The Revival of Annapolis Mall: From Nostalgia to New Beginnings
by Lisa Peri, MSW
Photo credit: Sarah Amyot
The Annapolis Mall holds a special place in my heart. Growing up, it was the epicenter of fun for many locals, and I actually remember when it was built in 1980. (Yes, I'm that old!) It had The Gap, a huge arcade, a movie theater, Montgomery Ward, and Hecht’s. Most importantly, it had all of our friends under one roof! We didn't have cell phones at the time, but we would eventually run into friends and have a blast socializing and buying random things! Moments like the opening of Nordstrom in 1994, the two-story Borders Books in 2002, and a massive 240,000-square-foot expansion in 2007 still feel recent. But things are different now. Following the Great Recession and the growth of online shopping, beloved places like Borders and the Nordstrom Café began to close. In just a few short years, we lost all but one department store and ownership has changed. Annapolitans were worried about the Mall, which later became known as Westfield Annapolis, and what its future held with lots of rumors swirling. However, there is hope and changes ahead! As a new page turns, the new owners have restored its name to Annapolis Mall and want our input on how to evolve this pivotal site of community and commerce. In December 2024, the new owners of Annapolis Mall— including Centennial, Waterfall Asset Management, and Sandeep Mathroni with Atlas Hill RE—along with other key industry partners, asked us to help them distribute a survey for them in our Annapolis Moms Facebook Group and on Instagram. Our community was invited to share feedback on what we wanted from every aspect of the Mall, and boy, did you come out in full force!
"We were blown away and thrilled to receive well over 1,200 poll responses in just a week,” said Annapolis Mall’s Director of Marketing Morgan McLoud. “There is renewed focus at Annapolis Mall and we really want Annapolitans to be excited about the future of the Annapolis Mall experience. We received valuable insights from our community and will be taking into consideration many of the suggestions to further evolve our center and are really excited to bring in new retail experiences such as DICK’S House of Sport and Dave & Buster’s, with lots more to come. We are dedicated to ensuring Annapolis Mall is a safe, welcoming, and engaging go-to destination for our Annapolis community to connect, enjoy, and shop. We hope to have many more exciting announcements to share as the year progresses.” DICK’S House of Sport, an “innovative retail concept” by DICK’S Sporting Goods, will offer a wide range of products alongside immersive in-store experiences. Features like a climbing wall, golf bays with TrackMan™ simulators, and HitTrax™ multi-sport cages will allow customers to test products before purchasing. The team at Annapolis Mall is also responding to feedback on how to enhance it for families. This includes the need for indoor family spaces when the weather is unfriendly! There’s buzz of some really great retailers to come to the Mall, a promise to incorporate suggestions of Moms and more family meetups, affordable programming such as outdoor movie nights, and an awesome café are likely. Change is certainly afoot. And Annapolis Moms is here for it!
Photo credit: Theresa Wilson
WINTER 2025 | 7
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