Jefferson Square Mall/Wilderness Mall; Joliet, Illinois
Joliet, Illinois is a booming sprawlburg located about 40 miles southwest of downtown Chicago with a current estimated population of nearly 150,000 residents. In its long history, Joliet has worn a lot of hats, from industrial-era superpower to beleagured rust-belt city and back to a different kind of economic success supporting the great machine of Chicagoland. In fact, Joliet has doubled in population since 1990 and is considered the fastest growing city over 100,000 in the midwest. Whereas just a few decades ago Joliet was considered distinctly separate from Chicago, today the suburban areas between the cities are completely filled in and Joliet functions as a bedroom community for the suburban mass-at-large, as well as behaving as an anchor city containing many support activities and jobs for a metropolitan area of almost ten million people.
In the 1960s and 1970s, however, Joliet’s plight was a bit different, as it was then considered both farther and further from Chicago, physically as well as ideologically. Also, the rust-belt problems which ensued across the entire midwest and northeast hit Joliet pretty hard, as many of the city’s enormous factories closed or scaled back operations dramatically as the nation moved from a manufacturing to service economy. Even so, developers recognized the city’s need for adequate shopping, being a rather large distance from other large shopping malls in Chicagoland.
As such, the first retail mall constructed in Joliet (actually neighboring Crest Hill) was Hillcrest Shopping Center along the Larkin Street (Route 7) retail corridor. Opened in 1959, this outdoor mall was anchored by Chicago-based Goldblatt’s and Joliet-based Boston Store (no affiliation with the current Boston Store chain owned by Bon-Ton). This popular outdoor center soldiered on until 1975 when a larger, more modern enclosed mall opened along West Jefferson (Route 52) just west of Larkin: Jefferson Square Mall.
Anchored by Wieboldt’s and Montgomery Ward with both Woolworth’s and Walgreens as junior anchors, Jefferson Square quickly gained popularity as Hillcrest faded. The Boston Store, which was going broke citing competition from all the larger regional retailers and discount boxes which were emerging, closed its downtown branch in 1972 and the Hillcrest Location by 1977. Goldblatt’s, a Chicago institution and the other anchor at Hillcrest, was the next to go following an unsuccessful round of competition with other Chicago-area stores, and closed in 1982.
Meanwhile, an even larger and even more modern behemoth, Louis Joliet Mall, opened on what was then the edge of Joliet and almost to Plainfield at the intersection of Route 30 and I-55 in 1978, expanding through 1979. In all ways, Louis Joliet Mall was the category killer of its time. Not only did it have interstate access, it was more easily accessible from the fast-growing communities of Romeoville, Plainfield and Bolingbrook to the north, as well as from all points along I-55 southward and I-80 westward. Also, Louis Joliet had a more impressive roster of stores, with Bergner’s, Sears, JCPenney, and Marshall Fields, and was more in line with a demographic recipe for continued success.
Unfortunately, just as things were looking up for both Jefferson Square and Louis Joliet Malls, they were taking a turn for the worse at Hillcrest. In the mid-1970s, a Service Merchandise replaced the old Boston Store location, and in 1984, Venture came to rescue the space vacated by Goldblatt’s. In 1986, Service Merchandise closed and briefly became a Highland electronics store and a Discovery Zone; today the site has been subdivided into smaller stores. Venture lasted until 1998 when it became Ames for less than a year from 2000 to 2001, and ironically briefly turned back into Goldblatt’s before closing again to be subdivided into smaller stores including a Food4Less grocery store. It seems Hillcrest, despite its ups and downs, has withstood the test of time by constantly reinventing its purpose, from super-regional draw in 1959 to the everyday melange of stores which makes up a traditional suburban strip mall.
A few miles away at Jefferson Square, the mall soldiered on successful a bit longer; however, Louis Joliet’s dominance in location and stores continued to slowly eat away at Jefferson Square’s base. Jefferson Square was only convenient to central Joliet, whereas Louis Joliet became closer to the expanding communities of Romeoville and Plainfield, and also the booming part of Joliet. A large retail strip developed around Louis Joliet, whereas the established retail strip around Jefferson Square was not as complete with category killers and modern big box giants.
The first major blow to Jefferson Square was the closure of Wieboldts in 1987. Up until this point, Jefferson Square had many of the in-line stores Louis Joliet had, and effectively served the population of central Joliet better in this fashion. However, once Wieboldt’s closed, Jefferson Square quickly began a downward spiral from which it could never emerge, despite several life-saving attempts. In 1991, Menards, a midwest-based home improvement warehouse store, was brought in to replace the Wieboldt’s location. Instead of revitalizing the core of the mall, Menards decided to close their mall entrance within a couple years, effectively rescinding any promise to revitalize the decaying interior of the mall. Way to go, Menards.
In 1996, the mall’s 60-plus stores had been pared down to only about two dozen, and management decided to unload the mall on a new owner, who embarked on radical new renovation plans. The mall was given a woodland decor, and renamed Wilderness Mall. With the renovation came several indoor changes, includng a ridiculously large fake tree placed in center court – a tree so large you could walk through it. See the pictures for a better explanation of this. Sadly, the bandshell and kiosk area which formerly occupied center court were replaced by this ‘tree’ and other faux-woodland things, like fake branches and fake pine trees. I’m not ever sure how ‘up north’ corresponded to Joliet, but here it was, for better or worse.
Unfortunately, the ‘worse’ began to be what materialized following the woodsy renovation. Only the Secretary of State (Read: DMV) decided to relocate into the cavernous dead mall, and things just got worse and worse. The cinema began to run discount movies, and when Woolworths closed in 1997 the entire east wing was sealed off – for good. Then, when Montgomery Ward closed in 2001, the mall began life support as only a few services and the Off-Track Betting parlor were located inside. For some reason, one of the last “real” tenants of the mall was a Foot Locker near center court. I remember a visit there in 2001 or 2002, and the Foot Locker was the lone tenant at center court. The employees were nearly asleep sitting on the bench waiting for customers, and it seemed like the store was all but forgotten. Other favorite stores included a western wear store and a store called “Scrunchie Heaven” – imagine what they could have sold! There was also a travel agent, and most of the stores were located either around the north (main) entrance where the OTB was, or the south entrance where the cinema and Secretary of State was.
Once Wards closed, the mall was actually sold to Menard Properties, and only a few more years passed before Menards unveiled plans to raze the mall, build a Menards Supercenter, and lease the other half of the site to Wal Mart so they could build their own Supercenter. And so it was done. What was left inside the mall (The OTB and the Secretary of State) were moved to outlots, and construction began on razing the mall in 2004. Today, both Wal-Mart Supercenter and Menards Superstore sit side-by-side on the site formerly occupied by the mall. Hooray?
I wonder what became of the ‘tree’ and the rest of the ridiculous wilderness-themed tomfoolery? Did it just go in the trash heap, or was it somehow recycled for more people to enjoy?
The pictures featured here were mostly taken in 2002, with the razing pictures taking place in 2004. Enjoy them and leave your comments as usual.
And, before I forget, here are some neat pics during demolition taken by my friend Kurt in 2004:
Rich
January 29th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
What a bizarre place–a non sequitor tree on a tile floor. It’s a shame that it never acquired the iconic status of the “leaning tower” YMCA in the NW suburbs of Chicago.
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Tim
January 29th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
That tree REALLY is ridiculous! Along with the rest of the “wilderness” decor. Surprising that it didn’t spark more interest in the dying mall…
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Matt from WI
January 29th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
I swear, I’ve stepped into one of the many Indian gaming places in my state. The overall ‘wilderness’ design inside and out. Even has hints of ‘Native American’ designs trimming the building. Even has ‘off-track betting’ to boot.
Ah yes, and that fake tree ‘is’ rather silly looking. What a waste of space.
The design scheme works for the various casinos here, NOT this mall though. Map this mall’s address out, and it’s easy to see why it died quickly. Poor location…it’s nowhere near any ‘major’ highway. Having three major anchors that went belly-up (Wieboldt’s, Woolworth -and- Wards) within a 15-year bracket doesn’t help either, nor did Menards sealing their entrance.
Weak anchors, overlapping chain representation (at this and Louis Joliet Mall), poor location, a lackluster economy (in the late 1970s/early 1980s, then again in the early ’90s). This place was doomed from the beginning.
Still it’s too bad. I’d bet this was a rather lively place back in its first few years.
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Jonah Norason
January 29th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
This picture:
http://www.labelscar.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/wilderness-mall-07.jpg
That’s the old Service Merchandise, right?
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Prange Way
January 29th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
No, Service was at Hillcrest, which is essentially up the street on Larkin Avenue and was Joliet’s first major shopping center.
I really do miss this one; it was a great find back in the day.
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Matt from CLT
January 29th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
“Jefferson Square Mall — a difference that registers” (second small pic)
Well……I can’t really find fault with that.
Guess all of the stores made like a tree and leafed.
(Hmm…that one sounded a lot better inside my head.)
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Chip
January 30th, 2008 at 12:05 am
Growing up in Romeoville in the 80’s and 90’s, Jefferson Square was always the second tier mall of Joilet. This mall was pretty much empty by 1990. There once was a mini-golf place in the back of the mall that was very easy because none of the equipment worked. Wards was the only draw for Jefferson since most of the good stores were at Louis Joliet. Jefferson died a prolonged, painful death. It took down the entire Jefferson Ave corridor with it August 28, 1990, the large Plainfield tornado came within a 1/2 mile of Louis Joilet, a slightly different track could have changed all of history. That day we bought a lawn mower from Wards at Jefferson instead of Sears at Luois Joliet ( I’m very glad we did!!)
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Steve
January 31st, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Jefferson Square Mall (I refuse to recognize the incompetence that was Wilderness), had a very long, sad history. I was born in 1986, right before the decline. I remember shopping in Wieboldts before they closed. About every week, from the time I was old enough to walk to around the time I was 5, my dad and I would go to the Big Brothers Big Sisters miniature golf place. This was still back when the wings had in-ground seating garden bench things.
Ironically, I work for the Menards built on top of the ruins of Montgomery Wards.
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shaney_oyeah
January 31st, 2008 at 5:25 pm
The wilderness renovation was cheaply done. All they did was add some rocks and trees, wallpaper, and covered the closed stores with a log cabin scheme…
Although the tree was a cool idea, it looks too big for the space.
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Brandon
January 31st, 2008 at 9:28 pm
This was one of my local malls. I remember it being a big draw in its heyday (1975-1987) while Wieboldt’s was there. The decline started after Wieboldt’s left as Ward’s could not hold the mall on its own (Ward’s was in enough trouble as it was). Many of the stores were the same as in Louis Joliet: Waldenbooks, Printer’s Ink, Circus World Toys, Stuart’s, Musicland, and many more. It did, however, have stores unique to it: Roger’s and Holland’s, Lerner, Memory Lane (a gift type shop), Richman Brothers, and Woolworth’s, as well as the anchors.
Jefferson Square was originally supposed to have Carson Pirie Scott as the thrid anchor, but they backed out before the mall was designed and built.
Jonah, that picture is not a Service Mechandise (which was in Hillcrest from about 1979 to 1986 and then in North Ridge Plaza from 1986 till the chain went out of business). It is the former Lazy 8 Western Wear shop, which was originally a Hickory Farms of Ohio.
When opened until the Wilderness conversion, the mall boasted sunken seating areas in the corridors, a bandshell at the NE end of the central court with a water feature around it, and a four store kiosk at the other end of the central court (mirroring the bandshell). The floor tile was parque laid diagonally in patterns that matched those on the ceiling. The ceiling was painted white with beams painted orange diagonally across them. The tile in the courts was a rough cobble-like surface of dark gray stones cut into squares and rectangles. The courts also had translucent glass above them, casting a yellowish light into the courts. There were also only 2 entrances other than the 2 anchors – at the ends of the north and south corridors leading from the central court. In one of those corridors, there was a very seventies abstract sculpture (I think it was down by That Game Place and the Cinema I II III).
Chip, I remember that day all too well.
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Mark
February 2nd, 2008 at 1:20 pm
That tree looks so cool! It’s so unique, it’s something I wouldn’t expect that to be in a mall, I wonder what it was used for decoration? a cover for a playground type area? I hoped they saved it somewhere.
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Panda
February 4th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Wow, this mall is truly unique in it’s later (wilderness) decor. Too bad it didn’t survive.
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Sarah
February 5th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
I’m just amazed at how much some of you remember! With that in mind, anyone remember the Woolworth’s eatery? How about the soap opera stars that came to visit it?
I still have a collection of my pictures with Santa and the Easter Bunny at Jefferson Square. I remember laughing with my sister about the Wilderness Mall being named that because the mall resembled the wilderness being so empty.
Anyone have pics of the old 70s decor? Nothing like this Wilderness tree stuff in there.
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Scott Mercer
February 24th, 2008 at 5:55 am
Regarding the two comments about Woolworth’s closing, but Foot Locker still hanging in there…
Not sure how many people know this, but I just found about it recently, Woolworth’s IS Foot Locker! Foot Locker started as a chain owned by Woolworth’s, and eventually became the only part of the company to make a profit, so they closed down all the Woolworth’s, and kept Foot Locker going.
Some of the old Woolworth’s were changed into Foot Lockers, including a historic one here on Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles. It’s still going as a Foot Locker, having opened as a Woolworth’s in 1928.
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Chip
February 24th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Woolworths owned many shoe stores in its final years. Kinney, Foot Locker, Athlete’s Foot, Champs Sports, Finish Line were a few under Woolworth’s umbrella. I briefly worked at Frugal Frank’s at Yorktown Mall in Lombard IL in 1995, which Woolworth used to clear out old Kinney shoes. ( I think a Frugal Frank’s existed in a New York mall at the same time.) Many of the first Foot Locker’s were always near a Woolworths.
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Jens
March 16th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Oh my, I didn’t expect to stumble on this! I lived right across the railroad tracks (on Marmion) from 82′ to 91′. I actually delivered the Herald Newspaper there for a couple of years. I remember: being let in an hour early to drop off papers, getting free drinks at the Orange Julius, getting free games at That Game Place, and seeing movies for free. I can remember when Menards came in. My friends and I got chased off more than a couple of times for riding our bikes over their mulch and dirt hills. I eventually got a job there but later quit because I was moving away, out of state. I just returned to Joliet a couple of months ago. Wow. Joliet’s not the same and it’s a shame I never saw the Wilderness phase of “the square”.
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Jeani
April 25th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Wow! What memories this has brought back! My very first job at age 16 (in 1980) was at Bresler’s Ice Cream. It was right between Fannie May and The Bottom Half on the corridor leading to Wards. I remember that parque floor, but hadn’t thought about that sunken seating for years! I had a friend who worked in one of the center kiosk stores – Childrens Photographers. I think there was a Flower Island in there as well.
Sarah, I remember the Woolworth’s eatery. They had the BEST french fries!
A couple years later, I skipped many a class at Joliet Junior College to go play Space Invaders and Astroids at That Game Place.
I never knew about that whole awful Wilderness thing! I moved to Florida in 1982 and didn’t go back much after that. I’m kinda glad. I have my memories of the place before the weirdness set in!
Such a big part of my teen years was that mall.
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linda
June 20th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
we lived in the Parkview subdivision behind Burger King in the early 80’s, my kids and I spent a lot of time in that mall. Does anyone have pictures of the inside of the mall during the 80’s?
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Wayne
August 8th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
This is such an incredible blast from the past. Reading this and all of the comments has brought back so many memories.
I had one of my favorite childhood pictures taken at the Photo Kiosk which was owned by Sears.
I met one of my favorite Soap Opera stars at OTB.
My sister worked at Weibolts.
I saw my first movie at a theater in this mall.
Debs was my favorite clothing store.
I can remember walking through Woolworths begging my Mother for everything I could see.
My nephews had birthday parties at the miniature golf place.
My first bedroom set came from Wards.
I sat in the sunken seating and ate ice cream.
And if I close my eyes and imagine hard enough, I can still taste the pizza and Orange Julios’.
Thank you for the wonderful trip down memory lane today.
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Jimmy K.
November 22nd, 2008 at 7:56 pm
I work at D’Arcy Motors (formerly Vidmar) right across the street from the former mall, and now the Mernards/Walmart Megacomplex. I also remember going to the mall when I was a kid. I remember the neat little fountain that they had that my grandmother would give us pennies to throw in. I watched the mall decline, and remember when the last nail hit the coffin with Montgomery Ward announcing the out of business sale. It was actually a cool looking store on the outside, with neat diamond shaped white pillars-on the main building itself and its little auto repair portion on the NW corner of the lot, which is now a Starbucks.
By the way, the huge tree in the middle tried to have a happy ending. They were offering it for sale for $1.00. All you had to do was remove it. This thing was massive (as you could see from the pictures) and all the schools, etc that wanted it could not afford the shipping, which invariably involved some logistical nightmare. It sat, resolute under the elements after they removed the roof covering it. After no-one could be persuaded to take it, it was taken apart and scrapped like the rest of the metal in the superstructure. They even had signs posted to warn off people that wanted to come take the junk to sell.
The only thing that remains the same on that lot is the Chase Back in the northern center. Sad to see it go.
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Brian
January 24th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
In the late 80’s, Jefferson Square had a teen “juice bar” called The Club, with punk nights and live bands. Many of well know bands played there. I saw Ministry in ‘89 there (yes, in a dead mall) . My band played once too.
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Jenny
February 21st, 2009 at 7:55 pm
I spent a LOT OF TIME in the late 80’s, early 90’s at this place. Besides the shopping, I spent my time at the 2 clubs they had during these years there. They were great! There has not been anything remotely close to these 2 place in Joliet since! First, there was The Club which was a “teen juice bar”, but they had great bands there! I saw Ministry, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, and Sonic Youth!!!! You won’t see anything like that in Joliet now. Then, after that closed down, came Bermuda Bobs!!! My friends and I loved that place! The surfboard shots were the best!!!! I think I was in every bikini contest they had which was sooo fun! I had soo much fun when I danced in their shadowbox upstairs! The dance floor was big and roomey. The whole place was really. No matter how many people there seemed to be you never felt like you couldn’t breath like most places now. (And we only got kicked out a couple times for my drunken behavior….lol) Anyway we had really GOOD TIMES at that old mall, my best friend and I will never forget them!!!!
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Rick
April 10th, 2009 at 10:14 am
I loved reading the comments and it brought back a lot of memories for me, too. Does anyone remember the great Haunted Houses that the Jaycees used to host every year in the Wieboldt’s wing? I took “the Pepsi challenge” in the Center Court. As a kid you got almost get a free meal by trying all the samples of food at Hickory Farms. I also remember looking in awe a store window (called Hardee’s shoes, maybe?) at giant platform shoes with goldfish swimming in the heels. Now that is some 70’s memorabilia!
About the TREE. I remember reading the the Herald News at the time that Jefferson Square was bought by a group of Japanese investors. They actually comissioned a firm who worked for Disney to build that tree. One of the investors said in the new (Wilderness) mall, that families could come visit the mall and picnic under the tree — I knew then that there was no saving the mall with that approach. Not sure why they never tried to reinvent the place as an outlet mall.
Jefferson Square was the perfect hangout for a kid who lived close by in Parkview subdision and in retrospect was really a nice mall. I used to work in a store called Shirt Tales when I was a teenager (bright yellow storefront!). Thanks for the memories!
Does anone know of some sites about Old Chicago in Bolingbrook?
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Jonah Norason Reply:
June 13th, 2009 at 10:45 am
@Rick, the Wikipedia page for Old Chicago has some links.
The Labelscar site map lists both Jefferson Square and Wilderness Mall as if they were two separate entities.
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Chip Reply:
June 13th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
@Jonah Norason, This are a couple of Facebook groups for Old Chicago. Wikipedia has been the best source so far. Even harder is finding information on South Commons Mall, which sat across the street from Old Chicago.
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Jason
July 19th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
This is what got me interested in the whole dead mall thing. I remeber going to the DMV here in 2002 and was totally intriqued by a totally desolate empty mall. I went into the old movie theatre which th gate was open and it was totally eeire! Its too bad it is all gone now but the whole woodland decor was stupid and the tree was ridiculous but that was better than the crap being built now. I wish I had pictures now but didnt think of it then. RIP and thanks for the memories.
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Radical Ninja
August 11th, 2009 at 2:19 am
Growing up in Joliet during the ’80s, I have a lot of memories about Jefferson Square Mall. Reading stuff like this brings them all flooding back.
When my friends and I would go there, we usually ended up hanging out in the wing by the theater. Conveniently, that wing also housed That Game Place and (if I remember correctly) the mini-golf course. That Game Place was where I first played Konami’s Simpsons arcade game.
A friend and I also worked our way to the final boss of Williams’ NARC at that arcade, and we drew quite a crowd for our efforts. Unfortunately, the final boss was incredibly difficult to beat. Our quarters were running low and the movie we were at the mall to see was about to start, so we had to abandon our game. Even though we didn’t beat the game, we had about a dozen people applauding us for getting as far as we did.
I can’t remember what movie we were there to see, but I’m pretty sure that final movie that I ever saw at JSM was Batman: Mask of the Phantasm.
I also have vague, scattered memories of being dragged to Woolworth’s by my parents and begging to go look at the Star Wars figures in the toy department. I also would look in awe at the selection of Atari 2600 games at Wards while my parents shopped for appliances.
The first tape that I ever bought was at the Record Town in JSM. It was Weird Al’s “Dare to Be Stupid.”
There was also a pet store in the mall (next door to Waldenbooks, I believe) that always had an ample supply of puppies and kittens to fawn over.
Then there was The Orange Bowl. The best place to eat in the mall. Granted, they only served junk like your typical concession stand pizza, but they also served the Oh Joy. A sort of slushy, orange concoction that was dolloped in a cup for you to eat. Not quite a Slurpee; not quite sherbet…it was something in the middle. There was also the Snow Joy variant (my favorite), which had layers of Oh Joy blended with soft serve vanilla ice cream. Delicious.
A gang-related shooting in (again, if I recall correctly) the early 90s didn’t do much for Jefferson Square’s reputation around town. A lot of parents were suddenly very wary about letting their kids go hang out there.
Still…great memories. I don’t think I ever stepped foot in the place after the Wilderness makeover. I kinda wish I had now, if only to say that I had seen it firsthand.
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Ann Lawn
September 14th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
Interesting.
Times are a changing.
I remember when you could still buy a Lawn Boy 2 cycle that made a cloud of blue smoke.
Thanks for posting.
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terri
November 9th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
I grew up going to Jefferson Square Mall. We would always park at the south end and go in the entrance by General Cinema. I remember trying to sneak into American Gigolo there and getting kicked out for being underage. Across from the theater was the mini-golf place which later became a bar. I remember a store called O’Matto’s that carried cookware. I think there was a Payless in this wing at one point. Farther down was Record Town. I remember buying an Abba 45 there. I think it was Fernando. In the middle was the sunken seating. I remember there were kind of reddish velvety cushions and some kind of wooden geometric setup. The soap stars were from All My Children – one was Taylor Miller. To the west/southwest was the wing that ended in Montgomery Wards. The Debs was down that way. I think Lerner’s too.To the east/northeast was the wing that ended in Wieboldt’s. I remember the shoes with the goldfish in the clear heels! Very Pinball Wizard. In this wing were also a couple of women’s clothing shops – I think it was Brooks and Casual Corner. There was a Paul Harris and another store where they did mannequin modeling on weekends.There was another wing to the nothwest that housed the Orange Julius. Yum! There was a Merle Norman, Radio Shack, County Seat, Hickory Farms, later on the Western Wear store. This was a very fun mall in the late 70’s/early eighties.
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