Home of Carolina Circle Mall

Belk

Belk on August 4, 1976

Opened: February 5, 1976

Closed: February 1997

Belk is obviously the first store to open at the mall.

The design of this department store has always interested me. The interior of the store consisted of a lot of hardwood paneling, a lot of special dedicated rooms, and various neon lights. I remember one section (probably menswear) included a football, a basketball, and a soccer ball sticking out of the wall.

The exterior of the store was interesting as well. As you can see in the picture at the top, the exterior entrances to the store consisted of clear bronze glass that would light up at night. The only other Belk store to use this style is some mall near Atlanta, Georgia, the name escapes me.

In February of 1994, the lower level of Belk was leased to the United States Postal Service. The lower level of Belk officially became a Post Office in May of 1994. The second floor of Belk remained opened as a store. Since the lease was for 10 years, if Carolina Circle Mall was still open today, the post office below Belk would have originally closed in 2004.

Belk officially closed in February of 1997, about 21 years after it opened.

Also, from 2002 to 2003, Carolina Circle Mall's upper level of Belk was reborn as Carolina Flea Market. It was a pretty sorry flea market consisting of mainly junk, ice cream, junk, computers, junk, videos, junk, DVDs, junk, and more junk. The most interesting part was that you could look through the mall entrance glass and look at the then abandoned mall corridor.

Interestingly, Belk was the very last part of the mall to be demolished in 2005.

Ivey's/Dillard's

Ivey's on August 4, 1976

Opened: August 4, 1976

Closed: February 1999

Interestingly, the Carolina Circle Mall Ivey's was the first Ivey's to open in Greensboro.

I do not remember too much of the interior of this store. From what I remember is that it had a somewhat dark lighting scheme and dark primary colors. But the most interesting feature of this store was the giant glass elevator. What made it interesting was that the elevator had this big strip of metal encircling the middle of it. The metal was colored orange and had giant light bulbs around it.

The exterior of the store was neat too. The exterior entrances were shaped like cut-off tubes and the lower part of the building were giant half-pipes, which skaters would ride on after the mall had closed.

In 1989, Dillard's Department Stores bought out Ivey's and the Carolina Circle Mall Ivey's was turned into Dillard's in 1990.

Sometime around 1993, the store was downgraded to a Clearance Center.

Dillard's closed in February 1999 and was the first part of the mall to be demolished in 2005.

And just for fun, here is the Home of Carolina Circle Mall Webmaster at the Carolina Circle Mall Dillard's, being attacked by a giant mutant bunny rabbit sometime around 1992. I thought I burned that picture.

Montgomery Ward

Montgomery Ward on August 4, 1976

Opened: August 4, 1976

Closed: January 2002

In my opinion, this store is the greatest and most distinctive store ever in Carolina Circle Mall history. When I think of stores at Carolina Circle Mall, I immediately think one thing. Montgomery Ward!

The interior design of Montgomery Ward was one of the most unique designs ever. The floors mainly consisted of tiles and lots of orange and lime green shag carpeting. How '70s can you get?

The main sections of Montgomery Ward were divided by floors. The lower level consisted of lawn equipment, hardware, electronics, appliances, computers, and computer software. On the exterior of the mall facing 16th Street was the Montgomery Ward loading dock and service center. I remember getting several television sets repaired there.

The upper level consisted of clothes, furniture, and a beauty salon. The beauty salon's design consisted of lime green and white stripes on the walls and I always heard this big whooshing sound coming from it along with the scent of hairspray. Sometime around early 1995, I remember buying a VHS tape of Pee-wee's Playhouse in a bargain box on the upper level of the store.

The exterior of the store had many large concrete berms and huge circles, as you can see in the picture above. Up until I believe the late '80s, the exterior of Montgomery Ward featured orange tiling along the sides of the store. I think they were covered up with concrete around the same time as the mall's 1988 renovation. In the early-mid '00s, after the mall closed, parts of the concrete began to break off and the tiling soon began to show itself again. Again, how '70s can you get?

I "borrowed" this November 24, 1989 Montgomery Ward ad from the Vintage Ad Showcase to give you a taste of some of the merchandise the store sold. Montgomery Ward was basically a smaller version of Sears and had a little bit of everything including electronics, lawn and garden equipment, appliances, hardware, clothes, furniture, and much more.

In 2001, Montgomery Ward announced that it was going out of business nationwide. The Carolina Circle Mall Montgomery Ward officially closed sometime around January 2002, making it the very last store to close at Carolina Circle Mall, marking the mall's ultimate closure.

In 2004, Montgomery Ward returned as an Internet retailer. The website can be accessed here.