Southwestern Ohio's Dayton Mall
The grand entry into the Gem City's gargantuan DAYTON MALL. Going through its glass doors in 1970, one came upon two semicircular stairways that ascended to the foyer's Mezzanine Level.
Tuesday, 3 April 2012
DAYTON MALL is one of the most poorly-documented mid-century centers. No vintage photos are available anywhere, so I created some images myself (from memory). The mall's Atrium had 2 levels and fronted on Rike's. As originally built, DAYTON MALL was a basic, no-frills structure with few interior embellishments and no natural lighting of any kind. The wavy ceiling treatment, spanning the Atrium area, was made of strips of paper.
The south-facing facade of Rike's. Two exterior entries brought customers into the bargain-clearance department. The original store included The Amber Lantern, an upscale restaurant.
The "Penneys", which anchored the west end of the 1970 mall. The building would have a brief stint as a Cincinnati-based McAlpin's in the late 1990s.
Elder-Beerman set up shop in the original J.C. Penney building in 1998. It is ironic that this chain ever operated in the complex. In 1969, Elder-Beerman (then Dayton-based) was blocked -by Federated Stores and Edward J. Debartolo- from being included as a mall anchor.
A circa-2005 aerial, with a section of Elder-Beerman in the upper right. The mall's northwest parking area has been excavated in preparation for a new lifestyle addition.
Photo from www.glimcher.com (Glimcher Realty Trust)
A bird's-eye view of the northwest corner of the complex, with the new VILLAGE AT DAYTON MALL in the foreground. Tenants in the 90,000 square foot lifestyle center opened for business between September 2006 and December 2007.
Photo from www.glimcher.com (Glimcher Realty Trust)
In a circa-2008 physical layout, the VILLAGE AT DAYTON MALL is shown in light gray. Its construction included new (freestanding) P.F. Chang's China Bistro and Jared The Galleria of Jewelry stores. The mall, excluding its outparcel VILLAGE, now spanned approximately 1,352,600 leasable square feet.
Ann Taylor Loft was a charter tenant in the VILLAGE AT DAYTON MALL. The store was in operation between October 2006 and January 2009.
Photo from www.glimcher.com (Glimcher Realty Trust)
Bravo! Cucina Italiana was another original VILLAGE AT DAYTON MALL store. It is still in business to this day.
Photo from www.glimcher.com (Glimcher Realty Trust)
Borders was located in an extension of space that had been occupied by The Metropolitan (a large apparel store) in the circa-'70 center. The (22,000 square foot) bookstore and cafe were shuttered in April 2011.
Photo from www.glimcher.com (Glimcher Realty Trust)
A site plan of the original DAYTON MALL. To a new "mallophile", such as myself, this million square foot facility seemed huge. Of course, I was unaware of even larger complexes that existed in the 'burbs of Chicago, Denver, San Francisco-Oakland and New York City.
The mall's second level Mezzanine, as it was configured during the early years. The area fronting on Rike's, and overlooking the Main Level Atrium, was a dark, empty dead zone for several years. It would finally be utilized as a Food Court in 1984.
In the early 1970s, an urban legend circulated saying that psychic Jeane Dixon had predicted that DAYTON MALL was going to come tumbling down. Of course, it never did. I have read that the same "prediction" was made for Georgia's CUMBERLAND MALL, North Carolina's FOUR SEASONS MALL and Tennessee's 100 OAKS MALL.
Photo from Wikipedia / http://paranormal-corner.blogspot.com
DAYTON MALL in 1996. Penney's had just relocated from the west end of the mall into a newly-built store at front center. The old McCrory 5 & dime was now a 4-screen multiplex. On the periphery, the grand Southland 75, a cool, Mid-Century Modern drive-in, had been bulldozed. The land became too valuable to waste as an outdoor movie theater.
Abercrombie & Fitch occupied space that was part of a large Donenfield's apparel store in the circa-'70 center. Today, the A & F space houses City Gear.
Photo from www.glimcher.com (Glimcher Realty Trust)
In this view, we see the center anchor and a bit of the mall's Atrium area. This store, originally the Rike's depicted above, had stints as Shillito Rikes, Lazarus and Lazarus-Macy's before receiving its Macy's moniker, in early 2005.
Photo from https://www.flickr.com / "GameKing3"
The mall's final original store is seen here. Sears opened in early 1970 and closed for good in late 2018. Although J.C. Penney and Spencer Gifts were charter DAYTON MALL tenants, they currently operate in relocated stores.
Photo from https://www.flickr.com / "GameKing3"
Speaking of which, we have the current DAYTON MALL Penney's.
Photo from https://www.flickr.com / "GameKing3"
This store welcomed its first shoppers in early 1996.
Photo from https://www.flickr.com / "GameKing3"
In December 2015, a 2.2 square mile area of retail stores surrounding (and including) DAYTON MALL was officially designated as the Miami Crossing District.
Graphic from http://miamicrossingdistrict.com
In a contemporary aerial view, J.C. Penney is at front center of the image. Sears would have been on the left.
Photo from http://washingtonprime.com (Washington Prime Group)
We wrap up our DAYTON MALL salute with a circa-2019 site plan. As the shopping hub's 50th anniversary approaches, the complex is saddled with vacant anchor spaces on its east and west ends. Still, the 1,442,600 square foot buying behemoth features over one hundred and seventy stores and services.
DAYTON MALL
Miamisburg-Centerville Road and Dayton-Springboro Pike
Montgomery County, Ohio
DAYTON MALL was developed by Youngstown, Ohio's Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation. The complex was located 8 miles south of downtown Dayton, in an unincorporated section of Montgomery County known as Miami Township. The 102 acre mall site, at the intersection of State Routes 725 and 741, was adjacent to the Interstate 75 expressway.
Planning began for the fully-enclosed shopping hub in the mid-1960s, with construction underway by 1968. A 2-level (175,000 square foot), Dayton-based Rike's was dedicated in the fall of 1969. By the time of the official mall dedication in early 1970, a 2-level (212,000 square foot) J.C. Penney and (122,700 square foot) Sears were also in operation. The Sears store had 2 levels, but only the main mall level was used for retail. A basement housed corporate offices.
DAYTON MALL encompassed approximately 1,014,900 leasable square feet. Its East and West Wings each consisted of a single retail level. The center section included an upper floor, known as the Mezzanine.
Among its one hundred and twenty charter tenants were Hickory Farms of Ohio, Chess King, York Steak House, Thal's ["thallz"] ladies' wear, Donenfield's ladies' wear, Mayor's Jewelry & Records, Hot Sam Pretzels, Docktor Pet Center, Cassano's Pizza King, Leroy's Keepsake Diamonds, Camelot Music, an in-mall Liberal supermarket and J.G. McCrory 5 & 10. The single-screen Chakeres Dayton Mall Cinema had showed its first feature on December 25, 1969.
The Southland 75 Drive-in, located directly west of DAYTON MALL on State Route 741, had opened July 13, 1964. At the time, the theater had the largest outdoor screen in the Buckeye State. The venue, twin-screened in the early 1980s, closed July 13, 1986. It was replaced by the fifteen-store SOUTHLAND 75 SHOPPING CENTER, which was completed in the spring of 1987.
The first renovation of DAYTON MALL had been completed in 1984, when new terra cotta tile floors were placed over the original terrazzo surfaces. A 14-bay Food Court was also installed in unused space on the mid-mall Mezzanine. Rike's had been rebranded as a Shillito Rikes in June 1982, and as a Lazarus in March 1986. The store became a Lazarus-Macy's in August 2003 and was "Macy-ated" March 6, 2005.
A second renovation of the shopping complex was underway by February 1994. This 20 million dollar remodeling was done to keep the center competitive with the new MALL AT FAIRFIELD COMMONS (1993) {12.4 miles northeast, in Beavercreek}.
A third floor was added to the DAYTON MALL Lazarus, with the store now encompassing 263,000 square feet. Two cinemas on the Mezzanine were replaced by new stores and the lower level of Sears became an additional sales floor. A 2-level (179,000 square foot) J.C. Penney was built in front of what had been the mall's Main Entrance. This store was dedicated March 6, 1996. The original Penney's, at the end of the West Wing, re-opened as a Cincinnati-based McAlpin's on October 30, 1996.
With its refurbishment completed, DAYTON MALL encompassed approximately 1,221,900 leasable square feet and contained one hundred and sixty retailers under its roof. The complex was acquired by the Columbus-based Glimcher Realty Trust in April 1997. McAlpin's was rebranded as a Dayton-based Elder-Beerman in July 1998.
By the early 21st century, several shopping complexes in the DAYTON MALL trade area were in decline. SALEM MALL, Middletown's CITY CENTRE MART and Franklin Township's TOWNE MALL were virtually vacant, or had been demolished all together. DAYTON MALL had to strive to keep a competitive edge.
The latest thing in retail was trendy, upscale and open-air; this exemplified by THE GREENE TOWN CENTER {7.3 miles northeast, also in Beavercreek}, which opened in August 2006. News of this complex initiated plans for a open-air "lifestyle component" to be added to DAYTON MALL.
In June 2005, the Glimcher Realty Trust initiated construction on the 20 million dollar (90,000 square foot) VILLAGE AT DAYTON MALL. The auxiliary shopping center was built in the northwest parking area, along State Route 725. It was to add twenty-five tenants to the mall's retail roster.
Bravo! Cucina Italiana served its first meals on September 22, 2006. Ann Taylor Loft began business October 3rd. As the VILLAGE was built, the north-facing facade of DAYTON MALL was remodeled and enlarged. A new Borders Books was created, which opened in May 2006. It was followed by the dedication of Orvis Sporting Trends, in November of the same year.
The mall and its peripheral open-air VILLAGE now housed one hundred and eighty-four tenant spaces. The shuttering of Borders Books, in early 2011, created a vacancy that was filled when DSW, in the mall's East Wing, closed and moved. The new store held its grand opening February 23, 2012.
With the old DSW space now vacant, plans were finalized for a new Dick's Sporting Goods. The old DSW, and an adjacent space previously occupied by F.Y.E., were expanded by an additional 19,000 square feet. The (50,000 square foot) Dick's opened for business November 7, 2012.
DAYTON MALL and VILLAGE AT DAYTON MALL now encompassed 1,442,600 leasable square feet. By this time, another potential competitor had come on the scene. AUSTIN LANDING {2 miles southwest, in Montgomery County} was an open-air, mixed-use complex. Segments of its retail component opened for business between 2011 and 2014.
Indiana's Simon Property Group created a spin-off Real Estate Investment Trust in May 2014. Known as the Washington Prime Group, it merged with the Glimcher Realty Trust in early 2015. As a result, DAYTON MALL was brought under the ownership and management of the Columbus, Ohio-based Washington Prime Group.
The mall lost one of its four anchors on August 29, 2018. Elder-Beerman, an operative of the Bon Ton Stores conglomerate since 2003, shuttered its 20-year-old DAYTON MALL store. Soon after, another anchor went dark. Sears, which had been in operation since 1970, closed for good in November 2018.
Sources:
Personal recollection of the author
www.daytonmall.org
www.cinematour.com
www.glimcher.com
www.whio.com
www.fds.com (Federated Stores)
www.answers.com
www.thegreene.com
www.daytonhistorybooks.citymax.com
DAYTON MALL MUSINGS:
My fascination with shopping malls began in the late "classic mall era", when I was still living in southwestern Ohio (between Dayton and Cincinnati). Until 1969, I had never visited an enclosed shopping mall. At this time, I was a wide-eyed kid, infatuated with drawing house plans, building plans and structural renderings. I didn't have a clue about shopping meccas in the nearby "big city".
This all changed when -in 1969- my stepfather took me on an insider tour of the site where he had been doing electrical wiring over the past year. When I first visited DAYTON MALL, construction was about three-quarters complete.
The Rike's department store was ready to open. As I recall, it was a stipulation of Federated Stores that their Rike's was to be the first store opened in the mall. Rike's originally had 2 levels. It was much larger than its sibling mall store, that had opened 6 years earlier at (what would become) SALEM MALL.
What I recall most about the DAYTON MALL Rike's was the optical illusion-design carpeting in the men's wear section. It made you dizzy if you stared at its patterns while walking through the department.
Of course, in keeping with the times, the DAYTON MALL Rike's was a full-service department store. There was an electronic / tv department on the second floor. This was back in "the day", before big box stores cornered the electronics / tv marketplace, and made such a retail section in a mid-tier department store obsolete.
I also recall venturing to (what would be) the DAYTON MALL Sears store. It was still very much under construction and wouldn't be opening for nearly a year.
The mall's three corridors converged on a 2-story Atrium in front of Rike's. At the time of my first visit to "The Mall", workmen were doing a final polish to its the new terrazzo floors. The huge ceiling fixture above had been completely installed. It extended the length and breadth of the area and was made of strips of PAPER (I don't know if many people visiting the original DAYTON MALL were aware of this).
In fact, the mall, as it was opened in 1970, was built in a very spartan fashion. There were no skylights anywhere. There were two rather basic, no frills, fountains at the midpoint of the East and West Wings, with no water feature in the Atrium.
It was as if the builders of the original mall wanted it to be BIG....really BIG. In order to do this, corners were apparently cut, in regard to architectural embellishment of the interior spaces.
In 1970, the major feature of the brand-new DAYTON MALL was its physical SIZE. With one hundred and twenty stores, and over 1 million leasable square feet, it was larger than any of the malls that existed in Cincinnati or Dayton at the time.
Although its interiors were rather sterile and plain, the Main Entrance was built on a grand scale. It was an imposing, 2-story edifice, something like a '70s Mod southern mansion. There was a sheet of glass across the entire front of the 2-level entry corridor, behind a stand of pillars.
Upon entering through the main doors, one came into a 2-story concourse. There was a hallway going off to the right, with a Liberal supermarket at its end. Looking ahead, down the length of the entry corridor, there were two, sweeping, semi-circular stairways; one on either side of the mallway. Stores on this first level included Cassano's Pizza King, Docktor Pet Center and Chess King (what major shopping mall in 1970 didn't have one?).
At the end of the entry corridor was the 2-level Atrium and an imposing, brick and stone, Rike's storefront. On the Upper Level / Mezzanine were lots of stores, but I can only recall a coin shop. The area in front of Rike's was a dark, dead zone. There was floor space enough for all sorts of kiosk-type retailers.......but, in 1970, such a "specialty leasing" concept was not being utilized in the Dayton area.
Going off to the right of the Atrium, on the Lower Level, was the West Wing, which included the (single-screen) Dayton Mall Cinema. Farther on was a large Metropolitan apparel store, with a Spencer Gifts across the mall. At the end of the West Wing was a 2-level J.C. Penney.
The East Wing extended from the other end of the Atrium. Along its length were a Donenfield's apparel store, McCrory 5 & 10, Hickory Farms of Ohio and -my favorite store out of the other one hundred and nineteen- Camelot Music.
Walking into this store in 1970, one would find no compact discs and no home video. The first major home video format, VHS (video home system), was not to come on the market until 7 years later. Compact discs were not to be seen for another 7 or so.
There were lots of LP record albums (selling for around 5 to 6 dollars each). 45 rpm singles were going for 79 cents. One would also have seen several cases filled with 8-track cartridge tapes and pre-recorded cassettes.
Walking out of Camelot, and heading farther east in the mall, one would eventually come to Sears, which sat at the end of the East Wing. At this time, the retail area of this store had only 1 level. There was a basement (which had frontage on a lower level parking lot), but this was used as office space until the mid-'90s.
DAYTON MALL 2000 +
As one might expect, a trip to the DAYTON MALL in the new millennium would reveal quite a different shopping center. The blandly-built interior spaces were spruced up in the mid-1980s and (again) in 1994-1995, with a glass elevator installed in the Atrium area.
A 14-bay Food Court was built in the empty Upper Level / Mezzanine "dead zone". Of course, the Rike's store no longer goes by that name. After going through two nameplate changes, it was "Macy-ated" on March 6, 2005.
The J.C. Penney, once at the end of the West Wing, moved into a brand new store, that was built in front of the original Main Entrance in 1995-1996. The previous Penney's became a McAlpin's and then operated, as an Elder-Beerman, for 20 years. The original cinema folded in 1999.
Also gone are McCrory's, The Metropolitan, the Liberal supermarket, and every other inline store that operated in the circa-'70 mall. With the shuttering of Sears, in late 2018, no original stores remained.
The Curator
Miamisburg-Centerville Road and Dayton-Springboro Pike
Montgomery County, Ohio
DAYTON MALL was developed by Youngstown, Ohio's Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation. The complex was located 8 miles south of downtown Dayton, in an unincorporated section of Montgomery County known as Miami Township. The 102 acre mall site, at the intersection of State Routes 725 and 741, was adjacent to the Interstate 75 expressway.
Planning began for the fully-enclosed shopping hub in the mid-1960s, with construction underway by 1968. A 2-level (175,000 square foot), Dayton-based Rike's was dedicated in the fall of 1969. By the time of the official mall dedication in early 1970, a 2-level (212,000 square foot) J.C. Penney and (122,700 square foot) Sears were also in operation. The Sears store had 2 levels, but only the main mall level was used for retail. A basement housed corporate offices.
DAYTON MALL encompassed approximately 1,014,900 leasable square feet. Its East and West Wings each consisted of a single retail level. The center section included an upper floor, known as the Mezzanine.
Among its one hundred and twenty charter tenants were Hickory Farms of Ohio, Chess King, York Steak House, Thal's ["thallz"] ladies' wear, Donenfield's ladies' wear, Mayor's Jewelry & Records, Hot Sam Pretzels, Docktor Pet Center, Cassano's Pizza King, Leroy's Keepsake Diamonds, Camelot Music, an in-mall Liberal supermarket and J.G. McCrory 5 & 10. The single-screen Chakeres Dayton Mall Cinema had showed its first feature on December 25, 1969.
The Southland 75 Drive-in, located directly west of DAYTON MALL on State Route 741, had opened July 13, 1964. At the time, the theater had the largest outdoor screen in the Buckeye State. The venue, twin-screened in the early 1980s, closed July 13, 1986. It was replaced by the fifteen-store SOUTHLAND 75 SHOPPING CENTER, which was completed in the spring of 1987.
The first renovation of DAYTON MALL had been completed in 1984, when new terra cotta tile floors were placed over the original terrazzo surfaces. A 14-bay Food Court was also installed in unused space on the mid-mall Mezzanine. Rike's had been rebranded as a Shillito Rikes in June 1982, and as a Lazarus in March 1986. The store became a Lazarus-Macy's in August 2003 and was "Macy-ated" March 6, 2005.
A second renovation of the shopping complex was underway by February 1994. This 20 million dollar remodeling was done to keep the center competitive with the new MALL AT FAIRFIELD COMMONS (1993) {12.4 miles northeast, in Beavercreek}.
A third floor was added to the DAYTON MALL Lazarus, with the store now encompassing 263,000 square feet. Two cinemas on the Mezzanine were replaced by new stores and the lower level of Sears became an additional sales floor. A 2-level (179,000 square foot) J.C. Penney was built in front of what had been the mall's Main Entrance. This store was dedicated March 6, 1996. The original Penney's, at the end of the West Wing, re-opened as a Cincinnati-based McAlpin's on October 30, 1996.
With its refurbishment completed, DAYTON MALL encompassed approximately 1,221,900 leasable square feet and contained one hundred and sixty retailers under its roof. The complex was acquired by the Columbus-based Glimcher Realty Trust in April 1997. McAlpin's was rebranded as a Dayton-based Elder-Beerman in July 1998.
By the early 21st century, several shopping complexes in the DAYTON MALL trade area were in decline. SALEM MALL, Middletown's CITY CENTRE MART and Franklin Township's TOWNE MALL were virtually vacant, or had been demolished all together. DAYTON MALL had to strive to keep a competitive edge.
The latest thing in retail was trendy, upscale and open-air; this exemplified by THE GREENE TOWN CENTER {7.3 miles northeast, also in Beavercreek}, which opened in August 2006. News of this complex initiated plans for a open-air "lifestyle component" to be added to DAYTON MALL.
In June 2005, the Glimcher Realty Trust initiated construction on the 20 million dollar (90,000 square foot) VILLAGE AT DAYTON MALL. The auxiliary shopping center was built in the northwest parking area, along State Route 725. It was to add twenty-five tenants to the mall's retail roster.
Bravo! Cucina Italiana served its first meals on September 22, 2006. Ann Taylor Loft began business October 3rd. As the VILLAGE was built, the north-facing facade of DAYTON MALL was remodeled and enlarged. A new Borders Books was created, which opened in May 2006. It was followed by the dedication of Orvis Sporting Trends, in November of the same year.
The mall and its peripheral open-air VILLAGE now housed one hundred and eighty-four tenant spaces. The shuttering of Borders Books, in early 2011, created a vacancy that was filled when DSW, in the mall's East Wing, closed and moved. The new store held its grand opening February 23, 2012.
With the old DSW space now vacant, plans were finalized for a new Dick's Sporting Goods. The old DSW, and an adjacent space previously occupied by F.Y.E., were expanded by an additional 19,000 square feet. The (50,000 square foot) Dick's opened for business November 7, 2012.
DAYTON MALL and VILLAGE AT DAYTON MALL now encompassed 1,442,600 leasable square feet. By this time, another potential competitor had come on the scene. AUSTIN LANDING {2 miles southwest, in Montgomery County} was an open-air, mixed-use complex. Segments of its retail component opened for business between 2011 and 2014.
Indiana's Simon Property Group created a spin-off Real Estate Investment Trust in May 2014. Known as the Washington Prime Group, it merged with the Glimcher Realty Trust in early 2015. As a result, DAYTON MALL was brought under the ownership and management of the Columbus, Ohio-based Washington Prime Group.
The mall lost one of its four anchors on August 29, 2018. Elder-Beerman, an operative of the Bon Ton Stores conglomerate since 2003, shuttered its 20-year-old DAYTON MALL store. Soon after, another anchor went dark. Sears, which had been in operation since 1970, closed for good in November 2018.
Sources:
Personal recollection of the author
www.daytonmall.org
www.cinematour.com
www.glimcher.com
www.whio.com
www.fds.com (Federated Stores)
www.answers.com
www.thegreene.com
www.daytonhistorybooks.citymax.com
DAYTON MALL MUSINGS:
My fascination with shopping malls began in the late "classic mall era", when I was still living in southwestern Ohio (between Dayton and Cincinnati). Until 1969, I had never visited an enclosed shopping mall. At this time, I was a wide-eyed kid, infatuated with drawing house plans, building plans and structural renderings. I didn't have a clue about shopping meccas in the nearby "big city".
This all changed when -in 1969- my stepfather took me on an insider tour of the site where he had been doing electrical wiring over the past year. When I first visited DAYTON MALL, construction was about three-quarters complete.
The Rike's department store was ready to open. As I recall, it was a stipulation of Federated Stores that their Rike's was to be the first store opened in the mall. Rike's originally had 2 levels. It was much larger than its sibling mall store, that had opened 6 years earlier at (what would become) SALEM MALL.
What I recall most about the DAYTON MALL Rike's was the optical illusion-design carpeting in the men's wear section. It made you dizzy if you stared at its patterns while walking through the department.
Of course, in keeping with the times, the DAYTON MALL Rike's was a full-service department store. There was an electronic / tv department on the second floor. This was back in "the day", before big box stores cornered the electronics / tv marketplace, and made such a retail section in a mid-tier department store obsolete.
I also recall venturing to (what would be) the DAYTON MALL Sears store. It was still very much under construction and wouldn't be opening for nearly a year.
The mall's three corridors converged on a 2-story Atrium in front of Rike's. At the time of my first visit to "The Mall", workmen were doing a final polish to its the new terrazzo floors. The huge ceiling fixture above had been completely installed. It extended the length and breadth of the area and was made of strips of PAPER (I don't know if many people visiting the original DAYTON MALL were aware of this).
In fact, the mall, as it was opened in 1970, was built in a very spartan fashion. There were no skylights anywhere. There were two rather basic, no frills, fountains at the midpoint of the East and West Wings, with no water feature in the Atrium.
It was as if the builders of the original mall wanted it to be BIG....really BIG. In order to do this, corners were apparently cut, in regard to architectural embellishment of the interior spaces.
In 1970, the major feature of the brand-new DAYTON MALL was its physical SIZE. With one hundred and twenty stores, and over 1 million leasable square feet, it was larger than any of the malls that existed in Cincinnati or Dayton at the time.
Although its interiors were rather sterile and plain, the Main Entrance was built on a grand scale. It was an imposing, 2-story edifice, something like a '70s Mod southern mansion. There was a sheet of glass across the entire front of the 2-level entry corridor, behind a stand of pillars.
Upon entering through the main doors, one came into a 2-story concourse. There was a hallway going off to the right, with a Liberal supermarket at its end. Looking ahead, down the length of the entry corridor, there were two, sweeping, semi-circular stairways; one on either side of the mallway. Stores on this first level included Cassano's Pizza King, Docktor Pet Center and Chess King (what major shopping mall in 1970 didn't have one?).
At the end of the entry corridor was the 2-level Atrium and an imposing, brick and stone, Rike's storefront. On the Upper Level / Mezzanine were lots of stores, but I can only recall a coin shop. The area in front of Rike's was a dark, dead zone. There was floor space enough for all sorts of kiosk-type retailers.......but, in 1970, such a "specialty leasing" concept was not being utilized in the Dayton area.
Going off to the right of the Atrium, on the Lower Level, was the West Wing, which included the (single-screen) Dayton Mall Cinema. Farther on was a large Metropolitan apparel store, with a Spencer Gifts across the mall. At the end of the West Wing was a 2-level J.C. Penney.
The East Wing extended from the other end of the Atrium. Along its length were a Donenfield's apparel store, McCrory 5 & 10, Hickory Farms of Ohio and -my favorite store out of the other one hundred and nineteen- Camelot Music.
Walking into this store in 1970, one would find no compact discs and no home video. The first major home video format, VHS (video home system), was not to come on the market until 7 years later. Compact discs were not to be seen for another 7 or so.
There were lots of LP record albums (selling for around 5 to 6 dollars each). 45 rpm singles were going for 79 cents. One would also have seen several cases filled with 8-track cartridge tapes and pre-recorded cassettes.
Walking out of Camelot, and heading farther east in the mall, one would eventually come to Sears, which sat at the end of the East Wing. At this time, the retail area of this store had only 1 level. There was a basement (which had frontage on a lower level parking lot), but this was used as office space until the mid-'90s.
DAYTON MALL 2000 +
As one might expect, a trip to the DAYTON MALL in the new millennium would reveal quite a different shopping center. The blandly-built interior spaces were spruced up in the mid-1980s and (again) in 1994-1995, with a glass elevator installed in the Atrium area.
A 14-bay Food Court was built in the empty Upper Level / Mezzanine "dead zone". Of course, the Rike's store no longer goes by that name. After going through two nameplate changes, it was "Macy-ated" on March 6, 2005.
The J.C. Penney, once at the end of the West Wing, moved into a brand new store, that was built in front of the original Main Entrance in 1995-1996. The previous Penney's became a McAlpin's and then operated, as an Elder-Beerman, for 20 years. The original cinema folded in 1999.
Also gone are McCrory's, The Metropolitan, the Liberal supermarket, and every other inline store that operated in the circa-'70 mall. With the shuttering of Sears, in late 2018, no original stores remained.
The Curator
Up to this time, customers at the typical grocery would have their orders filled by clerks. All merchandise was not individually packaged and priced and was stocked in shelves behind counters. The clerk filling a customer's order would have to measure out various quantities of foods and sack them up. Obviously, this was a very labor-intensive and time-consuming process.
At the self-service Piggly Wiggly, customers entered through a turnstile, grabbed a basket and walked through aisles of pre-packaged and price-marked merchandise. Items would be paid for at a checkout stand located near the store's exit. Clarence Saunders patented his self-service grocery format in 1917. Most of his competitors had converted to this store model by the late 1930s.
This MALL HALL OF FAME feature will start with an abbreviated history of the supermarket. Hopefully, the most important details will be included. Those seeking a more detailed history of the American food retail business may want to consult "A Quick History of the Supermarket" on the excellent GROCETERIA site.
http://www.groceteria.com/about/a-quick-history-of-the-supermarket
For our article, we zero in on the supermarket as it related to early car culture shopping centers and shopping malls built in the USA during the 1950s and '60s. The story should probably begin with the introduction of the so-called self-service food market. This took place September 6, 1916, in Memphis, Tennessee. Clarence Saunders, a River City entrepreneur, opened the original Piggly Wiggly market, which was the first in the nation to operate with the so-called "self-service" format.
http://www.groceteria.com/about/a-quick-history-of-the-supermarket
For our article, we zero in on the supermarket as it related to early car culture shopping centers and shopping malls built in the USA during the 1950s and '60s. The story should probably begin with the introduction of the so-called self-service food market. This took place September 6, 1916, in Memphis, Tennessee. Clarence Saunders, a River City entrepreneur, opened the original Piggly Wiggly market, which was the first in the nation to operate with the so-called "self-service" format.
A vintage trademark for Piggly Wiggly "self service" stores. At the company's zenith in 1932, there were two thousand six hundred and sixty. However, hostile takeovers resulted in several locations being divested. Today, Piggly Wiggly is headquartered in Keene, New Hampshire and oversees the operation of stores in seventeen states.
Graphic from http://www.pigglywiggly.com
Above and below are vintage views of Piggly Wiggly Store Number One, which was located in Memphis, Tennessee.
Photo from Library of Congress
Although it may not look like much today, Piggly Wiggly stores such as this revolutionized the food retail industry in the early 20th century.
Photo from Library of Congress
The American self-service grocery store was followed by the first so-called supermarkets. Early models were somewhat larger than the standard 1,000 square foot grocery and offered items at discounted prices. The idea was to make money not so much by large profits made on individual items but from smaller profits garnered by selling en masse...or on a much larger scale.
It has now been established that the nation's first supermarket opened in the Queens borough of New York City on August 4, 1930. Michael J. Cullen's 6,000 square foot King Kullen store set a new standard in the industry by establishing the discount food format, arranging items in individual departments and providing on-site automobile parking for customers.
At first, King Cullen's retail rivals -such as A & P, Kroger and Safeway- balked at the adoption of the supermarket-style store. However, a severe economic depression necessitated their acceptance of the price-based format.
New York City's King Kullen chain was another merchandising maverick of the early 20th century. Officially recognized by the Smithsonian Institution as America's first supermarket operator, the chain, headquartered in Bethpage, New York, operates stores throughout Long Island.
Graphic from http://www.kingkullen.com
King Kullen Store Number One opened in August 1930 and was located in the Jamaica neighborhood of New York City's Queens borough. The building had previously housed an auto repair garage.
Photo from http://www.kingkullen.com
The number of stores operated by America's large grocery chains -i.e., A & P, Kroger, Safeway and Grand Union- peaked in the late 1920s. In the 1930s, as the supermarket-type store came into its own, grocery chains were consolidating several smaller grocery stores into single supermarket operations. Hence, a particular chain's actual number of locations dropped during this time.
As America became increasingly auto-oriented during the 1920s and '30s, the car culture shopping center was born. Among the earliest was Kansas City's, Missouri's COUNTRY CLUB PLAZA. One of its first tenants was Wolferman's, a local gourmet grocery chain that opened On The Plaza in January 1924.
Another early car culture retail complex, Columbus, Ohio's GRANDVIEW AVENUE SHOPPING CENTER, began business in 1928. It featured four grocery stores; A & P, Kroger, Piggly Wiggly and a local chain known as Polumbos.
At the close of World War II, the budding supermarket industry, whose development had been delayed by The Great Depression and a global conflict, was poised for major expansion. The auto-oriented shopping center, which had evolved in the 1920s and '30s as a center city fixture, began to be built in suburban locations.
EARLY POST-WAR SHOPPING CENTERS AND THEIR SUPERMARKET TENANTS:
*CRENSHAW CENTER, Los Angeles, CA (November 1947) Von's supermarket
*PARK FOREST PLAZA, Village of Park Forest, IL (December 1949)
Jewel supermarket (1950)
*SOUTHGATE CENTER, Milwaukee, WI (September 1951) Krambo
supermarket
*SOUTHGATE CENTER, Milwaukee, WI (September 1951) Krambo
supermarket
A rendering of Wolferman's, the nation's first Shopping Center Market. It opened in early 1924, at Kansas City, Missouri's COUNTRY CLUB PLAZA. The upscale food store was also noteworthy for its on-site bakery, which produced the chain's famed English muffins. Wolferman's exited the food retail business in 1972.
A photo of Washington, DC's historic CONNECTICUT AVENUE PARK & SHOP, an early strip center. The 59,000 square foot complex, dedicated in December 1930, originally housed A & P and Piggly Wiggly grocery stores.
Photo from Library of Congress
Zooming up to the post-war period, we come to the new-fangled, regional-class shopping center, with its large, multi-story department stores and acres of free parking. In this snapshot is Von's (spelled with an apostrophe in 1947), which was a charter tenant at Los Angeles' CRENSHAW CENTER.
Photo from http://s11.photobucket.com / "DCGrocery"
Another innovative, post-war retail hub was Chicagoland's PARK FOREST PLAZA. In this exterior view, we see its Jewel Tea Company supermarket, which opened in 1950. The store, and shopping center, were noteworthy at the time for having central air-conditioning.
Photo from Malls of America Blogspot
An interior view of a mid-century market, from January 1957.
Photo from Library of Congress / Thomas O'Halloran
The suburban shopping mall debuted in the early years of the post-war era. America's first bona fide mall, Seattle, Washington's NORTHGATE CENTER, held its official grand opening April 21, 1950 and included an IGA Foodliner supermarket as one of its tenants.
America's second retail mall, Greater Boston's SHOPPERS' WORLD, opened for business October 4, 1951. The center did not include a supermarket in its original retail mix. However a Stop & Shop was eventually added. It welcomed its first shoppers on October 4, 1961.
The third mall in the United States, Southern California's LAKEWOOD CENTER, was officially dedicated October 3, 1952. Its Hiram's supermarket had opened for business in November 1951, followed by a second food retailer, Boys Market, which had logged its first sale in April 1952.
OTHER EARLY OPEN-AIR MALLS
AND THEIR SUPERMARKET TENANTS:
*STONESTOWN CENTER, San Francisco, CA (July 1952)
Stonestown Market (November 1952)
*LEVITTOWN CENTER (SHOP-A-RAMA), Bucks County, PA (October 1953)
Penn Fruit supermarket (1953) and Food Fair supermarket (1955)
*SUNRISE CENTER, Fort Lauderdale, FL (January 1954)
Food Fair supermarket
The nation's first regional-class, fully-enclosed mall, Edina ["uh-diy-nuh"], Minnesota's SOUTHDALE CENTER, held its grand opening October 8, 1956. It featured a 30,000 square foot Red Owl supermarket, reputed to be the largest in the Upper Midwest at the time. America's early interior malls almost always included a supermarket as a customer drawing point.
OTHER EARLY ENCLOSED MALLS
AND THEIR SUPERMARKET TENANTS:
*BIG TOWN MALL, Mesquite, TX (February 1959)
Wrigley's supermarket
*CHARLOTTETOWN MALL, Charlotte, NC (October 1959)
Colonial Stores supermarket
*NORTH STAR MALL, San Antonio, TX (September 1960)
H-E-B supermarket
Before long, large supermarket chains and major shopping center developers had formed partnerships. Cincinnati's Kroger Company and Cleveland's Jacobs, Visconsi, Jacobs Group co-built Fairview Park, Ohio's WESTGATE CENTER (1954). Kroger and Youngstown, Ohio's Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation developed centers such as Indianapolis' LAFAYETTE SQUARE (1968) and Greater Youngstown's SOUTHERN PARK MALL (1970).
Philadelphia's Food Fair chain formed its own development subsidiary, Food Fair Properties, which built Miami, Florida's 163rd STREET CENTER (1956) and Baltimore's REISTERSTOWN ROAD PLAZA (1962). New Jersey's Grand Union grocery conglomerate also delved into shopping center development.
New Jersey's A & P chain operated stores in many a mid-century American shopping mall.
Graphic from The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company
A circa-1880 A & P store. The grocer debuted in 1859, under the heading of Gilman & Company. A name change, to the Great American Tea Company, was done in 1863. This morphed into the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company in 1869. In 1915, there were 16 hundred locations. By 1930, 16 thousand were in operation. During the 1950s, A & P entered a downward spiral, soon relinquishing its position as America's largest grocery chain. On November 25, 2015, the once-mighty grocer went out of business.
Photo from Wikipedia / Grubbxdn"
An example of a mall-based A & P. This location opened, as part of Muscle Shoals, Alabama's SOUTHGATE MALL, in August 1968. The original complex also housed a Winn-Dixie supermarket.
Above is a rendering of mid-20th century Food Fair. Stores built during this time frame were known for their distinctive pylons which soared several feet into the air.
Drawing from Food Fair Annual Report 1951
Here we see a Safeway store from the same era. Newly-built Safeways also had towering pylons.
Drawing from Wikipedia / "Decimal 10"
America's first enclosed mall supermarket was opened by Krambo Food, at Appleton, Wisconsin's community-class VALLEY FAIR CENTER. The Wisconsin-based chain, absorbed by Cincinnati's Kroger conglomerate in June 1955, had opened a VALLEY FAIR store in March of the same year. Stores were rebranded under the Kroger nameplate in 1963.
SOUTHDALE CENTER, America's first regional-class, fully-enclosed shopping mall, included a supermarket under its roof. The mall -and its Red Owl market- opened for business in October 1956. The store moved out of the SOUTHDALE mall in 1973, relocating to a freestanding store in the shopping center's periphery.
The Red Owl chain was based in Hopkins, Minnesota. Its first store, in Rochester, Minnesota, opened in 1922. Red Owl was originally a subsidiary of the Northstar State's Gamble-Skogmo conglomerate.
Photo from Library of Congress / John Margolies
Photo from Library of Congress / John Margolies
Out in the Lone Star State, Houston's Henke & Pillot competed with the Weingarten's chain. Henke & Pillot's first store opened -in Houston- in 1882. Weingarten's first dated to 1901. "Henke's" MEYERLAND PLAZA location is depicted above, which opened for business in October 1957. The chain had been acquired by Cincinnati's Kroger conglomerate in May 1955. Henke & Pillot stores were finally rebannered, under the Kroger name, in 1966.
A more recent physical layout depicts Southwestern Ohio's DAYTON MALL as it was configured at its 1970 grand opening. The original shopping facility included a mallway-accessed supermarket; in this case, a Dayton-based Liberal. Originating in the Gem City in 1921, the Liberal chain operated forty-eight stores at its peak in 1970.
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