Belk (former McRae's) Dogwood Festival Market, Flowood, Mississippi. (Pat Richardson)
This Belk store opened as a McRae's Department Store (rendering at left) on April 17, 2002, with 114,000 square feet of space on two levels. It is the main anchor store of the Dogwood Festival Market, Mississippi's first lifestyle shopping center, located just outside Jackson in the bedroom community of Flowood. The store was designed by Dean and Dean/Associates Architects of Jackson and dedicated in honor of the 100th Anniversary of McRae’s.On March 8, 2006, this McRae's store, along with the rest of the chain. was converted into Belk stores. Belk acquired the chain in July 2005 from Saks Incorporated.
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ReplyDeleteDogwood seems like an open-air regional shopping center masquerading as a upscale lifestyle center. That's probably due to the presence of the super-regional NorthPark Mall in nearby Ridgeland, which features several lifestyle retailers.
ReplyDeleteOutside of the former McRae's, now Belk department store building, Dogwood Festival Market doesn't really appeal on an architectural level. The junior anchors lack a substantial prescence; the pedestrian walkways lack both accent fountains and warm toned paving. This place really lacks the ambience seen in stronger lifestyle centers.
On the other hand, I really like the attention to detail featured on the Belk building. This store seems more engaging than the Dillards at Eastern Shore Centre in Spanish Fort, AL and even Parisian at the Summit in B'ham. The tower element really brings everything together.
I've never seen any photographs of this shopping center that weren't focused on this department store building, which leads me to believe that there's not much to see architecturally. The aerial photos make it look like a glorified strip mall.
ReplyDeleteat that angle it's a very grand looking Belk store.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good design and a flattering photo, to be sure.
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