Memorial Mall
Memorial Mall is a former indoor shopping mall located in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, since redeveloped to be anchored by a new Meijer hypermarket. Opened in 1969, it currently features Kohl's, along with Bed Bath & Beyond and four other smaller stores in the former south mall wing, with three additional stores within the Meijer space.
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| Location | Sheboygan, Wisconsin United States |
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| Coordinates | 43.754249°N 87.753673°W |
| Address | 3347 Kohler Memorial Drive |
| Opening date | 1969 April 25, 2019 (Meijer opening on former north mall footprint) |
| Closing date | July 30, 2017 (as traditional indoor mall) |
| Developer | Melvin Simon & Associates |
| Owner | Meijer Real Estate |
| No. of stores and services | 9 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 3 |
| No. of floors | 1 |
| Parking | surrounding surface lot |
| Public transit access | Shoreline Metro |
| Website | www |
History
Early history
Originally a development of Melvin Simon & Associates (now Simon Property Group), the groundwork for Sheboygan County's first and only enclosed mall was laid in August 1968 with the construction of its first store, large 160,000 sq ft, two-floor J.C. Penney with an auto center as an out-parcel; when J.C. Penney left the auto center business, it became a Firestone Complete Auto Care Center (a Goodyear Auto Center has also been part of the mall since opening, though it moved to the west end of the building in the mid-2000s). Another anchor was a G. C. Murphy variety store, along with a Red Owl supermarket.[1]
Both Sears and J.C. Penney moved from their existing stores downtown, though the major locally based department store H.C. Prange declined to leave their downtown location, or even build a branch store at Memorial Mall. Until its January 2014 closure as Boston Store, Prange's and its forerunners remained located downtown at the same location.
Although Memorial Mall would hold its official grand opening in April 1970 with over 35 shops, eateries and services, the third and final anchor abutting the north end, an 80,000 sq ft Sears with attached Auto Center would not open until November 1970, completing the 350,000 sq ft complex.[2] Until the opening of Fond Du Lac's Forest Mall in 1973, it was the largest enclosed shopping center in east-central Wisconsin. Upon the closing of Murphy's, Kohl's took over the space in 1983; the building was renovated in the mid-2000s to meet Kohl's current store concepts.
Although the mall held their official address on Kohler Memorial Drive (WI 23), by the end of the 70's it had lost its direct connection to that road as it was converted to a freeway in order to interchange with Interstate 43 to the west. This would influence the mall's decline later on, as the convenient access off the busy Kohler Memorial Drive was removed, forcing traffic onto surrounding surface roads. This included Taylor Drive, which upon its 1985 extension south, along with the relocation of WI 28 from Indiana Avenue (which being next to the Sheboygan River, had little development opportunity around wetlands) to Washington Avenue (with plenty of vacant land), became the new major retail corridor in the city and allowed retail competition to the south where previously only marshland, forest and farm fields had existed.
Reconfiguration and later struggles
In 2001, J.C. Penney left the mall, with Hobby Lobby taking over the first floor space and removing the building's existing escalator. In 2003, Simon Property Group sold Memorial Mall and the new owners renovated the mall building.[3] Walgreens departed their longtime location in the mall in 2001 upon the opening of their new central-city store at the intersection of WI 23/28/42. The former Goodyear space after their move to the Red Owl space (which was used by Hobbytown USA for several years) was given over to Bed, Bath & Beyond for a store which outside of sharing a mall entrance, has no indoor entrance within the mall itself. Outside of a several-month period where the off-price discount retailer Famous Brands filled the space, the Walgreens space was never filled again outside of use by organizations for charity events. Many of the mall's existing smaller tenants departed the mall when Kohler's Deer Trace power center opened in 2005. The mall's center court was eventually converted to a children's play area in order to give some use to what was formerly a large public space with food options.
In 2012, Memorial Mall was sold at a foreclosure auction.[4] Bank of America, the lender to the mall, bought the property at a sheriff's auction for about $2.1 million.[5] Prior to the auction, the mall was owned by a group of 17 New York-based limited liability companies and had been in foreclosure since 2009, after falling rental rates and a lack of new tenants left owners owing far more on the property than what it's worth.
In February 2014, RadioShack closed its store after nearly thirty years of being located inside the mall.[6] Sears Holdings announced the closure of its Memorial Mall store and confirmed the closure of Sears Auto earlier that year; Sears would franchise a Sears Appliance and Hardware Store to take its place which existed until the summer of 2019, located on the city's south side in the Washington Square shopping center (the mall store had removed already removed clothing and white goods by 2012 to focus on appliances, electronics and hardware).[7] 30 employees lost their positions, with the store closed in early February 2015.[8] In January 2015, the mall’s general manager confirmed that three stores announced their intention to leave the mall; Amy’s Hallmark, Revolution (an extreme sports shop which consolidated into their location in downtown Sheboygan), and Deb Shops (which was already being liquidated nationwide).[9]
Meijer moves in; future redevelopment
On March 17, 2015, Siegel Gallagher, Inc. represented NRFC Memorial Holdings, LLC on the sale of Memorial Mall to Michigan-based hypermarket retailer Meijer for $10.75 million.[10] The sale included the acquisition of the adjoining Sears store. Meijer has been busy with expansions of its store locations in Wisconsin, with a number of stores opening in southeast Wisconsin since 2015.[11] The company planned to run out the clock on the mall's existing lessees into 2017, opening their new store and adjoining convenience store in 2019 after razing and reconstruction, with Kohl's and Bed, Bath and Beyond retaining their existing buildings and the indoor entrances into the mall either sealed up or converted to exterior entrances. Powers Goodyear will remain in its present form. The four existing stores remaining in the Kohl's forecourt will be retained in the new Meijer development, while Firestone has already relocated into a new building on the city's south side near the Washington Square shopping center.
By its last days, the mall's occupancy rate stood at 13% (6 of 48 store spaces), with the north "Sears" end fully vacant in a space laid out for seventeen store spaces. With the closing of the Mexican restaurant Diamond Dave's Taco Company in May 2016, the mall no longer had any food options. Hobby Lobby wound down operations after Christmas 2016 and vacated on January 14, 2017 with no new location announced, while the Book World bookstore formerly located next to Sears followed shortly thereafter with a move to the nearby Taylor Heights (its parent company went bankrupt only eleven months later). Bath and Body Works closed in April 2017, along with the arcade game room. GNC closed just before the end of July 2017.
At the close of business on July 30, 2017, Memorial Mall effectively ceased to exist as a traditional mall, as the next day preliminary demolition preparation and asbestos abatement began (the center court and north ends were mainly demolished on October 11, with the former Penney's building knocked down shortly thereafter and most demolition having finished by mid-December). The Kohl's forecourt remained open during construction, along with all of the existing stores as Meijer's development is built out over the former site of the mall's north end and anchor spaces, with a wall and new entrance constructed at the end of the maintained part of the building. An independent alterations shop, and Shabree Jewelers which maintained their occupancy also remained a part of the mall and as part of the new development; Claire's closed down after the holiday season upon their lease expiration.[12] Two additional spaces built from the former mall corridor face out towards Meijer for tenancies.
Construction of the new Meijer store and its new entrances and parking lot continued into 2018, with the store having its grand opening on April 25, 2019. Besides Meijer itself, a Starbucks is located within the Meijer, along with a branch of Kohler Credit Union, a Froedtert urgent care center, and a Meijer Express service station on opening day. Further development on the outlots, included a Panera Bread location that opened on October 25, 2019. Shabree closed at the end of their final lease in 2019, leaving the alterations shop as the last remaining small tenant from before the mall's closure.
References
- Directory of major malls. MJJTM Publications Corp. 1981. p. 24, 319.
- Abhold, Matt. "Memorial Mall - Sheboygan, WI". DeadMalls.com. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
- Keppert, Jenny (September 19, 2003). "Mall renovation gets in gear". The Sheboygan Press.
- Lintereur, Josh (November 8, 2012). "Memorial Mall in Sheboygan sold at foreclosure auction". The Sheboygan Press.
- "Memorial Mall in Sheboygan sold at foreclosure auction". Milwaukee Business Journal. November 9, 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
- "RadioShack closes store at Sheboygan mall". Gannett Wisconsin Media. March 20, 2014.
- Thiel, Kali. "Sheboygan Sears, Plymouth Kmart to close". The Sheboygan Press.
- Thiel, Kali. "30 Sears employees to lose jobs". The Sheboygan Press. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
- Weyandt, Janet. "Memorial mall losing three more stores". The Sheboygan Press. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
- "Meijer purchases Sheboygan Memorial Mall space for new grocery store". WITI-TV. March 20, 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
- "Meijer buys Memorial Mall in Sheboygan". WISN-TV. March 20, 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
- Bock, Phillip (1 August 2017). "Meijer begins site work at Sheboygan's Memorial Mall". Sheboygan Press. Retrieved 15 August 2017.