McCain Mall has outlasted nearly every reason people first went there. The department stores that gave it its original shape have been renamed, converted, or closed.
The two-screen theater from 1973 is long gone. The cafeteria, the ice cream parlor, the music stores, and the five-and-dime that filled the original concourse have all disappeared from the national retail map.
The mall’s full opening came in April 1973, though its first anchor opened in September 1972. It launched with four department-store anchors and 96 tenants. It was the largest enclosed shopping center in Arkansas…