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Coordinates: 39°09′41″N 86°29′45″W / 39.16139°N 86.49583°W / 39.16139; -86.49583
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College Mall
Map
LocationBloomington, Indiana, United States
Coordinates39°09′41″N 86°29′45″W / 39.16139°N 86.49583°W / 39.16139; -86.49583
Opening dateMarch 1965; 59 years ago (1965-03)
DeveloperMelvin Simon & Associates
ManagementSimon Property Group
OwnerSimon Property Group
No. of stores and services89
No. of anchor tenants5 (4 open, 1 vacant by April 2021)
Total retail floor area537,034 square feet (49,892.1 square meters)
No. of floors1 (2 in Macy's)
Public transit accessBT routes 3E, 8, 9, 9L
Websitewww.simon.com/mall/college-mall
Dick's Sporting Goods
Macy's (closing in 2021) at College Mall
Target at College Mall
College Mall (Bloomington, Indiana)

College Mall is a regional shopping mall located in Bloomington, Indiana. This is home to Indiana University's flagship campus. The mall's anchor stores are Fresh Thyme, Ulta Beauty, Dick's Sporting Goods, Macy's (closing April 2021), and Target.

History

College Mall was one for the first enclosed mall properties developed by Melvin Simon & Associates[1] and was first opened in 1965 with just 250,000 square feet retail space.[2] This makes the mall one of the older malls in the central/southern part of Indiana.

H. P. Wasson and Company, and Sears were the original anchors.[3] Sears was the first store to open at the mall in March 1965 with 95,000 square feet[4] and Wasson opened later in August of the same year with 35,000 square feet.[5] A total of 33 shops were opened by the following year.

The first major addition occurred from 1969 to 1970 in which an additional 63,000 square feet of retail space was added.[6][7] At this time, Wasson was able to nearly double its space to make 59,000 square feet.[8] Notable new tenants included the 2 screens College Mall Cinema (operated by General Cinema),[9] MCL Cafeteria,[10][11] and L.S. Ayres's Sycamore Shop. Shortly after the completion of this addition, Danner's 5 and 10 Cent Store vacated their 18,000 square feet store which they had occupied since 1965.[12] William H. Block replaced Danner in 1972 with a very limited store while keeping their Block's College Shop open at Indiana and Kirkwood until 1980.

Another major addition and renovation had occurred from 1979 to 1982[13][14][15] in which a new wing was built and the mall expanded east adding JCPenney and L.S. Ayres as new anchors plus over two dozen other stores. Available retail space was increased by 360,000 square feet to make 750,000 square feet. During this time, Sears was able to add 15,000 square feet to make a new total of 125,000 square feet.[16] The new JCPenney store had open in April 1981 with 130,000 square feet[17][18][19] while the 2 level new L.S. Ayres store open in August 1982 with 80,000 square feet.[20] At this time, JCPenney relocated from a smaller store that was previously located in downtown Bloomington. For L.S. Ayres, they increased their presence in Bloomington by building their first full department store in the community as replacement to their smaller format Sycamore Shop, a store concept that was used mostly in small communities that may not be able to support a full store, that was previously in the mall.

In September 1980, H. P. Wasson and Company's parent, Goldblatt's, made a surprised announcement that they were going to close their Bloomington store in January 1981.[16][21] From the time of Wasson's closing in January 1981 to JCPenney's opening in April 1981, Sears store was the only fully functional anchor still operating at the mall.

Block's was able to take advantage of this unexpected situation caused by the unexpected Wasson's vacancy by moving across the hall to occupy the former Wasson's location in August 1981.[22] This move allowed Block's to triple its size and become a full anchor at the mall.[23] When Block's was sold by its parent company to Federated Department Stores in 1987,[24][25][26] the Block's location was rebranded Lazarus in November of that year.[27] The Lazarus store was later closed in April 2003 by its new parent Macy's as a part of a nationwide cost-cutting measure[28][29][30][31][32][33][34] and the site was left vacant for nearly two years before it was razed and a T.G.I. Friday's was built at the location in November 2005[35][36] but without a connection to the interior of the mall. T.G.I. Friday's closed in November 2015.[37] In March 2016, the mall management announced that Red Robin was going to replace T.G.I. Friday's by mid-2016.[38]

The property owner Simon DeBartolo Group spent $4.2 million in 1996 for the renovations of the 689,000 square foot mall which included new ceramic floors, new ceilings and new entrances.[39][40][41]

Also in April 2001, JCPenney left its 2 level store and closed operations.[42][43][44][45][46] The store was demolished to make way for a new single level 125,000 square feet Target anchor in March 2004.[47][48][49][50][51][52] Target previously had occupied an 86,000 square feet free standing building on an out lot of the mall that was originally build for its Ayr-Way predecessor in 1969.

General Cinema eventually doubled the number of screens to 4 by 1983. After much competition with Kerasotes Theatres, General Cinema later sold the College Mall Cinema to Kerasotes in 1988[53][54][55][56] to allow Kerasotes to form a monopoly in South Central Indiana. Kerasotes quickly fired all of its union projectionists, citing a corporate policy "of using only manager-projectionists who are responsible for all aspects of managing the theater".[57][58] In 2000, the 4 screen cinema at the mall was changed from a first run to a discount theater as a result of opening of a large 12 screen complex on the west side of the city.[56] After dwindling ticket sales and the completion of their new multiplex on the west side of Bloomington, Kerasotes closed the College Mall Cinema[59] at the same time neighboring MCL Cafeterias decided to move out of the mall to a location on the westside in 2004. Both the cafeteria and theater had been at the mall since the 1969 era mall addition. Dick's Sporting Goods built a 50,000 square foot store as a new anchor in the area formerly occupied by the cafeteria and theater to replace the old Lazarus in April 2005.[60][61][62][63]

L. S. Ayres became Macy's in September 2006 following Federated Department Stores purchase of L. S. Ayres's parent, The May Department Stores Company, the previous year.[64][65][66][67]

The distribution of food services within the mall was radically changed in 2007 by the construction of a new 12,000 square feet centralized food court that included a large common seating area, new restrooms, and places for staging events.[68][69][70][71][72] Prior to this time, food services with in the complex were scattered throughout the mall.

In August 2014, Simon Property Group announced that Whole Foods would join the mall in 2016, but declined to give specifics on where in the mall they would occupy.[73] Later in February 2015, Simon Property Group announced that to make room for the new Whole Foods store, they plan to demolish the current Sears store and build a new energy efficient green grocery store from scratch.[74][75][76] This announcement surprised the local Sears management since Sears was the first tenant to open its doors at College Mall in 1964 and is the last of the original anchors.[77] Simon also announced that Panera Bread and other business would occupy the yet to be built out lots that is the result of the expected Sears building demolition. After 51 years of operations, Sears finally announced in March 2016 that were closing their store in College Mall with liquidation sales starting March 25 and final closing by June.[78]

In March 2016, the management of College Mall announced that Sears building would be demolished and a new building housing a 365 by Whole Foods Market store, in place of the first-announced full service Whole Foods Market, would be built in its place but without an interior connection to the rest of the mall with an expected opening date sometime in 2017.[79][80][81] Although originally scheduled to open on August 1, 2017, construction at the Whole Foods building site ceased in mid-June with concerns that Whole Foods might pull out of the mall if its merger with Amazon goes through. In January 2018 Fresh Thyme Farmers Market announced it will open a new store in place of what was supposed to be 365 by Whole Foods.[82][83]

On January 5, 2021, it was announced that Macy's would be closing in April 2021 as part of a plan to close 45 stores nationwide.[84] After Macy's closes, Dick's Sporting Goods and Target will be the only traditional anchor stores left.

References

  1. ^ Schrader, Bill (July 7, 1985). "Simon firm is 25 years old". Bloomington Herald-Times. Vol. 18, no. 46. p. F1. Please note that the newspaper had erroneously used the date "Sunday, July 6, 1985" for this edition when in fact the actual publishing date was "Sunday, July 7, 1985".
  2. ^ "Mall addition has 22 new stores". Bloomington Herald-Telephone. April 23, 1981. pp. 44–45, 50.
  3. ^ "City's New Shopping Center, Industries Greet Students". Bloomington Daily Herald-Telephone. September 22, 1966. p. 1 of section 5.
  4. ^ "Huge New Sears Store Sets Grand Opening Day". Bloomington Daily Herald-Telephone. March 8, 1965. pp. 1–2 of section 1.
  5. ^ "The Mall has experience many changes, much growth". Indiana Daily Student. April 2, 1976. p. 10 of 10th Anniversary Celebration College Mall Supplement.
  6. ^ "College Mall Shopping Center 'Showplace of Indiana'". Bloomington Herald-Telephone. September 23, 1970. p. 36.
  7. ^ Evans, Marlin (March 13, 1969). "Mall to grow". Bloomington Courier-Tribune. p. 1.
  8. ^ "Expanded Wasson's Has Fifteen New Departments". Bloomington Daily Herald-Telephone. September 23, 1970. p. 28.
  9. ^ "Top Quality Movies Shown At Cinema I & II". Bloomington Daily Herald-Telephone. September 23, 1970. p. 43.
  10. ^ "New MCL Cafeteria opens in College Mall". Bloomington Courier-Tribune. March 5, 1970. p. B7.
  11. ^ "MCL Popular Mall Cafeteria". Bloomington Daily Herald-Telephone. September 23, 1970. p. 43.
  12. ^ Jordan, Don (December 29, 1971). "Block's Plans Store In Mall". Bloomington Courier-Tribune.
  13. ^ Cohen, Sandy (March 21, 1979). "Commission OKs plan for Mall Building". Indiana Daily Student. p. 6.
  14. ^ Scanzoni, Dave (March 18, 1980). "Mall expansion leads 1980 retail store 'explosion'". Bloomington Herald-Telephone. p. 35.
  15. ^ "Grand opening this weekend: Mall to celebrate". Bloomington Herald-Telephone. August 20, 1981. p. 8.
  16. ^ a b "College Mall first opened for business in 1965". Bloomington Herald-Telephone. April 23, 1981. p. 50.
  17. ^ Schrader, Bill (April 19, 1981). "The New Mall: J.C. Penney and 18 stores to open in Mall addition". Bloomington Herald-Times. pp. 1, 18.
  18. ^ "Civic and business leaders join in the celebration". Bloomington Herald-Telephone. April 21, 1981. p. 4 of supplement.
  19. ^ "JCPenney announces new store details". Bloomington Herald-Telephone. April 21, 1981. p. 4 of supplement.
  20. ^ Schrader, Bill (July 25, 1982). "Ayres opening cap city's retail explosion". Bloomington Herald-Times. pp. A1, A4.
  21. ^ "Goldblatt's putting its house in order". Chicago Tribune. September 7, 1980. p. N1. ProQuest 170496833.
  22. ^ "Block's grand opening Friday". Bloomington Herald-Telephone. August 20, 1981. pp. 1, 6.
  23. ^ Department Stores and Apparel Specialty Store Sales. Fairchild Publications. 1981. p. 14.
  24. ^ "Allied Stores agreed to sell its Blocks division". Los Angeles Times. April 28, 1987.
  25. ^ "Federated to Buy 12 Allied Stores". The New York Times. April 28, 1987.
  26. ^ "Lazarus buys Blocks chain for $55 million". Bloomington Herald-Telephone. June 19, 1987. p. A2.
  27. ^ Werth, Brian (October 29, 1987). "Lazarus to open Sunday". Bloomington Herald-Telephone. p. A7.
  28. ^ "Federated closing 11 stores, cutting 2,000 jobs". Business Courier. January 16, 2003.
  29. ^ "Federated To Close 11 Stores And Cut 2,000 Jobs". The New York Times. January 17, 2003.
  30. ^ Werth, Brian (January 17, 2003). "Lazarus closing at College Mall: Store's departure will leave mall with two vacant anchor positions". Bloomington Herald-Times. pp. A1, A7.
  31. ^ Werth, Brian (January 17, 2003). "Closure 'an opportunity'". Bloomington Herald-Times. pp. A1, A7.
  32. ^ Geller, Lori (January 17, 2003). "Another local store leaving: Financial factors force Lazarus closing". Indiana Daily Student. Archived from the original on November 10, 2013. Retrieved November 10, 2013.
  33. ^ "Lazarus loss will be felt: Retail shift west is a matter of design and, to some, a concern". Bloomington Herald-Times. January 18, 2003. p. A8.
  34. ^ "Coupons no good at Lazarus". Bloomington Herald-Times. February 7, 2003. p. D6.
  35. ^ Creps, Marcela (November 24, 2005). "TGI Friday's now open at the mall". Bloomington Herald-Times.
  36. ^ George, Megan (December 1, 2005). "T.G.I. Friday's opens in mall". Indiana Daily Student. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved April 13, 2013.
  37. ^ "TGI Fridays to close on Sunday". Bloomington Herald-Times. October 22, 2015.
  38. ^ "Red Robin Coming To College Mall This Summer". WBIW. March 8, 2016. Archived from the original on April 11, 2016. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
  39. ^ Werth, Brian (June 5, 1996). "$4.2 million face lift to give fresh look to College Mall: Anchor stores may be expanded if parking issues can be resolved". Bloomington Herald-Times. p. A1.
  40. ^ Werth, Brian (September 15, 1996). "Mall's grand re-opening planned for Nov. 22-23: Work continues on enhancing College Mall's two main entrances". Bloomington Herald-Times. p. G1.
  41. ^ "Mall re-opens with festivities". Bloomington Herald-Times. November 22, 1996. p. C1.
  42. ^ Werth, Brian (January 18, 2001). "J.C. Penney to close College Mall store". Bloomington Herald-Times. p. A1.
  43. ^ Pete, Joseph S. (January 24, 2001). "J.C. Penney store to close: One more retail store calls it quits". Indiana Daily Student. Archived from the original on November 10, 2013. Retrieved November 10, 2013.
  44. ^ Wilson, Doug (March 16, 2001). "Penney closing looms at mall". Bloomington Herald-Times. p. C1.
  45. ^ Asher, Gena (April 15, 2001). "Closings of Penney stores just days away". Bloomington Herald-Times. p. F1.
  46. ^ Kolderup, Daven (April 30, 2001). "J.C. Penney's closes local store with sale: After 20 years in Bloomington, College Mall store shuts down". Indiana Daily Student. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved April 17, 2013.
  47. ^ Werth, Brian (May 15, 2002). "Target mulling newer Bloomington store: Vacant J.C. Penney site could be a contender for expansion". Bloomington Herald-Times. p. B6.
  48. ^ Werth, Brian (February 8, 2003). "Target taking aim at empty Penney store: Plan calls for tearing down building at mall". Bloomington Herald-Times. p. A1.
  49. ^ Werth, Brian (May 19, 2003). "New Target at former Penney site a year away: Store could open next summer; other new businesses coming to College Mall". Bloomington Herald-Times. p. A1.
  50. ^ Werth, Brian (December 12, 2003). "New Target store to open in March". Bloomington Herald-Times. p. D1.
  51. ^ Werth, Brian (February 27, 2004). "College Mall Target opening Wednesday". Bloomington Herald-Times. p. D6.
  52. ^ Knapp, Melanie (March 8, 2004). "Target holds grand opening at College Mall location: New larger store features groceries, Pizza Hut, Starbucks". Indiana Daily Student. Archived from the original on November 10, 2013. Retrieved November 10, 2013.
  53. ^ Werth, Brian (March 8, 1988). "Mall theater to be sold; new complex uncertain". Bloomington Herald-Telephone. p. A1.
  54. ^ O'Hara, Terrance (March 22, 1988). "College Mall cinema sold to Kerasotes chain". Indiana Daily Student. p. 5.
  55. ^ Thomas, Linda (April 24, 1988). "The changing scene of the movie screen: Age of multiplex cinemas owned by a few large corporations seems to be here to stay". Bloomington Herald-Times.
  56. ^ a b "College Mall Cinema to offer discount movies". Bloomington Herald-Times. April 28, 2000. p. C1.
  57. ^ Creek, Julie (March 23, 1988). "Projectionists protest firing in moviehouse sale". Bloomington Herald-Telephone. p. A7.
  58. ^ Thomas, Linda (April 24, 1988). "Kerasotes to proceed with building eight-screen complex in Bloomington". Bloomington Herald-Times.
  59. ^ "Theater at mall closes". Bloomington Herald-Times. April 14, 2004. p. B5.
  60. ^ Werth, Brian & Morin, Sarah (February 3, 2004). "College Mall could see big changes: MCL rumored to be moving; mall may add sporting goods store, lose cinemas". Bloomington Herald-Times. p. A1.
  61. ^ Werth, Brian (April 20, 2004). "Dick's Sporting Goods coming to College Mall". Bloomington Herald-Times. p. A1.
  62. ^ Peiper, Michael (June 10, 2004). "College Mall under major renovation". Indiana Daily Student. Archived from the original on October 5, 2012. Retrieved April 13, 2013.
  63. ^ Rodgers, John (April 6, 2005). "Dick's opening in Bloomington: College Mall to house expansive sporting goods store". Indiana Daily Student. Archived from the original on November 10, 2013. Retrieved November 10, 2013.
  64. ^ Creps, Marcela (March 1, 2005). "Ayres merger could bring local changes: Federated likely to turn regional stores into Macy's next year". Bloomington Herald-Times.
  65. ^ "Federated to retire L.S. Ayres nameplate, several others". Bloomington Herald-Times. July 29, 2005.
  66. ^ Creps, Marcela (June 21, 2006). "It's so long to Ayres and hello to Macy's: New products, new features coming to College Mall fixture by September". Bloomington Herald-Times. Archived from the original on 2013-11-10. Alternate Link via Bloomington Herald-Times.
  67. ^ Creps, Marcela (September 8, 2006). "Macy's plans bash for opening: The first 500 customers will receive a $10 gift card". Bloomington Herald-Times.
  68. ^ Nolan, Bethany (March 27, 2007). "College Mall to add food court". Bloomington Herald-Times.
  69. ^ McEnerney, Shannon (April 2, 2007). "College Mall to add food court area by spring 2008". Indiana Daily Student. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved November 23, 2013.
  70. ^ Livarchik, Joe (July 30, 2008). "Mall eateries move to food court". Bloomington Herald-Times.
  71. ^ "New College Mall food court will include stir fry, pizza restaurants". Bloomington Herald-Times. November 1, 2007.
  72. ^ Nolan, Bethany (November 10, 2007). "Huge chandelier to be centerpiece of mall food court". Bloomington Herald-Times.
  73. ^ Blau, Jon (August 1, 2014). "Whole Foods coming to Bloomington's College Mall in 2016". Bloomington Herald-Times.
  74. ^ Strother, Bill (February 16, 2015). "Whole Foods to replace Sears at Bloomington's College Mall in Simon plan". Bloomington Herald-Times.
  75. ^ Alani, Hannah (February 17, 2015). "Whole Foods location proposed". Indiana Daily Student. Archived from the original on March 5, 2015. Retrieved March 20, 2015.
  76. ^ Strother, Bill (February 16, 2015). "Whole Foods to replace Sears at Bloomington's College Mall in Simon plan". Indiana Economic Digest.
  77. ^ "Whole Foods to replace Sears at Bloomington's College Mall in Simon plan". Bloomberg News. February 16, 2015.
  78. ^ Christian, Kurt (March 17, 2016). "After 51 years, Sears at Bloomington's College Mall closing in mid-June 2016". Indiana Economic Digest.
  79. ^ Christian, Kurt (March 29, 2016). "365 by Whole Foods Market on way to College Mall". Bloomington Herald-Times.
  80. ^ "New stores coming to the Bloomington mall". WISH-TV. March 29, 2016.
  81. ^ "College Mall construction to temporarily close one entrance on College Mall Road". Bloomington Herald-Times. June 3, 2016. The release states the construction is part of Simon Property Group's plans to add more than 75,000 feet of retail space for new retailers such as Red Robin, Panera Bread Bakery, Ulta Beauty and 365 by Whole Foods Market.
  82. ^ Trotter, Greg (July 7, 2017). "Whole Foods' 365 store in Evergreen Park delayed, concept's future unclear". Chicago Tribune.
  83. ^ Christian, Kurt (January 9, 2018). "Fresh Thyme to replace 365 by Whole Foods in College Mall". The Herald-Times.
  84. ^ Pete, Joseph S. (January 5, 2021). "Macy's closing 45 more stores, including at Water Tower Place and College Mall in Bloomington". The Times of Northwest Indiana.
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