Remembering Eastland: 50 years later, Charlotte residents say it was ‘everything’
When Kathy Buckley’s family moved to east Charlotte, “there was nothing,” she said.
It was 1957, and people didn’t venture that far from the city unless they had a farm to tend to.
But it wasn’t long before her family saw their country home fold into suburbia, with droves of folks pushing out of the city and paving the way for one of Charlotte’s most iconic landmarks of the century: Eastland Mall.
July 30 marks 50 years since it opened its doors for the first time.
“It was where you shopped, it was where you met your friends, it was where you had family time,” said Tracy Thomas, a lifelong east Charlottean until 2022. “Any east-sider will tell you Eastland Mall was everything.”
As a little girl, Thomas used to trek through the woods behind the Wilora Lake neighborhood to watch construction on the mall. She remembers the day they erected a giant sign with Eastland’s rising sun logo. It was a big deal, she said.
Designed by artist Alfred Kloke, the logo became a symbol of Charlotte that is second only to the Queen City crown, said Austin Keith-Grant, a graphic designer who grew up in east Charlotte and credits the area as a creative influence. He considers himself “a literal product of the mall” since his mom found out she was pregnant while working a shift, he said.
The logo is expected to return in the form of a splash pad on the former mall site as part of a redevelopment effort more than a decade in the making. Eastland closed in 2010.
The site will host a county park, housing developments, retail space and a sports campus by the end of 2027. For now, residents are reflecting on what once was.
Memories of Eastland Mall
Eastland introduced mall culture to a part of the city that had commuted Uptown any time they needed to do some shopping. Now, they had just about every store they could imagine right in their backyards.
Buckley started her career during the mall’s early years and wanted to “up her game” where fashion was concerned, she said. She’d spend hours browsing the selections at Belks, Ivey’s, Sears and JC Penney.
She didn’t skate, but the energy of the indoor ice rink still attracted her and her loved ones.
“The people-watching was crazy, so you could take my grumpy old dad, who never wanted to go shopping — that would be murder,” she said. He found joy in watching the skaters and grabbing a bite at Morrison’s Cafeteria. “Everybody loved it, and everybody has Eastland memories.”
Thomas remembers her friends who worked at Eastland inviting her to stay and hang out after the mall closed. They’d play broomball on the ice skating rink, which they had all to themselves.
John Leupold remembers walking over on his lunch break. He was salaried, he said, so he took a little extra time to do some browsing, too.
His wife, Imo Gene Leupold, remembers seeing escalators for the first time. Their kids loved to ride up and back down, just for fun.
Wayne Sharpe remembers playing in the woods on his grandparents’ property, which later became the site of Eastland Mall. He remembers taking his niece to see professional figure skater and Olympian Peggy Fleming perform at the ice rink and spending his first-ever paycheck on clothes at JC Penney.
The glimmer of Eastland Mall’s early days eventually faded, and crowds waned. For some, the nostalgia soured near the end of the mall’s lifespan and subsequent demolition.
Barry Canter remembers the late-night squealing of tires from people doing donuts in the parking lot and early morning gun shots.
Many lost hope their side of town would ever receive enough investment to flourish as it once had.
So they left.
Buckley has witnessed every season of change since the ‘50s. Once her father passed away, she told herself years ago, she’d finally leave, too.
“But I’ve got this back window that looks out over all these trees, and I’ve got a thousand birds, and my backyard is huge, and my yard is huge, and I’ve got this cute little house,” Buckley said.
Homes in other parts of town felt sterile.
“It’s, like, I live in the best neighborhood on Earth here.”
This story was originally published July 30, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
