Dort Mall; Flint, Michigan
Sometimes instead of being redeveloped into strip malls and “Lifestyle Centers”, enclosed malls are simply forgotten, passed over like so much fruit cake in December. The reasons for this are varied, but mostly have to do with the fact that the area the mall lies in is no longer viable for retail, or at least the kind of retail that spawns big box and expansive strip malls.
Dort Mall, along Dort Highway on the south side of Flint, is one of these malls. Dort Mall opened as the Flint area’s first enclosed mall, in 1963, on the site of the former Dort Drive-In Theatre. In its earlier days, it was originally anchored by a Yankee store and possibly Cunningham’s and A&P. Yankee was later bought out by Zody’s, and after Zody’s disappeared it became Sears Outlet. The Sears Outlet closed somewhat recently and was split into Perani’s Hockey World, Bargain Hunterz thrift store, and a bingo hall. The north end of the mall currently houses a Big Lots which does not have access into the indoor portion of the mall. Also worth mention is the giant “Muffler man” type statue on the south end of the mall. Could this be Farmer Jack in a former Farmer Jack location?
The indoor part of Dort Mall isn’t spartan or barren by any means, like many dead malls. Today, the mall is filled with Americana like old gas station signs, advertisements and paraphernalia from General Motors products, and signs galore. However, only a couple shops exist within the mall which do not have outdoor entrances, notably one which exclusively sells T-shirts. Only a few people go inside Dort Mall today, and I don’t imagine all the old signs are that much of a draw. I took these pictures of Dort Mall in August 2005.
Caldor
July 20th, 2006 at 12:59 pm
Wasn’t this mall featured prominently in one of the Michael Moore movies? I can’t remember which one, but I think it may have been Fahrenheit 9/11. He was talking about how military recruiters target young people in malls that exist in um, ‘economically challenged’ areas, to put it a bit more politely than he did..
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Prangeway
July 20th, 2006 at 7:31 pm
That was Courtland Center, which is also quite interesting. It, however economically downtrodden, still functions as a mall, unlike this heap.
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Bobby
July 20th, 2006 at 11:30 pm
I wish I had gotten some pics a couple years ago when I went to this mall; their collection of signs was much bigger then.
And there never was a Farmer Jack in Dort Mall. That “statue” is really of MAD’s Alfred E. Neuman.
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Steven Swain
July 21st, 2006 at 2:25 am
I had no idea Zody’s stores were anywhere but the West Coast.
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Bobby
July 21st, 2006 at 5:43 pm
Yeah, Zody’s lasted for about 15 minutes here in Michigan.
For those unfamiliar with Michigan retail:
* Yankee was a discounter along the lines of Kmart.
* Cunningham’s was a drugstore in Michigan and Ohio. The Michigan stores were bought by Perry, and the Ohio ones by Gray Drug. Rite Aid bought out Perry and Gray Drug in the 1990s.
Also, Dort Mall had a theater at the back until 1983; the theatre’s restrooms are still used as the mall restrooms, but the rest of the cinema is vacant. The cinema building still says “Cinema” on it.
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joydivision
August 8th, 2006 at 12:31 am
In the late 70’s the Dort Mall was named the Small Mall. In the basement was a large discotech called The Light. (seriously!) It was huge the summer that I graduaated from high school in 1977. It was very popular until about 1980. It had one of those flashing light dance floors and the elevated dj booth. If I close my eyes I can still see the lights and here the whistles from Donna Summer’s “Bad Girls.” I don’t remember when it closed.
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Shawn
January 25th, 2007 at 5:30 am
Bob Perani’s collection of memorabilia in this mall is absolutely breathtaking. I wept when I found it and sat in awe of all the wonderment of the past starting back at me. It is a collection of every good piece of America, the Flint we loved and knew in the 50’s-80’s before GM left town.
This place has to be seen to be believed. It is much richer in texture and scope than the photos reveal. It’s a piece of modern, retrospective art that anyone would appreciate, if they just took a moment to realize that every piece in the collection has a story to tell.
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Bobby
February 11th, 2007 at 4:57 pm
I just found out something – the northern 1/3 of this mall has been closed off and converted to offices. Apparently this happened a while back.
Also, at one point, there was apparently a Walgreens in the mall. Seems strange that they’d have both Walgreens and Perry, unless Perry took the old Walgreens.
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Jonah Norason
August 21st, 2007 at 5:09 pm
Caldor: If anything, it could have been in “Roger and Me”, the mockumentary about Flint’s condition…
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Joe Miller
September 17th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
I love that mall. I went in there two days ago and WOW has that collection grew. I LOVE the Heli Boat!!!! I wanna fly it.
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dave-bronx
January 17th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
I worked at the theatre in 1976. In those days, in addition to General Cinema there was a Lanes drug store with a luncheonette attached. It was taken over by Perry Drug and they jettisoned the luncheonette, which then became Star Diner, run by the people who ran the Star Diner in the former Howard Johnsons, further north on Dort Hwy. Also in the mall was The Vogue (womens clothing), Blackstones (mens clothing) Flint Home (furniture, they occupied 2 units, one on each side of the mall in the northern half). There was a Michigan Secretary of State office Cablevision had an office there. The northern-most section on the west side was occupied by GMAC and the General Motors Institute. That big hockey equipment store that is there now had just moved in, then in a small store that had been a jewelry store. The A&P had recently left from the northern-most unit on the east side (now occupied by Big Lots). There was a little store selling sewing machines, and near the theatre there was a little shoe repair shop. In the former Zody store, they had built a bingo hall in the north-west corner and a short time later they subdivided the rest of the Zody store into a bunch of small shop spaces, leaving the southern half a large space which was occupied by a Sears outlet store. In the basement of the main mall was a banquet room with a kitchen which was a popular place to hold wedding receptions for people of limited means. The mall was owned by William Olyksen, who owned the Dort Drive-in theatre that had been on the property prior to the mall. By 1976 he was elderly and in decline, coming into the mall every evening walking and looking the place over. That year the family hired a management company to try to revitalize the mall. They remodeled the exterior front, divided the Zody store and renamed it “The Small Mall”. They were actively marketing the place separately to both the public and to merchants seeking space. By the time I left town in early 1977 they were having some success, but apparently it hasn’t lasted.
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Mike Carr
February 8th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
I used to work for Bob Perani about 15 yrs. ago. Besides his hockey store being the only real business in the mall and largest independent Hockey store in the world, he has turned the most of the mall into a collection of odd and unusual things. Like his mint condition Trans Am with 666 actual miles on it with the 6.6 ltr engine. He also has some vintage pinball machines that were apraised at $ 20,000 -$50,000 . And no, Bob has never asked for a fee to visit his collection, although you may have to listen for about an hour to the stories on he got them.
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Dave Rodgers Reply:
June 25th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
@Mike Carr,
I recently acquired a large item reported to be from this collection of Mr. Perani’s in Flint, Mich. I am trying to find out more about the items origin and when it may have been acquired for this collection. If you have any suggestions, or can guide me to a source of information, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanking you in advance.
Dave Rodgers
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James
February 11th, 2008 at 5:09 am
Well here is some good news. I am the president of a local Flint Custom Club. Our club is holding there 5th Annual Custom show in the parking lot of The Dort Mall this June on the 7th. Hopefully this will if not spark up a little interest in the Mall itself, atleast it will get people who have Never been there a chance to see it. We will let people know to be sure to visit the inside of the mall to see what it has to offer.
I have lived in the neighborhood Directly behind the mall for the past 18 years, I would hate to see it close down.
Our show continues to grow each year with 149 entries last year. So this maybe the new location for our annual show.
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J Wolter
March 15th, 2008 at 12:15 am
I grew up not too far from the Dort Mall. I remember going to the A&P and the movies. At that time the mall was still doing pretty good business. By the time I was in high school (early 80s) the traffic in the mall had slowed to nearly nothing as the anchor tenants disappeared.
Dort Mall had the misfortune of being on Dort Highway about a mile from the expressway, whereas Eastland Mall (later Courtland Center) was right off the expressway 1 exit further from downtown Flint. On top of that the mile between the expressway and Dort Mall included such classy establishments as the Cinema Blue and the Tokyo massage parlor.
I remember seeing the Dort Mall renamed to the Small Mall, and later as Mid America Plaza (a really stupid name IMHO). I’m glad it’s back to the Dort Mall. I haven’t been inside in years. Maybe next time I’m in Flint…
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Craig
May 27th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
I remember both going to the Yankee store as a little boy and the Light as a high schooler, and many movies around back at the theater. As a boy I thought the lobby of the theater was really nice, and the original single-screen room was pretty nice too, but once they split the room into two screens it was really spartan and not such a great place to see a film. The mall holds a special place in my heart because I went to that Secretary of State office to get my first driver’s license.
I remember that portion of town as a classic blue-collar area. South of the mall you had K-Mart, Frank’s nursery, a grocery store (Kroger’s maybe?), the Flint Cinema, and a bowling alley, and across Dort Highway you had eateries like Arby’s and Big John. I left Flint in 1984, and on the rare occasions I am back there it makes me sad to drive up Dort Highway.
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m
August 26th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
I used to eat at Friar Tucks here when I was little kid
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JR Harrison
September 11th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Now that I think I about it, I too went to that same Secretary of State office to get my first driver’s license. What a day that was. I grew up just off of Fenton and Atherton Road area and remember the Dort Mall area very well. There was a place across the street (by the Arby’s) that rented indoor space to work on your car. That was great in the winter.
My mom belonged to the Slenderform Spa just down the road, next to the K-Mart I believe. And the cinema that was next to that was where I saw my first Kurt Russel film . . . “The Computer That Wore Tennis Shoes.”
Of course, as I got older I spend my fare share of time at the clubs in that area, too. I remember The Light in the basement, and Embers Lounge across the street, and Contos just down the road a piece . . . somewhere near Jimmy Lums (is that still there?). And if we weren’t there, we were at the million dollar Mikitam (sp) and even Playland.
Well, I left Flint at the wise old age of 20 in 1980 and return for an occasion visit now and then. It’s somewhat sad to see the sparkle and dazzle gone.
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Cathy Ayala
September 28th, 2008 at 1:52 am
When I got married and moved to Michigan 10 years ago, one of the first places my husband took me was to the Dort Mall. Not expecting much, when I walked in, my jaw dropped open and stayed that way till we explored through all the memorabilia. I have been to many places in my 50 some years but this is the most memorable and unusual. It is on my “to do list” when anyone from out of state visits. I tell everyone I encounter here about it and surprisingly, lot of the locals have never seen the place. I love to take them there and blow them away. No trip to Dort Mall is complete without getting the Hamburger Deal at Star Coney. Mr. Perani, I have never met you but you have put together a collection not only Flint, but the entire country should be extremely proud of. Thank you from the bottom of my heart…
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Brian crawley
November 1st, 2008 at 5:59 pm
im a littel younger but i really like the dort mall its like a littel thers so much of flint history there and ever time i go i see somthing new
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Michelle
March 16th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
This advice is really going to help, thanks.
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Rubber Stamps
March 30th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Sad sad sad.
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E. Willson
June 10th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
I saw the Superman 3 in this theater. So it was still showing films in 1983. Sears Surplus store was open and so was Perry Drugs. At the north end, where Big Lots is now, there was a “Chuck E. Cheese type” kids pizza place called, I think “Circus Time”. Mr. Perani had the sign with clown on it re-installed a few years ago. There was also a cosmetology school in the basement known as Mr. David’s. I like to stop in to Star Brothers Coney when I’m nearby, it’s like a timecapsule. It’s very retro and the diner food is great! My friend worked for Perani and told me that the theater is now filled with shelves of hockey equipment waiting to be sold. Perani’s (the mall owners) is one of the country’s largest catalog hockey supply stores, so they must be doing some upkeep. And one last thing, the stairs that led to “The Light” are now covered by a large aquarium by the front door. I was told that the bar was intact when they stuffed it with hockey equipment.
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Disco Donna
June 16th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
I used to live across the street and remember the Small Mall well. I would love to be able to go down there and revisit “The Light” so Saturday Night Fever with the light up dance floor, wonder if the dance floor is still there? I remember Mr. David’s hair place and knew some people that went to school there. There used to be a ladies nighty place (Raquels) near the south end where there was like a hallway towards the back with stores.I had forgotten about Circus Time. I remember Perry’s there for a long time, I kind of worked across the street at Drugs and Things down from Big Johns and old Hamady’s warehouse, across the street Franks Beauty and barber. What about Lum’s restaurant and Bonaza down form Slenderform, Frank’s Nursery and the Cinema. Rock a rolla records, think the 11th Frame? is still there.
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TenPoundHammer (Bobby)
September 20th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Hmm. Where was the Lum’s? I know where the Bonanza was, it was still open into the late 80s.
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JR Harrison Reply:
November 19th, 2009 at 11:04 am
@TenPoundHammer (Bobby),
Lum’s, better known as Jimmy Lum’s, was on Dort somewhere near Lipponcott I believe – close to Contos.
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