Kabuki Kitsune's Commentary

Gastonia had at one time two malls, the first of which Gaston Mall, which was a much smaller Woolco-anchored center built in the late 60's. Eastridge arrived in 1976, far eclipsing Gaston Mall and drawing a large trade area that served a market in both North and South Carolina mostly independent of Charlotte. It is also a relatively large mall with nearly a million square feet, five anchors and three levels that was undoubtedly as popular as Eastland Mall was in Charlotte in its early years. Gaston Mall itself dropped off the face of the earth, falling well out of favor by the 1980's when my family had moved there.

When Eastridge opened, it brought in three large anchors: Matthews Belk, Ivey's, and JCPenney. The anchors were shuffled over the years, however, with only Matthews Belk retaining its original location.

Little changed for nearly 20 years: the mall's 70's trappings and anchors remained in place with the exception of Ivey's, which became Dillard's in 1990. Goody's also joined the mall somewhere in that time span, though it is unknown whether it existed as anything previously.

In 1997, JCPenney completed construction of a new store in the front of the mall facing NC 279. The old store located on the southeast end was then demolished and replaced the following year with a new Dillard's. The whole shuffle was curious, so I'm assuming Dillard's and JCPenney cut a deal to give both stores greater exposure and more ideal anchor pads. When work was completed, the old Ivey's/Dillard's was then converted to Sears. This brought the total anchors up to four not counting Goody's, which opened as a junior anchor adjacent to Sears. During the same time, renovation began on the mall, completed in late 1998. The food court, had been located on the third level, moved down to the main part of the mall on the second level. The new food court had replaced a four-screen movie theater. Not only was a theater lost, but also resulted in the closure of the third level, which itself was only accessible from the JCPenney wing (originally the front entrance). The third floor had a rather extensive video game arcade, which covered a full third of the upper floor. This arcade had quietly declined in the 90's, with the arcade style gaming falling out of favor. Losing the food court would be its final death knell, and removed any reason for patrons to have to go up to the third floor at all. To date, it remains unused and darkened.

While not advisable, access is possible to the third floor using the stopped escalators. The third floor has proved to be a quandary for the owners of the mall. It has spent much of its existence abandoned since the food court was kicked out. A small indoor theme park called Jeepers! took up the space in 2005, but closed in 2006. Jeepers! was essentially an arcade with a few rides, stuff for the kids and even a small roller coaster, which proved challenging due to ceiling height restrictions, being far shorter than the rest of the mall. The exact reason for this is unknown, but some suspect building code restrictions came into play during original construction.

The latest venture about to open in the dark third level is a mini golf course...pretty much anything is being tried to keep the third level from looking creepy and dead.