September 27,1960: Parkway Plaza Shopping Center Opens

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From 1955 to 1962, four major shopping centers were built in the Winston-Salem area.

Thruway was the first to be built in Winston-Salem, and it was the second shopping center built in North Carolina.

Northside Shopping Center opened in 1958, constructed near the north-south expressway called Highway 52.

Parkway Plaza Shopping Center opened on this day in 1960, and Reynolda Manor opened in 1962.

In 1957, the intersection of Peter’s Creek Parkway and Corporation Parkway only existed on a contractor’s map.  Building the highways required fill dirt and rock for the low areas.  454,000 cubic yards of dirt and rock were moved from a nearby piece of land, which before was considered impossible for development.

The land became a “borrow pit,” and the State got fill material for the highways,  and the landowners got a large, level site for a shopping center.

Construction for Parkway Plaza began in 1958, and opened in 1960 with Woolworth’s, W. T. Grant, Eckerd’s, Kroger, and K&W Cafeteria.

By 1975 there were 23 shopping centers in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, and four more (including Hanes Mall) under construction.

The four initial shopping centers still exist today.  The tenants have changed over the years, and all have grown and expanded from their original footprints.

Photo courtesy of Forsyth County Public Library Photograph Collection.

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4 Responses

  1. Ginny says:

    I worked at Thalhimers at Parkway Plaza from 1966-1971. I paid fir college by working there. My senior year at Parkland High School, I had to take Distributive Education so that I could leave school and go to work from 1-9. What a time!!!

  2. Ginny says:

    I worked at Thalhimers at Parkway Plaza from 1966-1971. I paid for college by working there. My senior year at Parkland High School, I had to take Distributive Education so that I could leave school and go to work from 1-9. What a time!!!

  3. Raymond says:

    Are they any comments regarding Parkview Shopping Center In Winston-Salem? And do you know when this shopping center opened? There was a movie theatre located there too.

    • The Parkview Theatre opened on August 23, 1972 and closed in January 1992. The theatre was later divided into two smaller theatres, like many others in town. The shopping center may have opened about the same time as the theatre, since the theatre was built into the “L” section of the center. It looks like several of the anchor tenants began leaving as early as the late 1970s, but some stayed until the early 1990s.

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