Here is another Arkansas Mall visit for the blog. This is Uptown Hot Springs or better known as The Hot Springs Mall. This mall has 4 anchor spaces and is listed as having 482,652 square feet of retail space. Dillard's and JCPenney along with a former Sears and a former Bealls/Goody's (now Five Tool Academy) round out the anchor spots. RockStep Capital acquired Hot Springs Mall in 2015 and later rebranded the mall as Uptown Hot Springs in 2021.
Research for this mall was a bit difficult, so if I got anything wrong, please let me know so I can correct the post.
Unfortunately, ownership is in the process of clearing out the interior mall for an open-air redevelopment with an anticipated opening in 2028. Only three spaces were open for business including a pop-up Halloween store. JCPenney still had open access to the interior mall, but Dillard's has shut their mall entrance down permanently. Five Star Burgers and Shoe Department Encore are the other two businesses still inside of the mall.
The road signs have not been updated in quite some time, half of the stores listed here are gone.
Anonymous in Houston visited this mall about 30 years ago and got this excellent coffee mug with the 90's era mall logo. Thank you for sending this image over to share with us.
In addition to the vintage mug, check out these older Youtube videos of the mall. Each one of these videos was very helpful in determining the names of the vacant stores. Click on the links below.
Credit: French Toast Mashed Potatoes 2017 visit https://youtu.be/NfL7henO0Vs?si=JRapQht9PNdfllTE
Credit: Whoisthis 1993 commercial https://youtu.be/PMdOWlHowyE?si=e1f56myohDFD5saN
Credit: Exploring with Carson 2018 Sears store visit https://youtu.be/kbmykbxchMg?si=jjFtuE6sTTkeTVFn
Credit Jose Villeda Fotografia 2010 Quinceneras en la mall de Hot Springs Arkansas Cool!! https://youtu.be/kXmiORwqakc?si=_6FjszwstBrTZlk_
Now we will take a tour of the exterior of the mall. Sears on the left side and Dillard's on the right.
Sears with the auto center on the left side of the building.
The mall entrance next to Sears. FYE was located here along with a restaurant space.
Dillard's has this gold name plate on all of the exterior entrances.
The mall entrance next to JCPenney.
JCPenney
The golden hour view of JCPenney.
Now we will enter at the JCPenney mall entrance.
This is the 2021 logo of the mall.
The mall is super quiet.
A former Aladdin's Castle.
A couple of views from inside of the former Aladdin's Castle.
I wonder if the neon still works after all of these years.
Not sure what this classic store was, but there are still a handful of 80's era storefronts throughout the mall.
You can barely make out the Aladdin's Castle logo.
The carpet in this mall has not aged well over the years. At this point, it probably hasn't seen a good cleaning in years.
A long-abandoned restaurant space.
The skylights are stained pretty bad and don't let any natural light into the building anymore.
We are in front of the JCPenney mall entrance facing the mall corridor. The Shoe Department Encore is the only business in this half of the mall besides JCPenney that is still open.
A few empty store fronts near JCPenney.
This section of the mall with the Soup'er Sandwich and Corn Dog 7 is the closest to a food court that was at the mall.
The mall was ambitious for a city of around 30,000 people. Nearly 500,000 square feet. Compare that to the mall in Lufkin with a similar population at 360,000 square feet.
In addition to the numerous vacant storefronts, this mall also had a lot of kiosks that are mostly gone.
You can see the Corn Dog Castle that was previously a Corn Dog 7. We will see more of this space towards the end of the tour.
Former GNC.
Former Spencer Gifts.
This entire hallway was silent except for the music coming from the skill games. The former Journey's and Regis Salon are pictured here.
Former Claire's.
Claire's and Romancing the Stone.
Former Hot Topic.
Looking towards the center court at different angles.
Former Pacsun?
Former Journey's and Regis Salon.
Former Aeropostle.
Former Hallmark.
Former Rue 21, this store also had an entrance next to the Dillard's as well.
The space in the middle was a toy store at some point.
Former Hibbett Sports.
Looking down the hallway to the former Goodys/Five Tool Academy. The Goody's here opened on July 22, 2010 during the Stage stores era with the Goody's name. I believe this was originally a Bealls store.
The center court. The fountain has been dry for years unfortunately. The former Zales is on the left, former Kay Jewelers to the right.
Another aging skylight.
Dillard's in the view of the center court.
Looking towards Dillard's through the fountain space. Two former jewelry stores across from each other start out this small corridor.
Former Kay Jewelers on the left with Payless to the right with the grey storefront.
Former Great American Cookies.
Hibbett Sports leaving is never a good sign for a mall. They are usually one of the last tenants to stick around.
As you can see there is a lot of plywood in this area. I am not sure if this area was damaged by bad weather, or if work is starting to prep the structure for demolition. This was the former Goody's space.
Looking back towards the center court and Dillard's.
A unique storefront.
We will take a right to the other half of the mall.
The former Kay jewelry store in the center court that was recently a clothing store.
Now for the corridor to the old Sears. The busiest part of the interior mall with 2 businesses operating.
Former Victoria's Secret.
Former Candy Craze.
Former Waldenbooks.
Inside of the former Waldenbooks
Former video game store, possibly Electronics Boutique.
This store space is a mystery to me.
Looking at the center court from the Sears corridor.
This store was hard to figure out as well. Possibly a Radio Shack.
More of the Sears corridor, with Sears all the way at the end.
Former Agaci?
Former Foot Locker store.
Former American Eagle.
American Eagle signage after the closed.
Five Star Hamburgers is the red business that is open.
The former Agaci again.
An obvious former Bath and Body Works.
A good labelscar is still left behind.
Mastercuts.
Another mystery storefront. Footaction maybe?
Former American Eagle again.
Former Body Shop.
Five Star Burgers next to the mall management office.
Former Body Shop.
Five Star Burgers.
Former FYE.
We are reaching the end of the mall at the former Sears.
Inside of the old FYE. This was a large location.
The Halloween Time pop-up store.
The Body Shop once again.
The old Claires store with the pink marble entrance just to the left of Halloween time.
A closer look at the old Clarie's.
Halloween Time looks like the space was a former Finish Line. If anyone can clarify, comment below.
The corner store at the mall entrance next to Sears is a mystery to me as well.
Inside of the former Sears that closed in the Summer of 2019.
and was replaced by a short-lived store closeout store named Price Break.
Possible former B Dalton Bookstore.
I believe this space was a Walgreens. It has been used for clothing stores and still has inventory inside.
Closed down restaurant space at the Sears corridor mall entrance. Don Juan Restaurant and Grill. The restaurant left the mall and continues to serve guests at their other location.
Inside of the former Don Juan Restaurant.
The unknown corner space at the Sears corridor mall entrance.
I had to get some photos of the former Sears entrance.
This is actually the brightest area of the mall.
The sign was fitting. We are dying to meet you. The mall is definitely a dying space.
One more picture of the Five Star Burger restaurant.
Back to the center court we go.
A look at some of the ceiling designs.
Waldenbooks to the right, Electronics Boutique to the left. Center court straight ahead.
The Great American Cookie Company in front of the center court once again. The ATM on the left wasn't on.
Old school security cameras in the center court area.
Former Zales Jewelry store located in the center court.
The former Kay Jewelry store once again.
The only ceiling damage I saw, besides the spot near the former Bealls.
Another interesting former store space.
One of the more recent departures at the mall.
On the storefront, they left this message to find their new location.
The ceiling design in front of Dillard's.
A wide view of the stores on this side of the Dillard's corridor.
A closeup of the ceiling in front of the Dillard's. Maybe this was a skylight that was covered up at some point.
The former Rue 21 entrance next to Dillard's.
This space had some Dillard's fixtures inside.
And this sign on one of the windows.
I wonder where this stuff is going to go when the mall is torn down. Maybe it will just get trashed.
More leftover Dillard's stuff is inside of this old store space as well.
The former Kay Jewlers space again.
And the leftovers inside of that space.
The stained center court skylight.
Looking from the center court towards JCPenney.
One more look at the closed off Dillard's mall entrance.
The former Hallmark again.
I think this space was a Pacsun.
Inside of the former Spencers Gifts space.
Old Cell Phones and Accessories kiosk.
Formerly Romancing the Stone, a collector's shop.
Next to GNC. I could not identify this old store space.
The last open store on this end of the mall Shoe Department Encore.
A cool vintage storefront. Does anyone know what this was?
I had to get some shots of this former Corn Dog 7, later changed to Corn Dog Castle.
I am guessing that the bricks surrounding the shutters was added when the business changed names.
Inside of the Corn Dog Castle. It still looks a lot like a Cord Dog 7. The stone around the lower walls was probably also added when the name was changed.
The JCPenney mall entrance.
A good look at the Soup'er Sandwich closed off restaurant.
An odd small space next to Soup'er Sandwich.
Lots of rules at this mall.
Titan roofing and construction business. I could not tell if they were still operating out of this office.
Dillard's looks very modern and new in comparison to the rest of the mall.
JCPenney with the red sunset in the distance.
JCPenney and the mall entrance.
A few more views of JCPenney from different sides of the store.
The back mall entrance with the boarded-up windows and the former Goody's.
The former Goody's, now Five Tool Academy.
The former Walgreens, with Sears to the right.
Here is a better look at the former Sears space.
A blast from the past. Sears was one of the earliest retailers to offer curbside deliveries with the click of a button on the app.
The back of the auto center. The auto center looks like it was a later addition to the building.
The entrance to the auto center.
Sears with Dillard's in the far right.
A final look at the road sign after dark.
Onto the next mall we go.
