Haywood Mall, Greenville, SC

An extant asset

(Source)

Haywood Mall is big. It's far from the biggest mall that I've ever seen, but really, that's just about all I remember of the place. It's bigness. The interior design was rather monotonous, and this monotony was only amplified by its sheer size. In all actuality, I was quite a bit more fascinated by the look of the nearby Bell Tower Mall, a first generation complex which had, by then, been converted to office space.

Haywood Mall Mallmanac ca. 1997. View the full PDF version here.

Although at 1.3 million square foot it stands as South Carolina’s largest enclosed shopping center, Haywood Mall just didn't make that much of an impression on me. It made even less of an impact than the quirky Greenville Mall. It was just big. Oh, and they had mallmanacs.

-UPDATE-  Inside Haywood Mall (Source for all)

Much like Huntsville, Greenville was home to quite a few smaller enclosed facilities when Haywood opened in 1980. It coexisted with the city's other shopping centers until 1995 when Dillard's and a new wing were added, bringing the place up to its present size. This glut of retail space was soon filled with tenants' moving from the other centers, effectively consolidating the bulk of the city's retail into one place.

-UPDATE- Haywood Mall Mallmanac ca. 2011. View the full PDF version here.

Haywood Mall official website

Greenville Mall, Greenville, SC

A dead mall

(Source)

I visited the city of Greenville only one time in 1997. We stayed for a week at an uncle’s house who had been living there for a few years. We may have gone to Greenville Mall only once; I only remember it as the small place we passed to get to the area’s dominant center, Haywood Mall. As we drove past, I remember that my uncle always seemed to comment, “That theater is supposed to be the largest in the south,” referring to the on-site Hollywood 20 Cinema. Whether this was true or not, I don’t know.

Greenville Mall Mallmanac ca. 1988. View the full PDF version here.

Truthfully, I don’t recall much about the mall. It was bright inside and pretty standard for the nineties interior. I remember just thinking how rare it was to see an up-market Parisian and a lower mid-market Montgomery Ward right next to each other. Other than that, it was a pretty unremarkable place. I could definitely see how Haywood Mall became top dog in Greenville.

(Source)

I do know that the mall opened in 1978 and coexisted happily with Haywood until the latter expanded to the size that it is now. In the mid 90’s (when this mallmanac is dated), they re-tenanted with more upscale stores hoping to capture a niche market. This didn’t work out well and today, the mall seems to be pretty much dead.

Greenville Mall Mallmanac ca. 1997. View the full PDF version here.

Magnolia Park Town Center official website