Mallmanac.com: Rivergate Mall, Goodlettsville, TN

04 April 2025

Rivergate Mall, Goodlettsville, TN

A dead mall

One of the only Nashville area regional enclosed centers that I have never visited, Rivergate Mall’s location far to the north of the city center usually meant it was out of the way when we ventured northward for a visit.

1- The site where Rivergate Mall now stands in 1968. (Source) 2 & 3- Rivergate Mall’s original footprint in the mid-seventies. (Source for both) 4- Inside the newly opened mall in 1971. (Source)

Located in one of the few municipalities in Davidson County not called Nashville, the low slung, single level monolith makes its home in the suburb of Goodlettsville. Not far from the intersection of I-65 and the highway Vietnam Veterans Boulevard, it seems as though the respectable 54 year run may soon be coming to an end.

Rivergate Mall Mallmanac ca. 1998. View the full PDF version here.

Rivergate Mall came to be in 1971 as the largest enclosed retail complex in Tennessee. The original three anchors included Nashville legacies Castner Knott on the west end and Cain-Sloan to the east as well as national name JCPenney in the middle.

1- The Cain Sloan store exterior in 1971. (Source) 2- The Cain Sloan mall entrance in 1986. (Source) 3- Rivergate Mall at Christmastime in 2005. (Source) 4- A 2011 event at the mall. (Source)

In 1978, Rivergate’s first expansion opened on the front of the facility which included twenty or so new shops. Cain-Sloan was replaced by Dillard’s in 1987 while, just two years later, a new wing housing a food court and the fourth anchor, Sears, opened perpendicular to the rest of the complex between JCPenney and Dillard’s.

Rivergate Mall lease plan ca. 2017. View the full PDF version here.

Arguably at the apex of its popularity, the nineties saw damage and recovery from a tornado, the introduction of Knoxville based Proffitt’s taking the place of Castner Knott and the acquisition and ensuing renovation by CBL. Opry Mills, an enclosed but non-traditional retail competitor opened in 2000 on the site of the defunct amusement park Opryland (R.I.P.)

1- A Rivergate Mall parking lot entrance sign in 2001. (Source) 2 & 3- Two of the Rivergate Mall entrances. (Source for both) 4- The JCPenney exterior. (Source) 5- Rivergate Mall’s packed parking lot in 1988. (Source) 6- Rivergate Mall from above in the 2010s. (Source)

But the ensuing decades haven’t been as prosperous for the aging stalwart. CBL offloaded the property in 2013 while Sears became the first anchor to shutter in 2019. Macy’s departure came soon after in 2020. Despite these vacancies, the 1978 expansion was converted into another short lived anchor, Smart Buys Furniture, that sits empty today as the third darkened anchor space.

Rivergate Mall Mallmanac ca. 2024. View the full PDF version here.

The only retail destination of its type north of I-40, even its relative isolation hasn’t been enough for it to escape the realities that traditional shopping malls face today. Though Dillard’s and JCPenney continue to hang on, in my unfortunate opinion, Rivergate Mall will soon be joining market peers Bellevue Center, Hickory Hollow Mall and Harding Mall in the giant parking lot in the sky.