Midland Mall facts for kids
Center court of Midland Mall, 2016
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| Location | Midland, Michigan, United States |
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| Coordinates | 43°39′35″N 84°14′34″W / 43.6596°N 84.2428°W |
| Address | 6800 Eastman Ave. |
| Opening date | 1991 |
| Developer | Richard E. Jacobs Group |
| Owner | Kohan Retail Investment Group |
| No. of stores and services | 35 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 6 (4 open, 2 vacant) |
| Total retail floor area | 505,916 square feet (47,000 m2) (GLA) |
| No. of floors | 1 |
Midland Mall is a shopping mall in Midland, Michigan, United States. It first opened its doors in 1991. A shopping mall is a large building with many different stores inside.
The main stores at Midland Mall are called "anchor stores." These are usually big department stores or popular shops that attract many visitors. Midland Mall's current anchor stores are Target, Fantastic Finds, Barnes & Noble, and Dunham's Sports. Two other large spaces used to be anchor stores for JCPenney and Sears, but they are now empty. The mall is currently managed by Kohan Retail.
Contents
The Story of Midland Mall
How the Mall Started
The Richard E. Jacobs Group built Midland Mall. When it first opened in 1991, it had four main anchor stores. These were J. C. Penney, Elder-Beerman, Target, and Sears.
Changes Over the Years
Over time, new stores joined the mall. In 2003, a Barnes & Noble bookstore opened. A store called Steve & Barry's also opened in the same area. However, Steve & Barry's closed in 2008. In 2011, Dunham's Sports took over that space.
Midland Mall is the smallest of the three main malls in the Tri-Cities area. This area includes Bay City and Saginaw. Even though it was the smallest, Midland Mall often had the fewest empty stores. This means it was doing well for its size. In 2007, the mall filled several empty spots. New stores like Journeys and a clothing store called Vanity opened. Two new places to eat also joined the mall. However, all these stores have since closed down.
Major Store Closures
In 2012, the Elder-Beerman store changed its name to Younkers. A shoe store called Shoe Dept. Encore opened next to Younkers in 2015.
Sadly, some big changes happened in the following years. The Sears store closed its doors in July 2016. Then, in March 2017, JCPenney announced it would close many stores across the country. The JCPenney at Midland Mall closed on July 31, 2017. Another big change came in April 2018. Younkers' parent company, The Bon-Ton, went out of business. This meant the Younkers store closed on August 31, 2018. After these closures, Target was the only original anchor store left.
New Businesses Arrive
Even with some big chain stores leaving, new businesses are still opening at Midland Mall. In 2020, a resale store called Fantastic Finds opened. It took over the large space where Younkers used to be. Also, Planet Fitness, a gym, is planning to move its existing Midland location into the former JCPenney store. This shows that the mall is still finding new ways to bring people in.
