Lansing Mall facts for kids
Lansing Mall entrance sign on Saginaw Highway
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| Location | Delta Charter Township, Michigan, United States |
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| Address | 5330 West Saginaw Highway |
| Opening date | July 31, 1969 |
| Developer | Forbes-Cohen |
| Management | Brookfield Properties Retail Group |
| Owner | Brookfield Properties Retail Group |
| No. of stores and services | approx. 60 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 3 (1 open, 2 vacant) |
| Total retail floor area | 830,052 square feet (77,114.4 m2) |
| No. of floors | 1 (2 in JCPenney) |
The Lansing Mall is a large indoor shopping mall located in Delta Charter Township, Michigan, United States. It's just outside Lansing, which is the capital city of Michigan. The mall first opened its doors in July 1969.
Lansing Mall has a huge area of about 830,000 square feet. Inside, you can find around 60 different stores and restaurants, plus a food court where you can grab a bite to eat. When it first opened, its main big stores, called anchor stores, were Wurzburg's, Federal's, and Montgomery Ward. Over the years, these stores changed. Today, the only main anchor store still open is J.C. Penney. Other popular places inside include Dunham's Sports, Barnes & Noble, TJ Maxx, and a 12-screen movie theater. The company that manages and owns the mall is Brookfield Properties Retail Group.
Contents
Mall History: How it Started
Lansing Mall was built by a company called Forbes-Cohen from Detroit, Michigan. It was placed just outside Lansing, in an area called Delta Township, along a main road named M-43 (Saginaw Highway). The mall officially opened on July 31, 1969.
When it first opened, it had three big anchor stores. These were Montgomery Ward on the east side, Federal's on the west side, and Wurzburg's, a department store from Grand Rapids, Michigan, in the middle. Other stores included Cunningham Drug and McCrory.
In March 1972, Wurzburg's sold its store to a local company called J.W. Knapp Company (Knapp's). Later that year, Federal's closed its store because the company was having money problems. In 1974, Robert Hall Clothes opened a discount store in the old Federal's spot. However, this store also closed after only three years.
Growing Bigger: Expansions in the 1970s and 80s
In 1979, the mall started a big two-part expansion project. The first part turned the old Federal's/Robert Hall store into a new hallway with comfy seating, plants, and skylights. New stores like The Limited, Casual Corner, and The Gap opened here. There were also many new restaurants, including Elias Bros. Big Boy and Olga's Kitchen.
The second part of the expansion added another new hallway with more stores and a big department store called Hudson's. After these changes, the mall had more than 105 different stores!
A year later, Knapp's also closed its store. J.C. Penney took over that space. In 1984, the mall opened a new food court called "The Picnic." It had nine restaurants and lots of seating for people to eat.
More Changes: 1980s to Mid-1990s
Another expansion happened in 1987, adding a new section with a Mervyn's department store. To build this, an old movie theater, the Lansing Mall Theater, had to be taken down. This new section also brought in fifteen new stores, like Lerner New York (now New York & Company) and LeRoy's Jewelers. Taco Bell also joined the food court.
In the early 1990s, some stores closed, but the mall still added new ones like Champs Sports. In 1993, Limited Brands (now L Brands) opened three popular stores: a combined Limited Express/Structure store (now Express) and Victoria's Secret. These stores were very popular with shoppers.
By 1995, the mall got new plants and a bigger customer service area. More stores like Buckle, Bombay Company, and Pacific Sunwear opened. In 1996, Gymboree, Bath & Body Works, and the second Disney Store in Michigan opened at the mall.
New Owners and Renovations: Late 1990s to Mid-2010s
In 1996, Forbes-Cohen sold the mall to General Growth Properties. The new owners immediately started a $24 million renovation project. They put in new floor tiles, more skylights, and new seating areas. The outside of the mall also got new lights and signs. The food court's seating area was made twice as big, and the restrooms were updated.
After Montgomery Ward closed in May 1999, many changes happened in that part of the mall. Old Navy opened in July 2000, taking the place of seven smaller stores. Barnes & Noble opened two months later, replacing seven more stores. New restaurants like Panera Bread and Genghis Grill also joined the mall.
In 2002, Younkers opened in the old Montgomery Ward building. The former Montgomery Ward car repair center was taken down and replaced with a Best Buy store, which also opened in 2002. Two years later, Dunham's Sports opened a larger store in the Younkers wing.
More big store changes happened in 2006. Mervyn's closed and was replaced by Steve & Barry's. TJ Maxx also moved into the mall. Both Steve & Barry's and Old Navy closed in 2009.
In 2011, a new company called Rouse Properties took over managing Lansing Mall. In 2013, Regal Entertainment Group announced they would build a large 12-screen movie theater where the old Mervyn's/Steve & Barry's store used to be. This new theater opened in July 2014. A local bar called Tequila Cowboy later opened in a space next to the theater in December 2015.
Recent Times: Late 2010s to 2020s
In January 2017, Macy's announced that its store at Lansing Mall would close. Another anchor store, Younkers, closed in 2018 because its parent company, The Bon-Ton, went out of business.
These big store closures led to many smaller stores inside the mall also closing. By mid-2018, the mall had more than 15 empty storefronts. Some empty stores were even used to display items.
In 2019, Tequila Cowboy closed. Later that year, a new music venue called Overdrive opened in its place, but it closed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Also in 2019, Panera Bread and Chipotle, two popular restaurants, announced they would leave the mall and open new locations nearby. Panera has already moved to a building next to the mall's parking lot. In November 2019, Houlihan's, a restaurant that had been at the mall for almost 40 years, suddenly closed. They said high rent was a reason. In October 2020, Brookfield Properties put the mall up for sale.
See also
In Spanish: Lansing Mall para niños
