Poplar Avenue / US 72 and Highland Street
Memphis, Tennessee
The story of Tennessee's first post-war shopping center begins in 1945. Plans for a "gigantic commercial development" are announced. This complex will be built on a 25.5-acre parcel, located 5.2 miles east of Memphis' center city. The property, which had been in the Golightly family for over 80 years, was sold to Memphian John B. Goodwin in September 1945.
POPLAR-HIGHLAND PLAZA was developed by a joint venture of Goodwin, the Joyner-Heard Company and 20th Century-Fox Pictures. The cluster-type complex was designed by Memphis' Everett Dedman Woods. A ground breaking was held on March 14, 1948, with a Memphis-based B. Lowenstein & Brothers being built. The 3-level (30,000 square foot) Lowenstein's East store opened for business on April 2, 1949.
A second phase of construction added a theater building. Among its eight tenants was a (4,800 square foot) Walgreen Drug, which was dedicated on March 31, 1952. A (12,000 square foot) Kroger opened its doors on April 1, 1952. The Augustine Cianciolo Plaza Theatre, a single-screen venue, showed its first feature on May 1st. Other theater building tenants were Kraus Cleaners, Paul's Shoes, a First National Bank branch and Gould's Beauty Salon.
A third building housed a 2-level (24,000 square foot) J.G. McCrory 5 & 10 and 2-level (35,300 square foot) J.C. Penney (which was the first Penney's store in Memphis). These mercantiles welcomed first shoppers on October 16, 1952. Claude A. Armor (Mayor of Memphis) cut a ceremonial ribbon at the Penney's dedication, with an address given by J.C. Penney, himself. A ribbon was also cut at the McCrory's main entrance.
During a subsequent phase of development, Lowenstein's East was expanded. A western addition, and full upper level, were built. The enlarged store encompassed 3 floors and 91,800 square feet. A 3-level (27,500 square foot) Franklin Simon apparel shop was built on the west side of Lowenstein's East. The stores held simultaneous grand openings on September 7, 1954.
A fourth store block was built, which housed the Britling East Cafeteria. This self-service restaurant joined the tenant list on April 10, 1956. A larger expansion was done in 1957-1958, which brought three additional store blocks and completed the basic plan for the center that had been drawn up 10 years earlier.
Kroger relocated into a new (22,800 square foot) unit, which opened for business on July 15, 1958. A (19,500 square foot) F.W. Woolworth welcomed first shoppers on July 17th. Walgreen's relocated into their new (22,700 square foot) store on October 22, 1958.
Stores were also built for Bond Clothes, Wise Dress Shop, Auto-Lec, The Bookshelf, Youngtown, Ed's Camera, Wright's men's and Poplar Plaza Bowling Lanes. With their completion, POPLAR-HIGHLAND PLAZA encompassed approximately 456,600 leasable square feet and housed forty-one stores and services.
By the mid-1960s, the name of the retail hub had been shortened to POPLAR PLAZA. Major shopping malls were beginning to appear in -and around- the River City. These were SOUTHLAND MALL (1966) {8.5 miles southwest, in Memphis}, RALEIGH SPRINGS MALL (1971) {6.3 miles northeast, in Shelby County} and OAK COURT MALL (1988) {1.8 miles southeast, also in Memphis}.
The demise of the Lowenstein's chain, on January 2, 1982, brought Dillard's into the PLAZA. The Little Rock retailer opened, in the vacant Lowenstein's, on March 31, 1982. In 1984, Dillard's renovated the building, expanding into the old Franklin Simon space. This increased the square footage of Dillard's to 123,000 square feet. Kroger had also enlarged their store in the early 1980s, taking in a vacant Woolworth. A third addition would expand this Kroger to 55,000 square feet.
A face lift renovation of POPLAR PLAZA was proposed in September 1986. During the 2-year-long project, store facades were to be refurbished, buildings demolished, new signage installed and new tenants signed. A park greenspace was also proposed. As the renovation was being discussed, the shopping hub changed hands. It was acquired by a joint venture of Burlington, Massachusetts-based Finard & Company and Boston's Derex Development Corporation in November 1986.
The movie house had re-opened, as the General Cinema Corporation Plaza 1 & Plaza 2 Theatre, on June 27, 1973. It was shuttered on September 30, 1987. Soon after, the J.C. Penney and McCrory stores pulled up stakes. By mid-1988, it was clear that the proposed remodeling had gone south. The only building that had been renovated was Dillard's.
Refurbishment of the shopping center finally got underway in March 1991. An entity known as Western Companies was brought in to manage and retenant the virtually vacant complex. 3.5 million dollars would be invested in new facades, landscaping and signage. 17,900 square feet of store space was added and a slew of new tenants signed.
These included Applebee's restaurant, New York Suit Exchange, Home Decorating Warehouse and Office America. A Bookstar store opened, in the vacant cinema, on March 27, 1992. At the same time, several long-time tenants shuttered their stores. Dillard's went dark on February 1, 1992. Britling Cafeteria served its final meal on November 29, 1992. Walgreen Drug shut down in January 1995.
The vacant Dillard's was sectioned into six spaces. Party City began business in August 1993, Blockbuster Music Plus in May 1994 and PetCare in June 1996. The old J.C. Penney became an Office America store in January 1992, but closed in May 1994. It was retenanted, as one of the first Old Navy stores, in mid-1995. The empty Walgreen Drug re-opened, as a K.B. Drug, in early 1996.
By June, the renovation and repositioning was complete. POPLAR PLAZA was fully-leased for the first time in several years. The cluster mall encompassed approximately 571,000 leasable square feet and contained forty-nine stores and services. One early tenant, known most recently as Big Daddy's Bowling Lanes, had not made the transition. It had caught fire on May 23, 1995 and never re-opened.
In December 2002, new POPLAR PLAZA stores included Laser Quest, Petco, Spin Street, Mattress Firm, Tuesday Morning and K & G Men's Superstore. Kroger had been wanting to expand for years. They decided not to renovate again, but to build an entirely new store. A formal announcement was made in September 2010. In order to bring the new Kroger to fruition, two northwest store blocks would have to be vacated and demolished.
Nine tenants were moved to other locations within the center. These included Dollar Tree, GNC, Gould's Day Spa, Momentum Rehab and Rosie's Nails. The vacated store blocks were razed in April 2012. The 20 million dollar (86,500 square foot) Kroger was dedicated on March 20, 2013. The circa-1959 store had been demolished by the summer of 2013, with an expanded parking area taking its place.
Sources:
The Memphis Daily News
The Memphis Press-Scimitar
The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee)
preservenet.cornell.edu/publications/Longstreth Branch Store.doc
Shelby County, Tennessee Tax Assessor Website
http://landmarkandlegend.com "Landmark & Legend, Memphis TN"
http:..www.bizjournals.com
Dig Memphis / The Digital Archive of the Memphis Public Library
http://www.finardproperties.com / Finard Properties
https://www.cinematreasures.org
http://www.movie-theatre.org / Mike Rivest
