Richland Mall

Story

Richland Mall is located just off Forest Drive at Beltline Blvd in Columbia, South Carolina.It opened in 1961 as an open-air mall anchored by J.B. White and Winn Dixie. L. J. Hooker bought the complex and in 1988 converted it to an enclosed mall called Richland Fashion Mall. Original anchors of the Richland Fashion Mall were Bonwit Teller, Parisian and J.B. White, one of the few stores to carry over from the old mall.Today the mall is anchored solely by Belk and Barnes & Noble. Bonwit Teller closed in 1993 and was replaced by Dillard's which closed in 2003. J.B. White was purchased by Dillard's in 1998 and converted to Belk as a part of a Dillard's/Belk store swap. Parisian closed in 2006 after being acquired by Belk.For a period of time, the mall was renamed Midtown at Forest Acres.Other major retailers include a 7-screen Regal Cinemas. Verizon Wireless used to operate a call center in former mall and food court space, but it has moved out of Richland Mall to Elgin. Eckerd Drug also had a pharmacy at Midtown until 2005.In April 2009, the Columbia Children's Theatre relocated to Richland. They moved into the retail space that had previously been an Express clothing store.In April 2010, the mall was sold to Century Capitol Group who brought on Kahn Development Company in an attempt to breathe new life into the mall. The first thing they did was change the name from Midtown at Forest Acres back to Richland Mall.