Something special is happening at Gwinnett Place Mall. Known as a "dead mall," given its large number of empty storefronts, new stores have opened in the mall, a number of which are national chains. The mall is buzzing with activity and there were more stores expected soon. This is all true, but all the activity and new stores are only temporary, as the popular Netflix series Stranger Things will be filming at the mall, renamed "Starcourt Mall" for the production.

Built in 1984 by Simon Property Group, Gwinnett Place was sold to Moonbeam Capital Investments in late 2013. While a number of redevelopment plans have been floated, not much has been done to the mall in years, making it a seemingly ideal place to shoot an 80s era TV show.

Stranger Things, which debuted in July 2016, set its first season in November 1983 in a small Indiana town. The second season begins in October 1984, with season three expected to begin in July 1985, against the backdrop of the release of Back to the Future.

The mall entrance between Beauty Master (former JCPenney) and the old Belk was repainted, as was the exterior around the entrance and the Gwinnett Place Mall sign was replaced with signage for Starcourt Mall. The Beauty Master wing is one of the deadest of the mall, with basically no stores left in business aside from the giant beauty supply store. The crew replaced the Beauty Master sign on the lower level with JCPenney signage and turned a portion of the second floor Beauty Master space into a movie theater. There are additional Starcourt Mall branded signs and decorations throughout the Beauty Master wing and around the food court.

New 80s era food court signage was installed with more elements of the food court still coming soon, judging from the flurry of activity and tarps in the area.





The flooring on the second floor has been replaced with red carpet, and retro wood planters and benches were added as well, to create a true 1980s mall experience.

Set designers have spent the past couple of weeks painstakingly recreating the mall as a popular 1985 destination, complete with retailers of the era, including Radio Shack, Spencer's, Chess King, the gap, Waldenbooks, Claire's JCPenney, JCPenney Home Store, Zales, Sam Goody and Wicks "N" Sticks, among others. The mall also features restaurants Wyatt's Cafeteria, Burger King, Orange Julius, The Ground Round and a coming soon Taco Bell as well as a Time-Out arcade and jazzercise studio.

While popular 80s movies that involved memorable mall scenes like Blues Brothers (1980), Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) and Weird Science (1985), among others, were filmed in the era in which they were set, the producers of Stranger Things likely had to make or purchase all the signage, merchandise and fixtures being used in their set.





Most of the stores have actual merchandise in them with the Time-Out arcade full of seemingly real 80s games.

A former Ruby Tuesday restaurant near the side entrance that got the Starcourt treatment was not yet given a new name but it could easy be turned back into the former mall staple if need be.

The former Ruby Tuesday

casting call posted Tuesday for Stranger Things that identifies the mall by name, describes the filming location as "approx 30 mins north east of the ATL Perimeter, (about 1 hr from central Atlanta)" and seeks "1980’s Mall Patrons" for filming on May 14,15,16 and 18.

The pay ain't great ($75 for 8 hours), but the series is looking for anyone ages 18-100 so if you have the time, and you enjoy the series and old retail, it might be a fun day.

This is at least the second time the mall has been used as a filming location. Last year's award winning film I, Tonya, (starring Margo Robbie) which followed the life of figure skater Tonya Harding, filmed at least one scene at the mall early last year.

A scene from I, Tonya in Gwinnett Place Mall

ToNeTo Atlanta would like to thank Paul of kmartworld.com for tipping us off to this retail time warp and for allowing us to use some of the photos he captured.

Are you a fan of the Stranger Things series? What is the one store or restaurant of the 80s you wish still existed? Do you plan to be an extra in the series just to experience Gwinnett Place Mall as a lively mall once more?

Please share your thoughts below.