East Hills Mall opened in 1973 along US Route 60 near Huntington, West Virginia. It has since been redeveloped as the East Hills Professional Center, an office park.
East Hills Mall was completed in 1973 at the junction of Interstate 64 and US Route 60 and was anchored by an A&P supermarket 3 and a Hills department store. 2 Hills, founded in 1957 in Youngstown, Ohio, offered a broad selection of merchandise in the automotive, clothing, hardware, houseware, paint, shoe, and toy departments. The mall itself offered a restaurant and stores for arts and crafts, books, jewelry, records, and shoes. 3
Hills was acquired by the Ames chain in 1998, and the East Hills location was rebranded. 2 Ames, a victim of corporate debt, began closing locations by the dawn of the 21st century and closed the East Hills location in 2001. 1 2
A Grandview Weekend Outlet opened in the vacant Office Depot and Ames stores at East Hills Mall on May 6, 2005. 1 The no-frills department store, open only on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of each week offered a variety of low-cost products ranging from clothing to hardware and sporting goods.
Local developer Bob Childers acquired the mostly empty mall in 2008 and invested $25 million to convert it into the East Hills Professional Center, an office park. 3 The former Hills department store was reused to house a call center for DirecTV. 2 Huntington Federal Bank, an original outlot tenant, built a new branch office with a unique curving roof structure. 3 The building’s new design won Edward Tucker Architects of Huntington a merit award from the West Virginia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
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Sources
- Wartman, Scott. “Outlet store chain to fill former Office Depot, Ames spots.” Herald-Dispatch [Huntington], 20 April 2005.
- Casto, James E. “Lost Huntington: Hills Department Stores.” Herald-Dispatch [Huntington], 6 Aug. 2018.
- Casto, James E. “Lost Huntington: East Hills Mall.” Herald-Dispatch [Huntington], 9 Jul. 2019.
