Birchwood Mall facts for kids
| Location | Fort Gratiot Township, Michigan, United States |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 43°02′11″N 82°27′13″W / 43.0363°N 82.4535°W |
| Opening date | April 2, 1991 |
| Developer | General Growth Properties |
| Management | Brookfield Properties Retail Group |
| Owner | Brookfield Properties Retail Group |
| No. of stores and services | 44 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 5 (2 open, 3 vacant) |
| Total retail floor area | 729,407 sq ft (67,764.1 m2) |
| No. of floors | 1 (staff mezzanine in Target) |
Birchwood Mall is a large indoor shopping center found in Fort Gratiot Township, Michigan, near Port Huron, Michigan. It's a great place to shop, eat, and have fun! This mall is managed by Brookfield Properties Retail Group, which is one of the biggest mall owners in the United States.
At Birchwood Mall, you can find many different stores, plus a food court where you can grab a bite to eat. Some of the main stores, called "anchor stores" because they are usually very big and attract lots of shoppers, include Dunham's Sports, JCPenney, and Target. You can also find other popular places like Planet Fitness and AMC Birchwood 10 for movies. The mall is easy to get to, located on 24th Avenue (M-25), not far from major highways like I-69 and I-94.
Contents
Birchwood Mall's Story
How the Mall Began
Birchwood Mall first opened its doors in April 1991. When it started, it had four big anchor stores: Target, Sears, JCPenney, and a department store called Prange's from Wisconsin.
Right from the beginning, the mall was popular with shoppers from Canada. Many people would cross the Blue Water Bridge from Sarnia, Ontario, to visit the mall and find great deals.
Changes Over the Years
Over time, some of the stores changed names. In 1992, the Prange's store became a Younkers store. A few years later, in 1997, a new Hudson's store opened at the mall.
In the late 1990s, more stores joined the mall, like Old Navy and Dunham's Sports. For a while, there was even a Chuck E. Cheese's for kids to enjoy, which opened in 2004 but closed in 2014.
New Stores and Fun Spots
In 2001, the Hudson's store changed its name to Marshall Field's. Then, in 2006, Marshall Field's became a Macy's store. The Old Navy store closed in 2007, and that space later became a Rainbow Shops, and now it's a Planet Fitness gym.
In 2013, the Younkers store changed its name one more time, becoming a Carson's store. In 2016, the movie theater, then called Carmike Cinemas, closed for a short time to get a cool new makeover. Also in 2016, a fun store called Five Below opened in the spot where Chuck E. Cheese's used to be.
Big Store Changes
Like many malls, Birchwood Mall has seen some of its big anchor stores close over the years. In 2016, Sears, which had been there since the mall opened, closed its doors.
Then, in 2018, the Macy's store also closed. Later that same year, the Carson's store closed too, because its parent company, Bon-Ton, went out of business.
After these closures, the mall had only two of its original five anchor stores left: JCPenney and Target. However, Dunham's Sports moved into the large space that used to be Carson's in September 2020, bringing more shopping options back to the mall.
