A Strip Mall at Its Height

April 8, 2006

It is easy to take for granted the way our shopping patterns fluctuate. That nice covered buy-everything mall that opened in the eighties seemed like a sure bet to last forever.. and the new strip mall crowded with people also seems to be a permanent fixture. These things change, though, like everything else. Blink, and the popular spot from 20 years ago starts to look like an antique.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran an article today on the impending makeover for a strip mall that opened back in 1954. The article opens with a thumbnail sketch of its history:

[An ad] bragged that the "SOUTH'S LARGEST SHOPPING CENTER" was opening in Smyrna, which was not much more than a gas stop between Atlanta and Marietta. Developers had bought Belmont Farm in largely rural Cobb County, demolished its barns and chicken coops and covered the pastures with a strip of 20 businesses and 2,500 parking spaces.

The article also ran a contemporary drawing of this pioneering strip mall.

Here in Snellville the strip malls that line Scenic Highway share a similar history. The road, I am assured, used to be empty or store.. actually "scenic"! But in recent years those fields have been turned into layer after layer of stores. Today Emily and I walked around one of the most successful of these strip malls, taking pictures.. The following represents a brief photo essay documenting a strip mall at its height.