"Eastwood Mall first opened on Thursday, 25 August 1960. This so-called "merchandise city of the future" was the first indoor shopping mall in the city of Birmingham, the state of Alabama ... and the entire southeastern U.S. (you read correctly; 'rival' city Atlanta didn't get its first bona fide 'mall' until later in the '60s). Eastwood at the time was the third largest mall in the nation ... and was the fifth ever to be built in the United States!...
...But at the end of the decade enclosed shopping malls began falling out of favor ... open-air "lifestyle centers" are now becoming the preferred mode of shopping in many places. The first major open-air venue in Birmingham was The Summit, making its bow in 1997 in the south suburb of Hoover...
...Century held in, but Eastwood -- by now owned by investment outfit Lehman Brothers -- started hemorrhaging tenants, and not finding any to replace them. One by one they vacated, and by 2003 Eastwood Mall was down to its last half dozen tenants. In spite of what was already an empty void throughout the heart of the mall, Eastwood had become a popular venue for senior "mallwalkers", taking advantage of a well-lit, clean and safe environment to exercise and socialize.
That wasn't enough. The costs of maintaining and controlling the climate for a large section of the mall not generating revenue led the management of Eastwood to close the interior on 1 August 2004...
...All of Lehman's efforts to revitalize Eastwood Mall failed. Wal-Mart struck a deal to purchase the property where Eastwood Mall sits, where they will soon build yet another of their "Supercenters."
Demolition of the outparcel buildings, including the old Eastwood Lanes, began late in May of 2006. And the taking down of the big building itself, air conditioned sidewalks and all, took place during June and July of 2006.
Eastwood Mall -- the South's oldest indoor shopping venue -- is history..."
