Atlanta’s Greenbriar Mall has been a staple of Southside Atlanta shopping since it opened its doors in 1965, becoming the third enclosed mall in the area.
Over the years, the mall has served as not only a popular retail destination but has also been a hosting pad for community events and services such as circuses, mobile blood donation programs, voter registration drives and, during the pandemic, COVID testing.
It was the place where local music super-producer Jermaine Dupree met his future artists Kris Kross and where many other area entertainers who would become superstars would venture to in order to relax and to share their music.
And Greenbriar Mall was also the mall chosen by NBA legend Magic Johnson when he decided to open a theater location in Atlanta in the 1990s.
That said, its no surprise that to many area residents, Greenbriar isn’t just a mall, it’s an institution and a landmark.
But as malls across the country have lost ground to online retail outlets like Etsy and Amazon, foot traffic has slowed at Greenbriar as well, creating a challenging environment for one of the area’s most historic malls–and perhaps the most well-known mall in the area that caters to majority-Black shoppers.
Virtually all of the big box stores which once called Greenbriar home, such as Macy’s and Burlington Coat Factory, have closed shop or relocated, leaving the mall without a major anchor store.
And whereas many of the millennial shoppers who still prefer the social experience of walking through a large shopping mall have opted instead to travel across town to what have become trendier malls like Lenox, Greenbriar is still standing, and is still an important part of the community it serves. The Fulton County Tax Commissioner, which deploys kiosks and other conveniences to speed customer wait time, is a convenient Greenbriar option for motorists, along with a Dollar Tree, and an emissions testing center, increasing the mall’s importance to nearby residents.
There are also a number of Black-owned merchants still operating at the mall although some, such as longtime Greenbriar bookstore Medu Books, have closed shop.
Atlanta officials have also offered their opinions on what the city can do to help revitalize business in the area. In the meantime, however, Greenbriar is still holding on and has not been sold, according to Tanner Hendon, a development executive with Hendon Properties, the family-owned company that owns the mall.
“The mall has not been sold”, said Hendon, whose firm has owned the mall since 2006. According to Mr. Hendon, the mall is ready for business, and has no plans to shutter operations.
That’s welcome news since rumors circulated that the mall was under imminent sale and would close after Macy’s vacated in 2021. But since then, the mall has added a Popeyes, PNC Bank, and Planet Fitness. In addition, the Goodyear Auto Service, which has operated at the Greenbriar Mall for years, appears to do robust business in the area.
The mall also boasts two large, modern apartment communities on its campus as well. Both opened in 2024.
Increasing foot traffic at the mall is what one small merchant, who chose to go unidentified, told me should be the priority. She also acknowledged that the mall could be impacted by the overall decline of in-person shoppers at malls everywhere and that individual merchants like her must do their own marketing and promotion as well.
She also added that the overall community needs to support the mall.
“We’ve all gotta hold on, and promote what we do”, she said. “And folks just need to stop acting like ain’t no other mal in Atlanta except the ones in Buckhead. We’re still here but we need the community to support us, to do business with us. That’s the only way we can keep going”.