Meridian Mall facts for kids
Meridian Mall entrance sign along Grand River Avenue
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| Location | Meridian Charter Township (Okemos), Michigan, United States |
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| Opening date | November 6, 1969 |
| Developer | M.H. Hausman Co. |
| Management | CBL Properties |
| Owner | CBL Properties |
| No. of stores and services | 125 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 8 (6 open, 1 vacant) |
| Total retail floor area | 997,128 sq ft (92,636 m2). |
| No. of floors | 1 (2 in Dick's Sporting Goods and former Younkers Women's) |
Meridian Mall is a very large shopping mall located in Okemos, Meridian Township. This area is a suburb of Lansing, Michigan. The mall first opened its doors in 1969. It opened the same year as its main competitor, Lansing Mall.
Meridian Mall started with two main stores: J.W. Knapp Company and Woolco. Over the years, the mall has grown and changed a lot. Today, Meridian Mall has about 125 stores and a food court. It also has a movie theater nearby. The main stores, called anchor stores, include High Caliber Karting and Entertainment, JCPenney, Launch Trampoline Park, Macy's, Bed Bath & Beyond, Schuler Books & Music, and Dick's Sporting Goods. There is one empty anchor store that used to be Younkers. Other popular stores are H&M and Planet Fitness. CBL Properties has owned and managed Meridian Mall since 1998.
Contents
Mall History: How It Grew
Meridian Mall was built by the M.H. Hausman Company. It first opened on November 6, 1969. The mall was built at a busy intersection in Meridian Charter Township.
Early Stores and Fun (1960s-1970s)
When it first opened, the mall had two main anchor stores. These were the Lansing-based J.W. Knapp Company (Knapp's) and Woolco. Woolco was a discount department store. It was owned by the F. W. Woolworth Company.
Other big places in the mall included the Meridian 4. This was a movie theater with four screens. It was run by American Multi-Cinema, now known as AMC Theatres. There was also a G. C. Murphy dime store. You could also find a Cunningham Drug pharmacy and a Hamady supermarket. Two local restaurants, Schensul's Cafeteria and Elias Brothers Big Boy, also had spots in the mall.
The Hamady supermarket closed in 1972. It stayed empty until 1976. Then, it became a second movie theater complex. This new theater also had four screens. It was called Meridian East 4, and the older theaters became Meridian West 4. In 1979, the G. C. Murphy store closed. Its space was divided into twelve new shops. This new area was called "The Court." Some of the first stores there were CardAmerica, Casual Corner, and MC Sports.
The 1980s: Big Changes and New Wings
In 1980, J. W. Knapp closed its stores. Its Meridian Mall store was sold to JCPenney. In 1982, a new section was added to the south side of Meridian Mall. This brought in Hudson's as a third anchor store. Hudson's was a department store from Detroit. The new Hudson's section added many clothing stores and a Foot Locker. The rest of the mall also got a fresh new look. It received new floors, seating, and skylights.
Later in 1982, Woolco stores across the country closed. In 1983, the empty Woolco space was divided up. Part of it became a Service Merchandise store. Another part became a new food court. A new hallway was also added with space for fifteen more stores. One of these new stores was B. Altman's. This was a local men's clothing and sporting goods store.
In 1987, another new section was added. This section ended with a Mervyn's department store. Mervyn's opened seven new stores in Michigan at the same time. One of these was at Lansing Mall. This new section at Meridian Mall added more than ten new shops. These included Lerner New York (now New York & Company), LensCrafters, and Babbage's (now GameStop).
1990s and Early 2000s: Modern Updates
By 1993, Lansing Mall had also grown a lot. This created a lot of competition between the two malls. In 1995, Hobie's restaurant was removed from the food court. This made more room for seating. In 1996, new stores like Abercrombie & Fitch and Select Comfort opened. The first Kirkland's home furnishings store in Michigan also opened here.
On August 27, 1998, CBL Properties bought Meridian Mall. After this, many new stores came to the mall. These included The Children's Place, Mrs. Fields, and Braun's Fashions (now Christopher & Banks). The first Ann Taylor and Old Navy stores in the Lansing area also opened. Service Merchandise closed its store in early 1999.
A big $20 million renovation started in 2000. This project added new floor tiles, skylights, seating areas, and restrooms. Many new stores also opened. A key new store was a two-story Jacobson's department store. It opened in early 2000 where Service Merchandise used to be. Bed Bath & Beyond also built a store in the same area. The food court was moved to the center of the mall. The Hudson's store was also made bigger. Soon after, Hudson's was renamed Marshall Field's.
The new food court opened in November 2000. It had restaurants like A&W, Sbarro, Olga's Kitchen, Panda Express, and Arby's. The old food court space was then used for Schuler Books & Music. In 2002, Galyan's, a sporting goods store, opened next to the new food court. Other new stores included Suncoast Motion Picture Company, Steve & Barry's, Hollister Co., and an AT&T Wireless store. Before these changes, both movie theaters in the mall had closed.
Jacobson's closed in 2002. A year later, its building became a Younkers store. Younkers also opened a store at Lansing Mall that same year. Because the old Jacobson's space was small, Younkers put its men's and children's clothes in a new, nearby store.
Mid-2000s to Today: More Changes
In 2004, Dick's Sporting Goods bought and renamed all Galyan's stores. More changes happened in 2006. First, Mervyn's closed all its Michigan stores. Later that year, Marshall Field's was renamed Macy's. Younkers grew its presence in the mall in 2008. It moved its men's, children's, and furniture sections into the empty Mervyn's space. This allowed Younkers to offer more items. Steve & Barry's closed in September 2008.
The AMC movie theater outside the mall closed on September 5, 2011. The theater reopened in December 2012 as Studio C!. This new theater offers food and drinks served right to your seat. In late 2013, plans were approved to add H&M and Gordmans to the mall. Planet Fitness and Shoe Carnival also opened in the Macy's section in late 2013.
On April 29, 2017, Gordmans closed its Meridian Mall store. Launch Trampoline Park was announced as its replacement in mid-2018. Younkers closed both of its stores at Meridian Mall in 2018. In mid-2019, High Caliber Karting and Entertainment announced it would open in the former Younkers Men's & Home store. In early 2020, Old Navy closed. High Caliber plans to expand into that empty space.
On June 23, 2020, JCPenney said it would close its Meridian Mall store. However, JCPenney later decided to keep the store open in early July.
