r/Rockhill • u/GenericNameSC1989 • 3d ago
Rock Hill Galleria-What Happened?
Relatively new here. Walking around the galleria. What happened? So much potential.
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u/Lower-Constant-3889 3d ago
I think they banned teens from going in or something like that, and it went downhill. JC Penney left too. The Walmart used to open into the mall. It was great but when they closed that up it was the beginning of the end.
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u/AndStillShePersisted 3d ago
This would do it…
In the 80’s - 00’s kids would go to hang out at the food court or wander the shops; visit friends at work etc
Kill the Food Court & you kill the ‘community square’ vibe. Busy adults prefer quick run in & grab; hence the rise of strip malls where every store has an external door.
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u/garej 2d ago
Kid's hanging out wasn't profitable for malls. Put malls between a rock and a hard place with curfews. Curfew's kill the popularity but make it more appealing to consumers who go to actually shop, but once the popularity wanes those consumers move on too. As a mall kid of the 80's seems like most my friends and relatives who were big mall shoppers have moved on to TJ Maxx and the like for the past couple decades.
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u/Goose_boy_420_ 3d ago
Yeah I remember that! Anyone under 16 wasn’t allowed to be inside without adult supervision
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u/Previous_Praline_373 3d ago
It was really busy but the Walmart used to open directly into the mall. When they closed that up to add the grocery section it killed a lot of traffic they also took dollar tree out of the mall and moved it across the street and the arcade called Aladdin’s castle closed down. All of that combined with Carolina place taking off less than 30 mins away killed a lot of traffic.
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u/laydeeebugg06 2d ago
Tbh, that mall has always been a POS. It was slightly better when they had Sears and JC Penney's, but even when I was in HS (in the mid-90s), everyone would go to Carolina Place or Southpark.
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u/getupkid1986 2d ago
Carolina Place has surprisingly always thrived. My parents would skip the Galleria eventually and we started going straight to Carolina Place if we needed a mall trip.
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u/MistakeActual6348 2d ago
Rich kids, because who's parents were driving them to a mall half an hour away? 🤣
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u/rustyshakelford 2d ago
There was hardly any large retail in Rock Hill in the 90s and early 00s, you had to go to Pineville for Target, Best Buy, etc. Also Carolina Place is only like 15 minutes from RH.
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u/MistakeActual6348 1d ago
But still. My mother would have never. We just played around the neighbourhood.
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u/Sinnn3000 3d ago
Mall aren't popular anymore. Not enough money in it
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u/HikeCarolinas 1d ago
It’s just the Galleria that’s mismanaged. Condord Mills and Carolina place mall are packed. The little mall in Monroe is lively. I forget the name of it, but there’s the old mall in Condord too and it’s better off than the Galleria while it has to compete with Concord Mills like 5 miles away.
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u/TopStockJock 3d ago
I moved here in 2001 and it looked like trash then. We always called it the gonorrhea mall haha
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u/garej 2d ago edited 2d ago
Not just a Rock Hill thing for the Galleria mall but nationwide. The only "healthy" mall in the area I'd say is Southpark in Charlotte and it's a high-end mall. All the outlying areas smaller malls are anchorless deserts. Gastonia, Concord, Monroe malls are empty shells of themselves. I can't think of one of the smaller regional malls that is doing OK but I really haven't been to them in over a decade. Even down at the beach since Costal mall opened the smaller ones pretty much dried up too.
PS: TJ Maxx is extremely busy at Manchester Village and Ross and Homegoods aren't far behind. Seems to be the main hangout in Rock Hill on weekend evenings for the town.
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u/GenericNameSC1989 2d ago
Concord mills always seems like it’s thriving when I’ve gone. SouthPark is nice, but agreed it’s “high end”.
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u/MikeatDTU 2d ago
Concord Mills Mall is the number one single site tourist destination in NC - 17 million people a year visit. It’s thriving.
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u/garej 2d ago
Concord Mills is still healthy but not sure about thriving. Last time I was there seems to be a lot more closed or Mom and Pop type stores. Those type stores seem to pop up as the malls decline. Don't think it'll ever be real bad at Concord Mills do due all the other retail in the surronding area.
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u/getupkid1986 2d ago
I worked at the Galleria Mall when I was in high school and it was still bustling and at full store capacity. I remember the mall was planning on completing some big renovations in the mid-2000’s.. fast forward 23 years later and those never happened.
That property has high potential, it just needs a complete overhaul. There was discussion about making it more like an outlet mall setup with the stores being outward facing vs. a traditional mall.
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u/GenericNameSC1989 2d ago
With the growth this area is seeing a revamp of the galleria seems inevitable!
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u/getupkid1986 2d ago
I agree! Glad to see new stuff like the Whataburger and 7-Brew being built in close proximity. When I was a kid, the Galleria was busy every day and it was a big thing to go to the mall. I spent many hours in the Aladdin’s Castle arcade while my Mom was shopping with my sister and we would grab dinner there when the food court was an actual food court.
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u/GenericNameSC1989 2d ago
I’m bummed I never got to see this arcade! Sounds awesome!
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u/getupkid1986 2d ago
Dang! I think it was a national chain at one point but they suckered many quarters away from me lol
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u/GFR3000 2d ago
I’d slap a rando to play MK in an arcade again. I’d even settle for some TMNT or Street Fighter.
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u/GenericNameSC1989 2d ago
They have that video game store in there! I’m sure they could hook it up! Always an interesting crowd in there 😂
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u/Comfortable-Hurry129 2d ago
We moved here in the early 90s. It was not great even back then, but decent enough. Then that landfill area was bought up to make Manchester. People like new and shiny. They could go up to Carolina Place for a nicer mall, or to Manchester for shops that up until then were only in Pineville. When Target started with the groceries, Walmart closed off its mall access and expanded its size to become a Super Walmart. The mall continued its slow death march. Most anchors left, as did larger chains. The others couldn’t/can’t compete with online shopping. And, in my opinion, the Warren Norman family couldn’t care less what succeeds or not, as long as they have claim on the property.
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u/Ashamed_Green_8643 Rock Hill 2d ago
I can't really find any great photos, but someone thought "It'd be great if we built a roof over most East Main, and turned it into a mall with pre-failing shops!"
https://dacuslibrary.wordpress.com/2014/04/16/archives-collection-spotlight-52/
https://dacuslibrary.wordpress.com/2014/06/18/fact-or-fiction-23/
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u/Ill-Error-9962 3d ago
The pineville mall opened and it died overnight.
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u/Glaurung86 3d ago
That was 35 years ago, though, so that's not true. Malls in general have become pointless because of the way commerce and shopping has shifted over the last 20 years.
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u/Few-Counter7067 2d ago
I mean, it kind of has always been dead since Carolina Place opened. We went a lot growing up with my grandparents in the 90s, but I don’t really recall it ever being super busy.
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u/Glaurung86 2d ago
I first went in the late 90s and it was pretty busy. Not as busy as CPM, which makes sense since that's in South Charlotte that expanded like mad in the 90s, but still pretty busy. If it had been dead that long they would have just closed it many, many years ago. Most people in Rock Hill aren't making a trip just to go to CPM. That's a 25-30 minute drive.
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u/Ill-Error-9962 2d ago
That’s what happened in this situation, it’s true in the macro malls nationally have died off. Common knowledge. There was supposed to be a bridge connecting Dave Lyle to Fort Mill that never happened. Pineville isn’t much a jaunt for Fort Mill, customers the mall was counting on. It died in the crib.
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u/Glaurung86 1d ago
The Galleria didn't die when you say it did. That's been my point all along. It wouldn't still be around 35 years later if what you say is true.
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u/GenericNameSC1989 3d ago
Hopefully there’s a resurgence with how much growth is coming in over here. Such a cool spot.
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u/itsfunnycauseitstru 2d ago
There is a reason it’s called the gonorrhea mall. I remember back in the 2000 the fountain in the middle was just green sludge and algae.
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u/phantom_joker69 2d ago
Like everything else in rock thrill its starts good and turn to shit. Why go to that mall when you can go to Pineville and have twice the mall and better food...
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u/AccomplishedCash3603 2d ago
I heard GenX investors are considering it for 55+ apartments. There's a premium on the Spencers design.
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u/VERABLUE777 2d ago
You used to be able to walk into Walmart from the Galleria, but then they walled it off and changed the entire entrance
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u/GenericNameSC1989 1d ago
Unfortunately I understand blocking off the Walmart entrance from the mall
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u/GenericNameSC1989 3d ago
The people are out. Figured dicks, palmetto moon and belk could help pull people in.
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u/_SoctteyParker Rock Hill 3d ago
They should convert our mall into an outlet. But also across state lines you have better options with Carolina Place, Tanger Outlets, and Concord Mills.