Middlesboro
Mall is an enclosed shopping mall in Middlesboro, Kentucky, on U.S. Route 25E.
It includes over 26 stores and services. Anchor stores are Belk and Roses and a
cinema owned by AMC Theatres.
The mall is
part of a retail business concentration that developed along U.S. 25E beginning
in the late 1960s. It opened in October 1983 with Belk, JC Penney, Kmart and an
array of specialty merchants. The mall's first owner was David Hocker and
Associates. The mall is an important retail center for a large rural area in
the mountains of eastern Kentucky and nearby Tennessee.
Sears joined
the mall in June 1987 with a 16,500-square-foot (1,530 m2) store, then added
another 5,283 square feet (490.8 m2) in 1989. Kmart closed on June 1, 2002.
Steve & Barry's opened in place of Kmart in 2006 but closed in 2009
following bankruptcy in the midst of the economic downturn. Roses opened to
fill the Kmart store in 2010. Sears left in November 2012 and opened a new
store north of the Mall on U.S. Route 25E.
On June 4,
2020, JCPenney announced that this location would close as part of a plan to
close 154 stores nationwide.
Since 2004,
the mall has been owned by Ershig Properties, which is based in Henderson,
Kentucky.
Middlesboro
Mall has a history of supporting community literacy programs. The mall's use as
a site for adult literacy classes was cited in a 1993 academic paper as an
example of the function of shopping malls as "public spaces" for
their communities. The Children's Reading Foundation of Appalachia-KY has used
the facility for Read Across America events and local events such as Malloween,
Books with Santa, and a back-to-school fashion show. In 2013, the mall
management announced that, after observing the importance of these activities
for the community, it was donating space in the mall to house offices of the
Children's Reading Foundation.
Here is a local business that
supports the community
Google
Map- https://goo.gl/maps/aGCBBGGXySzT694D9
APEX
Physical Therapy Pineville,
119 Pine
St Suite A, Pineville, KY 40977