Sloan was sold to national department store chain Dillard's in 1987, occupying the space for the next four years, while the mall theater Carmike Cinemas was acquired in July 1989.
In 1991, a $25 million expansion converted Dillard's into 30 smaller shops while a new Dillard's and parking garage were constructed on a previous parking lot space. On September 20, 1991, the non-profit company Hickory Hollow Mall Merchants Association, established on opening day in 1978, was dissolved.
The food court was expanded in 1993 as Hickory Hollow remained competitive despite the opening of five new malls in the Nashville area. On April 25, 1997, Carmike Cinemas opened the Hickory 8 in the east parking lot leading to the closure of the mall's original theater shortly thereafter.
In 1998, Castner Knott's 100-year history came to an end when they were acquired by Dillard's, the anchor of the east wing undergoing a constant metamorphosis over the next seven years. In Nashville, all five of Castner-Knott's high-volume mall locations were within shopping complexes that already contained Dillard's. To avoid antitrust violations, those spaces were sold to Saks Incorporated and rebranded as Proffitt's including the Hickory Hollow location which was then extensively remodeled.
In 2005, Proffitt's was sold to Belk. However, the location at Hickory Hollow had been sold to May Company and rebranded as Hecht's a few years prior, in 2001.
CBL & Associates, the real estate investment trust that manages Chattanooga's Hamilton Place, bought Hickory Hollow Mall for nearly $200 million in the summer of 1998. By the year 2000 roughly 702,000 inhabitants resided in the mall's primary trade area (20-mile radius) and secondary trade area (40-mile radius), a number that would swell to nearly one million by 2015. To compete with the city's newer malls, more renovations took place in 2002 and 2003 adding a children's play area and a revamped food court along with new carpeting, updated fixtures, and architecturally enhanced entrances.
Decline By 2005, Hickory Hollow Mall's appraisal value had slipped to $70 million. After enjoying a relatively low vacancy rate throughout its existence, 2006 would prove to be a pivotal year in the mall's history. Numerous dynamics during the mid-2000s caused the shopping center to become a victim of suburban retail decline. Contributing factors included drastic changes in community demographics, a sharp increase in Antioch's violent crime rate, and several well-publicized shootings on the mall's property within a relatively short span of time. Subsequent dwindling mall traffic, competition from more modern shopping venues, and the untimely economic struggles of several large retailers dealt a crushing blow to the mall.
The earliest recorded shooting in the immediate mall vicinity occurred on November 3, 2004. Brian Schweitzer was fatally shot outside the U.S. Courthouse Credit Union bank on the east side of the mall by Metro Police officer Shawn Taylor. Schweitzer, himself a former policeman, had robbed two other banks that morning and attempted to flee when officer Taylor identified the suspect outside the Antioch bank and fired.
The population of the 37013 ZIP code increased significantly from 51,343 to 78,406 during the 2000s, and with the population explosion came major demographic changes. Antioch's median household income had decreased by $9,893 by 2006, and the neighborhood's rate of violent crimes, property crimes, and murders surpassed the national average.
With the opening of Opry Mills on May 12, 2000, patrons on the east side of Nashville had a newer, more modern shopping mall to patronize. To the south, Stones River Mall in Murfreesboro completed major renovations between 2006 and 2008, while in October 2007, The Avenue Murfreesboro, a large outdoor shopping area, opened in a rapidly growing area just six exits south of Hickory Hollow.
In early 2006 JCPenney became the first anchor to depart the mall, ending its 24-year presence in the north wing. A new JCPenney opened on March 1 in Mt. Juliet's new Providence Marketplace in the eastern suburbs of Nashville. In their absence, mall occupancy had fallen from 91% in 2003 to 82% in 2006 when the JCPenney space was acquired by Steve & Barry's University Sportswear in May of 2006. Antioch's Starwood Amphitheatre closed after 20 years on October 21, 2006.
In 2008, Hickory Hollow would lose three of its largest tenants. Dillard's began liquidating its inventory in May and closed on August 2, initiating the mass exodus of smaller stores. That same year, Linens ‘n Things closed all national stores to exclusively operate online, while Steve & Barry's announced their bankruptcy on November 20, 2008, and closed in early 2009. By that time, large stores outside the mall had also closed their doors, including Circuit City, closing all locations nationally, as well as Toys "R" Us, Pier 1 Imports, Michaels, and Office Depot. At the end of 2009, store occupancy had fallen below 70%, and Hickory Hollow was ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of America's 10 most endangered malls. Sales dropped to $187 per square foot of retail space, under 45% of the national average of $420, and the value of the mall was severely downgraded to $12.6 million.
By early 2010, the north and south wings were practically vacant, while the food court lost vital franchises Subway on January 3 and Chick-fil-A on January 8. Major tenants The Children's Place, Hot Topic, New York & Company, and Lane Bryant announced they would vacate the mall by January 23, citing poor sales since the departure of Dillard's and JCPenney. Meanwhile, the east and west wings, respectively flanked by Macy's and Sears, remained heavily occupied by such notable franchises as Aéropostale, Charlotte Russe, Wet Seal, Bath & Body Works, Electronic Express, and Buckle. The Hickory Hollow Action Partnership began meetings on March 9, 2010, formed under chairman Ben Freeland, owner of nearby Freeland Chevrolet Superstore, with the hope of changing the community's negative perception.
News coverage of several violent acts that occurred on the mall's grounds influenced the perception of a lack of safety at Hickory Hollow Mall. On May 11, 2010, around 9:00 p.m., 18-year-old Marcus Caruthers robbed two shoppers at gunpoint, taking their purchases along with their wallets and cell phones. On November 18, 2011, around 9:20 p.m., a mall patron was shot in the leg during an armed robbery attempt in the mall parking lot outside of Sears. On January 20, 2012, around 8:00 p.m., two gunmen approached a woman outside the south end of the mall and ordered her into a vehicle demanding cash. Four male friends approached the vehicle in her defense and one of them was shot in the shoulder.
On December 27, 2011, CEO Louis D'Ambrosio announced that struggling Sears would close 100 to 120 locations nationwide. Two days later, the announcement came that Hickory Hollow Sears, which had anchored the west wing since the mall's opening in 1978, would close. Six days later, on January 4, 2012, CEO Terry J. Lundgren announced Macy's intended to close five underperforming locations nationwide including the Hickory Hollow store. By mid-March 2012, Sears closed in the west wing and Macy's vacated the east wing, leaving the mall with no department stores. In April 2012, it was announced the final big box out parcel tenant would be departing as Best Buy (originally the Hills department store) closed 50 stores nationwide, part of the company's plan to eliminate underperforming stores. The Hickory Hollow location was shuttered on May 12.
With only 83 stores remaining on Hickory Hollow's directory, CBL & Associates vice president Katie Reinsmidt announced on June 1, 2012, that the company was terminating the leases of all but 12 stores in an effort to reinvent itself. The remaining tenants were given 30 to 60 days to vacate the mall, with the rest closing by July 31. Reinsmidt stated "We are working closely with local officials to explore options that would recreate Hickory Hollow and allow the center to best serve the needs of the community.".