North Towne Square
 | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1972-2002 |
| Headquarters | North Toledo, Ohio |
North Towne Square Mall was a shopping mall in Toledo, Ohio. This mall went through some rough times to keep its doors open, but however it closed its doors in 2002, and reopened in 2003 as Lakeside Center. An aggressive marketing campaign, but the few remaining national chains would pull out. It is a "dead mall", as there are no anchors and only a handful of businesses remain.The irony of North Towne Mall, is that the outlets, and strip malls in the area do pretty well. As leasing literature would state, over 80,000 cars per day pass that property. The fact that the economics of the immediate surrounding area are in decline, and the proximity and better store selection at Franklin Park, are probably what did the most to kill North Towne Mall. (The information below was given from deadmalls)
1980s
North Towne Square was opened with great fanfare in 1980 by Simon Properties, as the Toledo area's fourth shopping mall. It got its name due to its location on Toledo's north end, the only area of town not served by a shopping mall. It was bounded by Detroit Avenue on the east, Alexis Road on the south, Telegraph Road on the west, and was within walking distance of the Michigan state line to the north. The original anchors were Montgomery Ward, along with Lion Store and LaSalle's, two Toledo chains. The mall operated with almost full occupancy throughout much of the 1980s and early 1990s, and was the Toledo-area home of retailers like Frederick's of Hollywood, Camelot Music, and CVS/Pharmacy. The Radio Shack franchise at the mall generated more revenue than any other Radio Shack in Ohio. Notable tennants included Gap (the only one in Toledo at the time) 5-7-9, Hickory Farms
The primary draw of the mall was supposed to draw in customers from Toledo that were employed with high-paying, manufacturing jobs. The economic condition of the neighborhood began to decline, because the primary employers, such as Dana Corporation and Champion Spark Plug, closed their manufacturing facilities.
The secondary draw of the mall was supposed to be from Michigan residents in the surrounding area, as the mall was less than one half mile from the Michigan border. This was an effective audience, as Monroe, Michigan was a 20 minute drive away.
For most of the 1980's North Towne was competitive with the other malls in Toledo, despite it's location. Growth in Toledo is toward the West and Southwest. Like all malls in a slow state of stagnation, North Towne earned a reputation, rightly or wrongly, as a gang-banger mall, lacking sufficient security.
In 1982, Hudson's, a department store, pulled out of it's space in the mall, selling it to Elder-Beerman. The first major change came around 1982 when LaSalle's sold their entire chain of stores to Macy's. (The Greenwood Mall, located less than two miles away converted to a strip mall called Alexis Park in 1982. Interestingly, the tile pattern at Value City still leads one to where the mall entrance used to be). [1]
When Frenchtown Square Mall opened in Monroe in 1989, it significantly reduced the amount of traffic coming from Michigan to North Towne. When the smaller, but more convienent Frenchtown Square Mall opened 20 minutes away in Monroe, Michiganin 1989, a fair amount of Michigan business left as well, compounding matters.
1990s
Shoppers from North Toledo and SE Michigan continued to flock to North Towne Square until the 1990's.In the early 1990s, the mall's fortunes began to turn. It is believed that the decline began with the expansion at that time of Franklin Park Mall on the city's west side, the beginning of a chain of events that would make Franklin Park the dominant Northwest Ohio mall to this day.
In 1992, Franklin Park underwent a massive expansion of new stores which overtook the others, and massively hurt North Towne's revenue.
In 1993,Franklin Park Mall, also in Toledo , added a fourth wing, an expansion spearheaded by Lion, This contributed to North Towne's declined, as Franklin Park Mall and North Towne shared a geographic customer base, Franklin Park Mall, both with Lion and Jacobson's and a more centurally located to west and southward expanding in Toledo, began sucking away the business from North Towne.
In 1995, Elder Beerman filed for Chapter 11 , bankruptcy . As a condition of emerging from bankruptcy ,Elder Beerman closed in North Towne. This was primarily because of what Elder Beerman went through. First it closed the restaurant. Second it reduced to a one floor clothing store, and used its upper floor to closeout merchandise. Later on Elder Beerman moved to Frenchtown Square Mall because it had a expanded area.
In 1996, AMC Theatre converted its theater from first run to a second run of movies. With the departure of Elder Beerman began the slow departure of primary tenants in favor of secondary ones. [2]
In 1997, anchor Elder-Beerman filed for bankruptcy reorganization. They closed their North Towne store, but at the same time expanded their store at Monroe, Michigan's Frenchtown Square Mall, just a short drive north. The closing of Elder-Beerman and the loss of customers to Frenchtown and other area malls would lead to a steeper decline through the rest of the decade. With that filing and reorganization, Elder Beerman, which had closed the restaraunt portion of their store and had relegated many sections of their anchor to closeout merchandise already, closed their anchor at NorthTowne.[3]
In 1998, McDonalds , Chick-Fil-A /Lemstone Books, Hickory Farms, and CVS Pharmacy all closed.[4]
With the closing of Elder-Beerman, mall traffic decreased and eventually national chains left to find greener pastures elsewhere in the Toledo area. By 1999, the mall had closed its movie theaters, and the mall's McDonald's, an original tenant, also moved out. These stores were replaced by locally-based, mom-and-pop stores that were not as attractive. The neighborhood was also on the decline as some employers left the area, and the mall got a reputation as being crime-ridden and gang-friendly.
2000s
By 2000, Montgomery Ward filed for bankruptcy, and the mall's occupancy rate dropped to about 60%.. Dillard ’s left in the spring of 2000, and just a couple of months later, the cinemas (which AMC Theatre sold to National Amusements in 1996) closed its doors for good. These closings opened up the floodgates of store closures, such as CVS/Pharmacy ,KB Toys , McDonalds , and even bread and butter mall stores such as Radio Shack, Bath & Body Works ,Footaction USA and B Dalton Books .
The decline of North Towne was accelerated when Montgomery Ward filed for bankruptcy and closed up shop in early 2001. Montgomery Ward 's bankruptcy filing meant that the mall lost a second anchor in February 2001. Shortly after this filing, the vacancy rate at the mall approached 40%. This left the mall with only Lion Store as an anchor, and that chain sold out to Dillard's soon after. When Dillard's closed in March 2001, the race was on to leave North Towne as fast as possible. The theaters closed, Olga's Kitchen left, Foot Locker left as did KB Toys, and Lens Crafters. When the mall's last remaining anchor Montgomery Ward closed in 2001 when the national chain folded, North Towne truly became a ghost mall.
Lion Store finally closed in January 2002. Shortly after that, despite the "I Support NorthTowne Mall" campaign among customers and stores, most of the remaining national chains, including Fredrick's of Hollywood, Radio Shack, and KB Toys, pulled out as well. Inexplicably, in late 2002, MC Sporting Goods decided to open a Primary Store at North Towne Square Mall. This was also a failure. Simon sold the mall to a pair of investors from California, and there is talk of turning the place into a cross between an industrial park and shopping district. A few stores remain, such as GNC, Foot Locker, a beauty parlor, a pool hall, MC Sports, and a wrestling school among its tenants. North Towne Mall was sold by Simon in late 2002 to a california businessman, leaving Dillards, which had recently acquired the locally-based Lion Store. Dillards did not last long, and by 2002, no anchors remained.
In late 2003, North Towne was rechristened Lakeside Centre in a Redevelopment. It has not been overly successful. Lakeside Center has less than 20 tenants. The only three national chains remaining are GNC, Foot Locker, and a Deb store which, by all accounts, does terrific business. Now anchorless, the mall's remaining tenants, including MasterCuts, Radio Shack , Fredrick's of Hollywood, National Record Mart , embarked on the "I Support Northtowne Mall" campaign. North Towne Square in Toledo has a new name, a new sign, and, its owners hope, a new lease on life. The troubled mall at Alexis and Telegraph roads is now called Lakeside Centre and is seeking all types of tenants. The mall has been mostly vacant for the past few years, and its last large store, MC Sporting Goods, was shuttered last month.[5] To an extent, it worked. New stores, including Bath and Body Works and Beyond , Ware Sports, arrived, along with secondary tenants like the Midwest Wrestling Foundation, a school for aspiring professional wrestlers. MC Sports built and opened a store near where Montgomery Ward once stood. Before the year was over, however, all of these stores had closed. The Montgomery Ward space was sold, renovated, and now functions as a Super Fitness. The future of the mall is uncertain, as the new owners are trying to redevelop the mall as a mixed use property. MC Sporting Goods actually closed its mall enterance for to prevent theft, and closed their doors in early 2004.
The mall officially closed in 2005, with Super Fitness Centre (occupying the former Ward's space) and a couple of smaller stores left. Simon Properties had sold the mall to a group of California investors, and there has been talk about redeveloping the property as a retail/industrial park hybrid. A portion of the parking lot is used to store the excess inventory at a nearby Chrysler dealership. The owners of the Lakeside Centre mall in Toledo said yesterday that high electric costs forced them to decide to close the 24-year-old mall a month from now…Lakeside Centre will close Feb. 21. About 20 remaining tenants in the 760,000-square foot mall were told this week to leave by the closing date… Mr. Kashani said electricity was costing nearly $60,000 monthly and tenant rent could not offset that. "The security, janitorial, maintenance, and everything else I could handle, but the electricity expenses … they were putting us out of business," he said. [6]
In October 11, 2007, There have been some political debates on whether or not the rest of North Towne should be considered to be turning into a Wal-Mart. David Ball, a candidate for City Council District 6 representing Point Place, North Toledo, and part of West Toledo, yesterday opposed a purported plan by Wal-Mart to redevelop the former North Towne Square Mall on Alexis Road.[7]
Anchors
- Dillard's (1999-2002) (formerly Lion)
- Elder-Beerman (1984-1997) (formerly Hudson's)
- LaSalle's (1980-1982)
- Lion Store (1980-1999)
- Macy's (1982-1984) (formerly LaSalle's)
- MC Sporting Goods (2002-2003)
- Montgomery Ward (1980-2001)