Comments on: Pierre Moran Mall; Elkhart, Indiana

By: Tom M.

Tom M. — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:05:07 +0000

@Goshen Dave,

I vaguely remember the Midway drive-in. I DO remember in the mid to early 1980’s it was one of the only public structures on the north side of Goshen / south side of Elkhart/Dunlap. Kline’s department store wasn’t just an Goshen/Elkhart thing … they were based out of Michigan (Ann Arbor maybe?) and had locations in Indiana and Michigan. Nice department store as far as small towns are concerned. During the SWATCH craze of the ’80’s Kline’s had special prices on the weekends … $35 for a SWATCH.

So there was a Newell’s in Pierre Moran? I am trying to remember the name of the shoe store across from Carousel Card and Books, in the Sears corridor. I think there was also a location of this shoe store in downtown Elkhart or Goshen. The Target at PMM was the first Target in Elkhart County and seemed to be the only busy store in the mall on any given day in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.

I miss G.L. Perry’s.

By: Goshen Dave

Goshen Dave — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:22:33 +0000

I was 1 1/2 when the PS tornado attacked our trailer in the Midway MH park(we were VERY lucky). I remember the Midway drive-in. I played with all the toys on open display at Sears at Christmas. I bought my first camera at Grants. Carousel Card and Books had a great selection of magazines. Kline’s was a old dept store from Goshen. Newell’s was also from Goshen, I went to school with one of the Newell kids. I think I spent more time at Concord Mall though. They had Ward’s, Penney’s, Robertson’s, Osco Drug (with an open gun rack), Grinnell’s Music, Musicland, and Soundmasters. Haven’t been to PMM for 25+yrs. I don’t recall that it was ever busy.

By: Tom M.

Tom M. — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:58:02 +0000

I believe PMM originally started as an open air shopping center with Ziesel’s, Sears and Kroger as anchors. Sears and Kroger remained at PMM until the end. Ziesel’s became Carson Pirie Scott and later Kline’s Department Store. Target was added onto the mall sometime in the 1980’s. Alley Oop’s Diner was in the mall along with a Hallmark store, Leather Banana, Coin & Stamp store, $5-$10-$15-$20 Women’s clothing store, a funky record store that sold Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts and a women’s shoe store. GLPerry was part of the mall but I don’t know if it was an original tenant.

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:42:45 +0000

Wow. I was in this mall back in early 2002 and ate at some cool 1950s era diner place (Alley Oops?) with my parents and a family friend. After i ate, i explored the mall and was suprised at how dated it was. LOL, I almost thought i went back to 1982! The mall reminded me of the Southtown Mall in Fort Wayne which by then was pretty much done for and closed.

By: Gordon Brooks

Gordon Brooks — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 19:17:49 +0000

I like change and progress, however somethings can make a person sad as they think back.
I lived in Elkhart in the late 70’s.
Two things come to mind when I think about this mall.
Having our first family photo taken there. My oldest was less than a year old.
And being talked into buying him a train set for Christmas (he’s was only 4 months old at the time) by a fellow co-worker..”Every boy need a train set”.
I will always remember Mike B.

By: John Wells

John Wells — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 17:49:06 +0000

Local Guy, that is a crazy idea. PMM didn’t survive as a enclosed mall,turning it into a strip mall was an even worse idea! Who wants to walk outside and shop in freezing cold temps and espeically that part of town?!? PMM was screwed from the begining in 1971 when they built the low income housing projects down the road. That area was actually at one time one of the more upscale parts of elkhart in the 50s-60s. Save your money and look somewhere else for your store

By: mallsofmichiana

mallsofmichiana — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 04:37:40 +0000

If you guys check out http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p0yishJtrO9StK_YvGrpsMw, there’s a listing of stores past and present from the Michiana area malls, including Pierre Moran

By: local guy

local guy — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:54:56 +0000

i grew up walking distance from PMM and i’m thinking of leasing a spot for a very very cheap price hopefully because of the large number of vacancies… any body think im crazy… i know its in the same spot but man it looks soooo much better than the old PMM..

By: John Wells

John Wells — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 04:20:16 +0000

Pierre Moran Mall holds so many memories for me. I remember as a child screaming my head off in bloody fear of the wooden indian stautes they use to have placed in random locations. The arcade(play palace) was my place to hang out for most of teens and 20’s (waste of life I know). There was so many odd people that used to hang out in that mall from open to close like “screaming sam” who used to walk thru the mall staring at the celing half the time and scream obsenities at the top of lungs. Another was “walking bill” who walked laps around the mall from open to close and only stopped to get popcorn and ice tea at the target snack bar.He was a strange little duck,he had some goofy walking strides that you couldn’t help but laugh at. The one that caused the most stir was “baby jack” who was a morbidly obese middel aged man who wore the same clothes every day for years! He was either stalking preteen girls or falling asleep on the benches or irritating mall vendors by blowing cigarette smoke in thier stores for laughs. PMM was doomed from the start by a poor location and a dated interior that for the most part stayed the same from it opening in 1971. Management had some great ideas to renovate the mall but never followed thru. Little by little the mom-n-pop stores left in the early 90’s and when Target left in 99 that was the straw that broke the camels back. PMM never recovered and was changed back into a strip mall(Woodland Crossing) that is just as vacant now as it was enclosed.Concord Mall is not much better and is slowly becoming another PMM.

By: Mall Memories

Mall Memories — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 07:02:55 +0000

The Surf shop in Concord Mall was called Pitstop USA. PMM thrived in the 70’s and 80’s, but Concord had more of a modern appeal and had more bigger chains. PMM had a restaurant on the west end called The Meeting Place which turned into an Alley Oop’s. Both had movie theatres – PMM was Holiday Theatres [located where the Hollywood Video is now] and Concord’s was called Concord Cinema (both had just two theatres in each of them). PMM started to slowly fall around 1987 and then in the 90’s was just a place to have your license renewed and to go to Target.