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Georgia’s Governor Jimmy Carter was invited to preside over the ribbon cutting ceremony of Northlake Mall when it opened in 1971. The newest mall for the Atlanta area was located near I-285 where Lavista Road, Henderson Mill Road and Briarcliff Road meet. Governor Carter designated it Northlake Mall Week in Georgia. Designating a special week for a mall is an indication of how important malls were at the time. (Atlanta Constitution, Oct. 6, 1971)

The Atlanta Constitution reported that the mall was a joint venture of Frank Carter, Ewell Pope of Atlanta, Trammel Crow of Dallas, Texas and Monumental Properties of Baltimore, Maryland. Frank Carter said plans for the mall had been evolving over several years following the success of Greenbriar Shopping Center.

Northlake was built on over 80 acres and included 100 merchants and over 1,000,000 square feet of space. That made it the largest mall in the metro area. The original anchor stores were Davison’s, Sears, and J. C. Penny’s.

A list of 1971 merchants included J. P. Allen, Baskin Robbins, Brooks Fashions, Butler Shoes, El Chico Restaurant, Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour, Florsheim Shoes, Hot Pants of Northlake Mall, The Limited, Merry Go Round, Muse’s, Record Bar, Spencer Gifts, Wicks N Sticks, Zachry and many more.

Beyond the mall was office space, which all together included 225 acres and a 17-acre lake.

Once Northlake Mall opened, it was the closest mall for my family. Looking over the list above brings back many memories. I remember having dinner at El Chico with my family and enjoying birthday parties at Farrell’s Ice Cream.

Who could forget the Merry Go Round clothing store in the era of bell bottoms and other 1970 styles? Hot Pants of Northlake! I don’t remember that one, but also fitting (no pun intended) for the time. Every mall had a record store, so of course Northlake had a Record Bar. Andrew of New York hair salon also was in the early mall.

The Atlanta Constitution October 6, 1971 issue, opening day for the mall, featured pages and pages of advertising and articles about the big stores and specialty shops of the mall. There were details about how to get to the mall from all directions using the “Perimeter Expressway” and articles about the plentiful parking.

Early malls had places to eat but not food courts. That phenomenon came along later.

Like other malls around Atlanta, across Georgia and across the U.S., Northlake mall has evolved with the times. Stores have come and gone and many malls have a great deal of empty space. However, some of Northlake’s empty space is now occupied by Emory Healthcare.

An article in the October 2021 Atlanta Journal Constitution told of plans to convert much of the closed shop space to office space. The mall was 50 years old in 2021. New owners ATR Corinth Partners had purchased the mall in 2016.

Representative Bill Mitchell was there along with other state, county and city officials. He said he used to come to the mall frequently but had not visited in years.

Emory was happy with the location of Northlake, close to I-285 and Marta. This is another example of the evolution of malls in the Atlanta area. Malls are being repurposed for the needs of today, obviously a much changed world since 1971.