BUFORD-CLAIRMONT MALL
Buford Highway NE / US 23 and Clairmont Road
Dekalb County, Georgia
On June 5, 1968, ground was broken for a new Greater Atlanta "shopper mall." This complex was being built on a 31-acre site, located 9.6 miles northeast of Downtown Atlanta, in a section of unincorporated Dekalb County known as Buford-Dresden. Officiating at the groundbreaking were Brice Manning (Dekalb County Commissioner), C. Milburn Purdy (Regional Vice President of F.W. Woolworth), and W.C. Montgomery (Woolco Director of Real Estate).
BUFORD-CLAIRMONT MALL was developed by Atlanta-based Sunshine Department Stores. The first operational tenant, a 1-level (103,000 square foot) Woolco discount mart, opened for business on November 13, 1968. A 1-level (40,000 square foot) "Sunshine's" began business on August 20, 1970. On the same day, a grand opening was held for a (25,000 square foot) Winn-Dixie supermarket.
Stores continued to open over the next 2 years. These included Jacobs Drug, Friedman's Jewelers, Hirsch's men's wear, Art Accents, Zomma Shop T-shirts, Sunset Tropical Plants, Fayva Shoes, American Handicrafts, Best Photo, The Juice Bar, The Gift Bin and The Vogue.
On February 10, 1971, the Loews Twelve Oaks Theatre showed a first feature. The cinema was a 1,200-seat, single-screen venue and the second of two Gone With The Wind-themed theaters in Greater Atlanta. The Loews Twelve Oaks was a sister cinema to Atlanta's Loews Tara, which had been dedicated in July 1968. The Twelve Oaks Theatre at BUFORD-CLAIRMONT MALL re-opened as the Twelve Oaks 1 & 2 on May 23, 1975, and the Storeys 12 Oaks 4 on May 26, 1989.
Meanwhile, the Sunshine Store at BUFORD-CLAIRMONT MALL had closed and been replaced -by a Massachusetts-based Marshalls- on October 5, 1978. Woolco went dark on June 28, 1980 and re-opened, as a Burlington Coat Factory, on August 1st of the same year.
Major shopping hubs in the vicinity of BUFORD-CLAIRMONT MALL included NORTH DEKALB CENTER (1965) {4 miles southeast, in Dekalb County} and NORTHLAKE MALL (1971) {3 miles southeast, also in Dekalb County}.
Maryland's Rouse Company acquired BUFORD-CLAIRMONT MALL in July 1983 and reconfigured it as OUTLET SQUARE. The grand opening of Greater Atlanta's "first off-price shopping center" was held on November 3, 1983. A listing of the mall's inline stores included Georgia Girl, Marshalls, Burlington Coat Factory and Winn-Dixie...all holdovers from BUFORD-CLAIRMONT MALL. Newly-signed tenants included Famous Footwear, Dress Barn, Linens 'n Things and The Finish Line. There was also a 5-bay Food Court.
OUTLET SQUARE was initially successful, but was in decline by the early 1990s. The complex was sold twice during 1996. The second sale, which closed in July, was to a joint venture of twelve Asian investors. They remarketed the complex as ORIENTAL MALL ATLANTA. This Hong Kong Streets-motif venue opened for business in February 1997.
In addition to Burlington Coat Factory, Marshalls and the 12 Oaks 4, the "vibrant oriental bazaar" included Rack Room Shoes, Happy Valley Chinese Restaurant, the Rex Club and Hong Kong Supermarket, which had taken the place of Winn-Dixie.
ORIENTAL MALL was plagued by structural problems, as its owners refused to maintain and repair the property. In 1999, the complex was sold to the Ram Development Group, which was a joint venture of Atlanta's Vincent Riggio and Doug McMurrain. Their original plan was to demolish the complex and replace it with a Home Depot or Wal-Mart.
Instead, they installed a Latin-style mercado in the existing structure. Atlanta-based Ozell Stankus Associates Architects envisaged the transformation. An 11 million dollar renovation installed 250 vendor stalls in the mall's gutted interior. Exterior surfaces were painted in bright, vivid colors. The revitalized retail hub, known as PLAZA FIESTA, debuted on April 15, 2000.
Retail stalls were located in four "Market" areas. Stores included Discolandia (a music store), the Carnitas Mexican restaurant and Laredo Western Wear. The cinema was repurposed as a nightclub and live performance venue and would operate as Dekalb Atlanta Center (Atlanta Live), Deamz ATL and Mansion Elan over the ensuing years.
Burlington Coat Factory closed its PLAZA FIESTA store in the early 2010s. The space was divided into four sections; Market 5, Planet Fitness, Children's Health Care and a (50,000 square foot), New York City-based Shoppers World. These tenants were in business by the spring of 2013. Marshalls closed its doors in early 2010. A (27,000 square foot) section of the store was refashioned into a new Ross Dress For Less.
In the 2020s , PLAZA FIESTA is managed by Beverly Hills-based Kennedy-Wilson Properties, Limited. The mall spans approximately 343,000 leasable square feet. There are eighty-eight merchandise stores, twenty health & beauty stores, thirty food vendors and sixty-four service-type stores.
Sources:
The Atlanta Constitution
The Journal Constitution
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
https://www.creativeloafing.com
http://www.bizjournals.com
http://nreionline.com / National Real Estate Investor
https://www.cinematreasures.org
Comment post by Troy Hester
https://www.dekalbcountyga.gov / Dekalb County, Georgia
http://plazafiesta.net (website on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
https://plazafiesta.net
