Harundale Mall

Harundale Mall, one of the first enclosed shopping malls, was located in Glen Burnie, Maryland, United States at the intersection of Ritchie Highway and Aquahart Road. Harundale Mall has been replaced by Harundale Plaza located at the same location. The mall was built in Anne Arundel County by James Rouse who later developed Columbia, Maryland, one of the first modern planned communities, in Howard County. Harundale Mall rivaled Southdale Center in Minnesota, the "other" indoor mall at the time.

Opening

Harundale Mall opened on 1 October 1958. It was the first indoor enclosed shopping mall on the East Coast of the United States. Harundale Mall was also credited as being the first air conditioned mall in the United States. [cite web |url=http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/speccol/photos/eye/html/cityscape.html |title=Cityscape |accessdate=2008-07-09 |work=The Eye of the Beholder: Photographs by Marion E. Warren, 1940–1988 |publisher=Maryland State Archives ]

Harundale Mall took itself seriously and a signature "rock" was located in the northeastern end of the mall memorializing the mall's construction and those who constructed it. The rock was four sides and the sides contained the following information:
* "Harundale Mall" followed by "Opened October 1, 1958."
* "Owners and Developers" followed by "Community Research and Development, Inc." "Architects" followed by "Rogers, Taliaferro, and Lamb." "Builders" followed by "Arundeltown Inc."
* One side listed several architectural awards.
* One side provided a history of the site including information about Native Americans, the Glenn family, and military usage.

Other features in the mall were as follows: A water fountain was located next to the rock and a set of stairs to the second floor offices allowed mall-goers to watch the water from the fountain "top out" and fall back into the fountain's pool below. Mall-goers could also throw coins into the fountain's pool from the stairs. In addition to the mall offices, a "community room", and restrooms, the second floor had an entrance to the second floor of the Hochschild Kohn's Department Store. Hochschild Kohn's was the only store in the mall with two stories. However, in each store there was usually a store room with an upstairs area that was used as a stock or storage area. The mall was quite known for flooding in heavy rains, due to the original "flat" roof. Many merchants can attest to cleaning water from these storage areas when it rained. At one point in the mall's history, a Horn and Horn Smorgasbord Cafeteria operated on the second floor as well. This had originally opened as a "Hochschild's Tea Room" cafe. Horn and Horn stayed opened at this location until 1989. The second floor "community room" could be rented for weddings and provided a place for public meetings. For many years, on the opposite end of the mall from the "rock," large cages featured talking Myna birds.

Pre-dating the Harundale Mall was a strip shopping center in the south eastern corner of the mall property. This strip center originally included an Eddie's Super Market and a White Coffee Pot Restaurant.

When Harundale Mall opened, it had two major anchors that were Hochschild Kohn's and Food Fair. It also had three other smaller anchors that were Read's Drug Store (with a soda fountain), S.S. Kresge five and dime store, and G.C. Murphy five and dime store. Harundale also had about 50 other smaller tenants and food establishments. One of the more noteworthy food establishments was an eatery towards the center of Harundale Mall which for many years was the Italian Delight Restaurant. This restaurant featured a "below grade" floor. As a result, the workers at this establishment ended up looking much shorter than the average mall-goer standing "at grade".

The mall opened to much fanfare in 1958. Traffic was backed up for two miles on Maryland Route 2 just to get on the parking lot on opening day. This was truly something people had never seen before. Several politicians (including John F. Kennedy, the junior Senator from Massachusetts) were even present for the opening day. Harundale Mall was a major shopping destination for over 30 years.

Decline

Hutzler's Department Store closed a nearby location in Southdale and replaced the mall's Hochschild Kohn's Department Store in the mid-1980s. Other newer additions to Harundale Mall included Erol's TV and Video Club, Foot Locker, and Rite Aid. Throughout the 1980s, most of the older enclosed malls in northern Anne Arundel County similar to Harundale Mall were generally in a state of decline. This included nearby Jumpers Hole Mall, the Severna Park Mall, and the Glen Burnie Mall. The Harundale Mall did better than some of these other older malls. But it too was in a downward slide. In 1987, Harundale Mall's slide was quickened with the opening of the Marley Station Mall less than two miles away. Several of Harundale Mall's few remaining higher-end stores left the aging mall for this newer mall. The Rouse Company (who owned the mall) didn't do very much to improve or upgrade the mall to compete with newer shopping choices in the area. Hutzler's, also in trouble as a chain, closed in Harundale Mall in 1988. The mall management talked with JC Penney to replace Hutzler's. However, JC Penney eventually chose Marley Station instead and opened a location there in 1994. The closed Hutzler's was instead replaced by a Value City Discount Store in 1989. Value City was not the store needed to save the mall. A more rapid decline started in the early 1990s. This was fueled by changing demographics in the area (and in the entire city of Baltimore), lower-income stores' coming to the mall, and a rise in crime. In 1998 the mall was quietly closed. Many of the stores had already left by this time. The only size-able business still open was the Value City. Most of the mall was torn down and the signature "rock" in the middle of the mall was removed for later use (see Harundale Plaza).

Harundale Plaza

In 1999, the mall reopened and redeveloped as Harundale Plaza, a strip shopping center. This shopping center consists of A.J. Wright, Super Fresh supermarket, Outback Steakhouse, Hollywood Video, and a U.S. Post Office, plus several other typical strip-mall stores. The signature "rock" from Harundale Mall is now at Harundale Plaza. As of April 2008 Value City has since departed Harundale Plaza as well. This was due to their recent corporate decision to sell several locations.

External links

* [http://mallsofamerica.blogspot.com/2006/08/harundale-mall.html Description and photo at Malls of America blog]
* [http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/visitor/65659,0,4313908.location?coll=bal-visitor-storyutil Article in Baltimore Sun on Harundale Plaza]
* [http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/speccol/photos/eye/html/cityscape.html State of Maryland Archives, see #77]

References