Christina Shrode said Friday after exiting Hamilton Place mall that she decided to make the trip in order to get out of the house after weeks of the coronavirus lockdown.
But Shrode, wearing a face mask outside the mall during its first day open since March 23, said she wished that so many stores weren't still closed inside the shopping center.
"It's about time to reopen," the Chattanooga woman said, as non-essential retailers were given the OK to restart this week.
At lunchtime Friday, a steady stream of people were entering the Chattanooga area's biggest mall, looking for something to do with the idea that a little retail therapy might be the ticket.
However, most retailers remained closed.
Mall spokeswoman Stacey Keating said more openings are on the way.
Belk is expected to reopen its anchor units at Hamilton Place on Monday, she said, while she believed that Dillard's is slated to open on Tuesday. New anchor Dick's Sporting Goods is open, while Keating wasn't sure about J.C. Penney's plan.
Staff Photo by Robin Rudd / Shoppers check out the still-closed Barnes and Noble Booksellers at Hamilton Place mall. While the mall opened on Friday, May 1, 2020, some retailers remained closed. "More will start to reopen next week," Keating said. "We're finding out every day that more are opening in the next several days."
She said the mall's operator, Chattanooga-based CBL Properties, has reopened centers in six states so far. Properties in two states are open for curbside service only, Keating said.
On Friday, despite the limited number of stores at Hamilton Place that were open, those doing business appeared fairly busy.
At the Finish Line, about a dozen people waited in line outside the athletic shoe and apparel store for their turn to enter. A store employee was separating people in line to provide some social distancing.
In the food court, just the Baskin-Robbins ice cream and cake shop had reopened so far since the mall's mandated closure over a month ago.
"No other food people have opened yet," said Lila Desai of Baskin-Robbins, adding she wasn't sure how quickly business will return following the sheltering at home.
Northgate Mall in Hixson on Friday afternoon was having a similar experience as Hamilton Place, though the smaller center wasn't seeing as many people.
Outside Northgate, nearby furniture store E.F. Brannon on Highway 153 had reopened its showroom for the first time, and a store manager said he was "pleasantly surprised" by the foot traffic.
"We didn't know if people would show up," said Paul Newman, the store's warehouse manager. "There has been a fair amount of traffic."
Staff Photo by Robin Rudd / People enter and exit Hamilton Place Mall as aspects of retail shopping resumed in Chattanooga on Friday, May 1, 2020. Newman quipped that people have been sitting around the house and are "tired of looking at their old furniture."
"We hope everything gets back to normal as it was," he said. "We were having a stellar end to 2019 and a fairly strong 2020 before [the coronavirus] hit."
At Hamilton Place mall, Mark Garrett was handling orders for carry out at the Red Robin restaurant. He said a few people asked if the eatery was doing dine-in service.
Garrett said he believed the restaurant was to reopen for dine-in service next week.
Drake Kovacs, of Chattanooga, who was visiting the mall, said that while he's glad to see retailers start to reopen, he was puzzled.
"It seems silly to open things up," he said. "They don't have a solution for the pandemic."
Brandon Brown, also of Chattanooga, agreed that it seemed a little soon for retailers to reopen.
But both said they were healthy and didn't worry about being out.
Another mall visitor, Serenity Clemons, of Chattanooga, said she needed to go to the center to get her cell phone fixed. She said she hoped that everyone "will be safe and careful."
The two malls are operating with shorter hours, as the shopping centers put into place a variety of safety measures.
Keating said plans are to keep large numbers of people from congregating at popular areas of the malls. The food court seating areas are closed until further notice, but the tenants are encouraged to reopen for carry-out service, according to CBL.
Also closed are the children's play area, soft seating areas and common area gathering spaces and drinking fountains. In addition, the malls are requiring mall management staff to wear masks while in common areas, public spaces or when other people are present.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.