The mall opened in 1991 with four anchor stores, Belk, Dillard's (Ivey's had just been bought by Dillard's), JCPenney and Sears. Several years previously, Belk closed its 75+ year-old store in uptown Charlotte, and JCPenney closed its 35-year-old store at Park Road Shopping Center. There were two more anchor pads available, one for Rich's and the other for Miller & Rhoads. However, neither of these stores joined the mall. In 1993, Hecht's (which had just bought Thalhimers) opened its doors as the 5th anchor store to the mall, making Carolina Place Mall the only mall in the region with 5 department store anchors at that time. In 1996, Incredible Universe and Garden Ridge opened outside the mall. In 1997, Incredible Universe closed and Sam's Club opened in its place. Garden Ridge became At Home in 2014.
