The mall was built in a post-World War II suburb of Atlanta by the parent company of Food Fair and featured nearly 50 stores including a Rich's department store (the fourth in the chain), Woolworths, Dunaway Drug (later Eckerd), Davis House restaurant (later Davis Brothers Cafeteria) and a Colonial supermarket.

[1] For the first ten years, the mall was successful and the two-story Rich's store was quickly expanded with a one-story north wing that greatly increased the total floor space.

When the mall first opened, nearly all of the major clothing stores in downtown Marietta also had branches at Cobb Center.

Cumberland Mall opened in 1973 and featured all of the major Atlanta anchors including Rich's, Davison's, Sears and JCPenney.

When Grant City closed in 1976, a small low-end chain with a store downtown named Kessler's took over the location.

By then, Cobb Center looked very dated and small with its dark wood interior and very 1960s retro exterior.

With the upscale shoppers avoiding the center, Rich's was downscaled to a clearance store by the early 1990s and Kessler's closed in 1990 with no replacement.

In December 2008, the Smyrna city council unanimously approved a rezoning which would allow for Imagine International Academy to move its school into the two-story part of the Rich's building, covering 120,000 square feet (11,000 m2) of floor space.