Woodland Mall is an enclosed super-regional shopping mall located in Kentwood, Michigan, a suburb of Grand Rapids. It comprises over 100 tenants in 1,158,942 square feet (107,669.2Â m2) of retail space, with three anchor stores (Macy's, JCPenney, and Barnes & Noble), along with Forever 21 (which is the largest non-anchor store in the mall), H&M, Gap (featuring Gap men, women, kids and baby), Pottery Barn, and The North Face as junior anchors and a movie theater (opened as Cinemark, now Celebration Cinema). The mall is owned and managed by Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, who acquired it from its developer, Taubman Centers, in 2006.
History
Woodland Mall opened in 1968 at the northwestern corner of 28th Street (M-11) and East Beltline Avenue (M-37). The mall was built at a southwest-to-northeast orientation, with Sears at the southwestern end, and JCPenney at the northeastern end. A Kresge dime store was also located in the Sears wing. Another mall, Eastbrook Mall (now Centerpointe Mall), was located on the northeastern corner of the same intersection. A 1975 expansion to Woodland Mall brought a northwesternly-oriented central wing which ended in a third anchor store, Hudson's. After the closure of Kresge in 1987, the store's former space was divided among smaller retailers.
Lord & Taylor was proposed in 1997 as a fourth anchor store at the southeastern end of the mall. However, Hudson's attempted to sue the mall, claiming veto power over the addition of new anchor stores, and the Lord & Taylor was never built. A food court (Cafes in the woods) was built next to JCPenney in 1999 as well as a play area in the Sears wing. Also in 1999, RiverTown Crossings opened in Grandville, on the other side of the city. This was the first serious form of retail competition for Woodland Mall, as prior to the opening of RiverTown Crossings, Woodland was the only super-regional mall in Metro Grand Rapids. In the late 1990s Woodland Mall experienced many other renovations including new flooring and curves to the ceiling throughout the mall, new lighting and décor as well as updated entrances to look more modern.
Hudson's was converted to Marshall Field's in 2001 in a nameplate consolidation by parent Target Corp.(formerly known as Dayton-Hudson), and then to Macy's in 2006 as the result of an acquisition. A 14-screen movie theater (then owned by Cinemark) and a Red Robin and On the Border restaurant were added to the southeastern portion of the mall in 2006, the same year in which Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust acquired the mall from Taubman. Celebration Cinema purchased the movie theater complex (as well as a former Cinemark at RiverTown Crossings) a year later.
In June 2005 Apple opened its first Michigan location outside of Metro Detroit at Woodland Mall.
Barnes & Noble, in October 2008, announced that it would be relocating from a nearby store to a new location at the mall. On Wednesday, October 21, 2009, the two-story bookstore opened to the public.
In 2012, Forever 21 expanded its store in the mall into a large format store featuring a larger selection of women's product, men's, as well as active wear and lingerie which have now been replaced by plus. Also in 2012 Pottery Barn relocated its only Metro Grand Rapids location in Rivertown Crossings Mall to a larger store in Woodland Mall.
In 2013 H&M announced that it would be opening its first location in Michigan outside of Metro Detroit which opened in October 2013. Also In 2013 The Art of Shaving opened its first location in Metro Grand Rapids.
In 2014 LUSH Fresh Handmade Cosmetics and Vera Bradley opened their first locations in Michigan outside of Metro Detroit.
On January 4, 2017, it was announced that Sears would be closing on March 26. Later it was changed to April 2 and also announced that The Sears will be demolished and a major expansion will take place at the mall including the extension of the wing to feature 10-15 new shops, a Von Maur to be the new anchor at the end of the wing, another additional anchor store on the northwestern portion of the wing, new detached restaurants behind celebration cinema, 2 new outparcel stores where the Sears auto center was, all parking lots replaced in the mall, all of the mall and existing anchor exteriors to be updated as well as more improvements throughout the mall with a final completion in Fall 2019. The only stores officially confirmed were the Von Maur and the existing Apple Store to be moving into a new space next store where Justice and Claire's were, it will be double the size.
On April 2, 2017, Sears officially closed its doors after being open since 1968.
Transportation
As of May 25, 2010, six Interurban Transit Partnership bus routes serve the mall: routes 5 and 6 to Central Station, route 17 to Gerald R. Ford Airport, routes 24 and 28 to Grandville Library, and route 44 to Rivertown Crossings Mall.
References
External links
- Woodland mall website
