Southgate Mall is the sole enclosed shopping center in the sixteen county Historic Albemarle region of northeastern North Carolina. Located on West Ehringhaus Street (US 17 Business) in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, the mall is currently anchored by Belk and until its closing in early April 2015; JCPenney.Construction of the mall started in 1967 at a cost of $3 million ($21.2 million in 2014 dollars), opening two years later as Southgate Plaza Shopping Center with senior anchors Belk-Tyler and W.T. Grant. Junior anchors Winn-Dixie and People's Drug filled positions intermediate to anchors and smaller shops.In an email from June 10, 2017; the mall's owners Vireo Group (which purchased the mall in February 2017) announced plans to demolish the former JCPenney and Merchant's Tire locations, along with an abandoned Kangaroo Express gas station, as part of a planned conversion from an indoor mall (often called "demalling") into a partially open shopping venue.
