The Orchards Mall facts for kids
| Location | Benton Township, Michigan |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 42°05′07″N 86°25′26″W / 42.0853°N 86.424°W |
| Address | 1800 Pipestone Road |
| Opening date | October 24, 1979 |
| Developer | Westcor |
| Management | Vacant |
| Owner | Durga LLC and Bedi & Associates LLC |
| No. of stores and services | 11 (as of November 2020[update]) |
| No. of anchor tenants | 3 (all vacant) |
| Total retail floor area | 624,972 square feet |
| No. of floors | 1 |
The Orchards Mall is an enclosed shopping mall near Benton Harbor, Michigan. Opened in 1979, the mall has 3 vacant anchor stores that were once Carson's, Sears, and JCPenney. The mall also has Slackers Family Fun Center, Doctor ZZZZ'Z Mattress Center and Jo-Ann Fabrics as junior anchors.
History
Meyer C. Weiner Company first proposed a mall called Pipestone Mall in Benton Harbor in 1974. By March 1976, Hudson's had been rumored as a potential anchor store. Westcor acquired the land in August of the same year. The mall was part of a development along Pipestone Road near Interstate 94 which also comprised a strip mall anchored by a Kmart. By 1977, Sears and JCPenney had been confirmed as anchors, with negotiations underway for Carson Pirie Scott as the third anchor.
Orchards Mall was built in 1979 by Westcor. Opening for business in 1979, it featured J. C. Penney and Sears. Major tenants included Walgreens and York Steak House. Elder-Beerman was added in 1992 as the mall's third anchor store. Walgreens moved out of the mall in the mid 1990s, and remained vacant until Jo-Ann Fabrics replaced it in the late 2000s.
General Growth Properties became the mall's management in 1999. A year later, several new stores were added including Bath & Body Works, while the Casual Corner and Finish Line, Inc. stores were remodeled, and Benton Township approved a $111,000 tax cut to help attract more new businesses. General Growth sold the mall to Sequoia Investments in 2002, at which point four more businesses opened, including a Subway and a Chinese eatery in the food court. KB Toys, an original tenant, closed in 2004. Ponderosa, which closed in 1997, became an Italian eatery in 2007. The same year, the Subway became a local restaurant.
Sears closed its store at the mall in 2009. Overflow Church purchased the building in 2012 and intended to move into it. Elder-Beerman was converted to Carson's in 2011. Sears returned to the mall in 2012 with its Sears Hometown format, a smaller-scale Sears store which sells major appliances and household hardware, in a spot vacated by an FYE music store. At the same time, the former Sears Auto Center on a mall outparcel was reopened as a local auto repair shop.
In 2014 the mall was put up for sale; Kohan Retail Investment Group purchased it on December 9.
Sears Hometown closed in July 2017. On January 31, 2018, The Bon-Ton announced that Carson's would be part of a plan to close 42 stores nationwide. The store was closed in April 2018. The mall was sold to Durga LLC, on November 30, 2018 and management was taken over by Bedi & Associates LLC in June of 2020. On March 4, 2019, it was announced that JCPenney would also be closing as part of a plan to close 27 stores nationwide. The store closed on July 7, 2019. Bath & Body Works has moved out of the mall.
