Madison Square Mall opened on August 1 , 1984 , with anchors JCPenney , Parisian , Castner Knott , Pizitz , and a Sears which relocated from Heart of Huntsville Mall . Junior anchors included Yielding and Blach 's . The opening day ceremonies were attended by the Miss America 1984 contestant , Suzette Charles , in her first public appearance as the successor to Vanessa Williams after she was forced to resign the title due to unauthorized publication of nude photographs . Over time , some of the anchors moved or were bought out by bigger companies . Blach 's was closed by 1987 and replaced by The Limited and Victoria 's Secret . Pizitz was acquired by Jackson , Mississippi-based McRae 's in 1988 and renamed as such until McRae 's was acquired by Charlotte , North Carolina-based Belk . Castner Knott was acquired in 1998 by Dillard 's . Yielding closed their Madison Square Mall location around 1993 . For the next 10 years , the space was used by Castner Knott/Dillard 's for their menswear . Until 2008 , Steve & Barry 's used the space . In 2007 , Belk , after purchasing Parisian , moved its store from the former McRae 's space to the much larger former Parisian space and renovated it to fit the Belk model . The former McRae 's building remained vacant from then until the mall closed . Belk departed for Bridge Street Town Center in late 2014
Miss America 1984
Miss America 1984
Madison Square Mall