Development began on a shopping center in east Charlotte in the early 1970s after seeing the success of SouthPark Mall about 6 miles away. Henry Faison, the developer, recalls planning the mall with a team of only six people. On July 30, 1975, Eastland Mall opened to much fanfare as the biggest mall in North Carolina at that time. Eastland Mall had an ice skating rink and the first food court in North Carolina. The food court was the East Coast's first in-mall food court at the time. Additionally, the mall included an outparcel convenience center with a Harris Teeter grocery store. Miller & Rhoads had a small specialty store at the mall, which was closed in 1986. In the early 1990s, Ivey's became Dillard's and the store expanded, and the mall's interior was renovated and updated as well. By the late 1990s, Eastland Mall's image and physical appearance began to degrade. Adding to the retail shift in Charlotte, demographic changes to the surrounding areas changed the retail makeup of the mall. Crime rates also increased around the mall. In 1997, The Coffee Beanery Inc., a tenant at the mall, sued ownership claiming its sales decline was a result of the increase in crime. In late 2005, there was a shooting inside the mall near the Gourmet Gardens food court and also a shooting outside in the parking lot. Another shooting took place in 2006 near the food court. A bullet smashed one of the glass doors and one person was shot. The first original anchor store to depart the mall was J.C. Penney, which left in 2002, a few years after becoming a J.C. Penney Outlet store. In 2004, the anchor space was split up and a Burlington Coat Factory store took the upper level, while the bottom space was subdivided between a Fred's discount store and Prime Time store. Dillard's closed off one level of its store in 2005, and operated a Dillard's Clearance Center on the other level. The Harris Teeter store on the periphery closed on June 26, 2006, after being in operation since 1975. The store cited underperformance as the cause for its closure; however, changing demographics and lack of investment in remodeling may have contributed to this store's demise. Belk closed in February 2007, becoming the third anchor to leave the mall. One day after the announcement of Belk's departure, Eastland Mall officials announced the original movie theater showing first-run films would reopen after closing in 1996. It had reopened in the last few years but was only specializing in foreign language films and 'G' and 'PG' rated films. In early 2008, Limited Brands closed all five of its stores inside the mall, which included Bath & Body Works, The Limited and Victoria's Secret. Fred's and Prime Time closed as well, followed by the Dillard's Clearance Center and movie theater in October 2008. In February 2009, the former Ice House ice skating rink, which had been closed the previous year, was replaced with a soccer field. In 2007, Charlotte's then-mayor Pat McCrory labeled the area "corridors of crap" due to its inexpensive and aging retail structures. In October 2008, the theater closed, one year after opening. On February 26, 2009, Sears Holdings announced that the Sears store at Eastland would close on May 31, another major blow to the beleaguered mall. On June 28, 2010, ownership of the inner stores, parking lot and a few of the smaller outside buildings surrounding Eastland Mall were sold by LNR, the loan servicer, to Boxer Properties for $2.2 million. The fate of the anchor stores, however, were left hanging in the balance. The mall was planned to reopen by Christmas 2011; however, nothing ever came out of it. #charlotte #northcarolina #mall #abandoned #nostalgia - @malltimemachine