Westland Mall; Columbus, Ohio
Tucked away on the west side of Columbus on the corner of Broad Street/U.S. 40 and the I-270 belt, Westland Mall has without a doubt seen better days. Opened in 1969 as an outdoor mall, Westland was enclosed in 1982 and has not been renovated since. As such, it has fallen victim to the flight of many-a-store in recent years, especially considering the tight retail competition in the Columbus market.
When it opened, Westland was anchored by Sears, Columbus-based Lazarus, and JCPenney. Only Sears has held its ground; JCPenney closed in 1997 for new digs several miles up the road at The Mall at Tuttle Crossing and Lazarus, which became Macy’s recently, closed earlier this year citing underperforming sales. Other national chain stores have departed in recent years as well, such as The Limited and Express. In addition, the Woolworth’s mini-anchor which closed in 1997 with the rest of the chain was replaced by a Staples which denied mall access. Whoops. Since 2000, many more stores have departed, and on a Columbus Dispatch reporter’s recent visit to the mall the Dollar store was the busiest retailer in the whole place. Whoops again.
So what really happened at Westland? Several sources suggest that tight competition was a major factor in Westland’s demise. Between 1997 and 2001, Columbus saw more large retail destinations open than in any other market, with the opening of two large enclosed malls, The Mall at Tuttle Crossing and Polaris Fashion Place, and one large outdoor center, Easton Town Center. Malls like Westland, and others which have recently failed like Columbus City Center and Northland Mall, all fell victim to this shiny new competition at an alarming rate.
The opening of all three of these new centers also signified a greater shift geographically in the economic prosperity of Columbus, pressing greater emphasis on the large sprawling swath of suburbia north of downtown and leaving the other parts of town struggling. Just by looking at a map of Columbus, it’s easy to see the recent growth has pressed northward at a rate two to three times the rate of other directions. This is where much of the money is in Columbus, and also has much to do with the location of OSU in this direction.
Today, Westland Mall is a ghost town, a retail relic and a living history museum to the ‘dead mall’ phenomenon visible across the entire country. The Broad Street retail strip around it is dated and functional, but the mall has definitely outlived its original stay as the anchor for this side of the trade area. A massive renovation and repurposing will have to take place before it is viable again. The mall’s website indicates they are courting ‘value’ tenants to make Westland into a ‘value-oriented’ mall, and while this may solve the immediate vacancy issue it is really only a stopgap solution as the center continues to age rather ungracefully.
But for now, enjoy the photos and if you’re in the area take a visit to one of the area’s best-preserved dead mall museums while it lasts. It won’t be long before they give up the ghost and try again. The pictures here were taken in March 2004.
Alpha
August 9th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
A few notes of interest:
-Does anyone know who enclosed this mall? Given the time (early 80’s) , and decor, it appears as though the company who owned the mall appears to have owned a lot of Ohio malls at the time- most notably Eastgate Mall in Cincinnati Ohio (renovated in 2004 and no longer bears much resemblance) and Towne Mall in Franklin/Middletown Ohio (a near-dead mall with similar decor to Westland!)
Those smoked-glass faux streetlamps and recessed square lights were a signature style of the company, and it made for some very dark malls that always felt larger than they were.
-The other remaining “Land” mall in Columbus, Eastland, appears to be faring much better (though it’s very bland), but the now-empty Lazarus/Macy’s from the 60’s (complete with groovy blue-glazed brick) is sadly in such bad state that it’s an eyesore (also a shame, because the new Macy’s is offensively dull.)
-Although they were founded in Columbus, I believe at the time this mall opened, Lazarus had become a Cincinnati operation. Maybe not, it’s certainly where the name died.
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mark Reply:
January 27th, 2010 at 9:23 pm
It was enclosed well before 1982. I graduated from HS in 1974 and it was enclosed then. I think it was 1972 it was enclosed.
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Sandy Reply:
January 31st, 2010 at 6:45 pm
@mark,
I remember being at the grand re-opening in October 1981 like it was yesterday. I am surprised at how many sources have this wrong.
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Jonah Norason
August 9th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
Unlike Northwest Plaza, where’s the clues that this was once outdoors?
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SEAN
August 9th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
Columbus is interesting in that the metro isn’t all that large, but in the retail world it is quite large. When polarasfashon place & easton town center & OSU are factored in you have a robust market.
Speaking of PFP is it a little strange that PFP has trubble holding on to it’s department stores L & T & is stuck with the great indoors? A nice store but they just didn’t make money. One more thing there are no divisions of limited brands because limited chearman Les wWexner is part owner of easton town center & the headquarters are located there. Out of protest limited signed 0 leases at PFP although the mall is owned by Glimsher also in columbus.
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Droman
August 9th, 2007 at 7:29 pm
heh there’s a Chi-Chi’s by one of the mall entrances in that 2nd picture. It’s probably vacant know after the whole health scare that closed that chain down (forgot what the disease was).
How large is Columbus? Is it large enough to support this mall, and the newer malls? Or are the new retail malls/center in the suburbs of this city?
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Shawn Reply:
June 29th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
@Droman, Columbus is the 14th largest city in the US. Columbus in the late 90’s was in the top 5 in the fastest growing citys in the US for 3 years in a row. Most of the population has moved North. Westland’s problem is Shannon Way (which is now named Lincoln Park I believe) which is approching 99% hispanic. The area is dying also from New Rome holding it back for so may years. I do think it will come back but all the money has moved elsewhere within Columbus. It is known in the retail world as a giant. It is one of the best placeing for a test market. So you know the size, it is the largest city in population and area in ohio beating out Cleveland and Cincy. It is the largest city in the US that doesn’t have a major sports (of the big three) team. (It does have prohockey and pro soccer). And it is home to the Ohio State Buckeys. The OSU campus is the largest in the US. Columbus has plenty of room for more retailers.
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mallguy
August 9th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
Chi-Chi’s was eventually forced into closure by hepatitis A in green onions…most of the NJ locations were subdivided…one half became Bonefish Grill and the other half another chain restaurant….never was a Chi-chi’s fan…On the Border and Jose Tejas/Border Cafe are ten times better.
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Steven Swain
August 9th, 2007 at 8:30 pm
This was an old Jacobs Group mall, as were many in Ohio.
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Allan
August 10th, 2007 at 12:20 am
So is it safe for me to guess that a lot of ex-Jacobs Group malls are in essence, ‘dark malls’, and have this sorta design going for them?
That question aside, I really enjoyed the write-up on this mall. It’s sad that it looks like this mall is probably on borrowed time, before it’ll get redeveloped somehow.
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Tony
August 10th, 2007 at 7:38 am
I have a picture of the front enterance of the Westland Mall in Columbus, Ohio. I was there to go to the DMV branch in the mall. I think the majority of the mall patrons were at the DMV, as when I got there, they were serving number 7 and I was number 38. Those pictures of the mall make it look much better than it really is. I cannot remember the last time it looked, well, occupied. And yes, the Chi Chi’s is gone; I think you can see what it is now in the picture.
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SEAN
August 10th, 2007 at 11:10 am
Hi droman i looked up the population for you. Columbus has over 700,000 people in the city & 1,725,000 in the metro area aprox.
With those numbers they could support i would say 4 major centers.
1. TUTTLE CROSSING
2. POLARAS FASHON PLACE
3. EASTON TOWN CENTER
4. EASTLAND
Maybe citty center if they can figure out what to do with it.
Easton has other things going for it like housing & corporate offices of lane bryant & limited brands on it’s property.
Also the large number of eateries cant hert.
On the other hand PFP only has 3 restaurants. Rember restaurants matter just as much if not more so than department stores.
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SEAN
August 10th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
Oh i forgot to add that Les Wexner tried to stop PFP’s construction, when he faild he chose not to sign any leases out of protest.
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Scott
August 10th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
Too bad about this mall. If it reinvents itself, it might have a fighting chance. Perhaps with a blend of bix-box retailers. Seems like with 1.7 million people, they could get 4 1/2 malls in there.
Scott
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Steven Swain
August 10th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
Jacobs malls tended to be a little dark. This one looks a little different than the othe ones I’ve sen though. For one thig, there’s no terrazzo. Usually they had a lot of terrazzo flooring, at least the ones from the late ’70s that I’m more familiar with.
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Rich
August 10th, 2007 at 6:54 pm
Lazarus was part of Federated and had been since the 20s or 30s, as the Lazarus family organized and ran Federated for many years. Some of the family was in Columbus and ran the namesake store. Federated itself was based in Cincinnati (where they owned Shillito’s) and also had a large NY office.
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David
August 10th, 2007 at 7:58 pm
Polaris was the death of the malls in Columbus. Northland, gone. Westland, close to being gone, and it will be followed by Eastland.
And even Polaris has seen better days. Easton Town Center sets the standard in columbus
You made mention of City Center Mall, which is worthy of coverage.
http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/business/stories/2007/08/07/City_Center_evict.ART_ART_08-07-07_B1_FG7I1MP.html
It’s a Simon Mall, acquired from Mills. But it’s not listed on their site
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daniel fife
August 10th, 2007 at 8:09 pm
I went to this mall 5 months ago and spent like 5 minutes in it as it had nothing left and macy’s was starting to close. therew as a vacant anchor. this shopping area I hear is in a high crime area. Someone form my college went to this area and was scared. there is a vacant Kmart, TOys r us and closed circuit city near it.
eastland was not too good. well polaris and easton mall with nordstrom is doing really good
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alpha
August 11th, 2007 at 12:43 am
@Steve: I noticed that too… most Jacobs group (it was in fact Jacobs who owned Towne & Eastgate until they sold them to CBL) they used Terrazzo up the wazoo. Their design really an interesting effect in the malls- they always seemed gloomy and large, even if it was a sunny day. (We always called it the “Goth Mall” – also fitting given its bizarre decor pieces such as organ-pipe chimes in the center court (removed by the time I got there with a camera, natch) and the other watchamacallits.
My guess is that the retrofit of the existing center led to some unique design decisions on this mall (such as the wood panelling- I almost want to believe this was enclosed before 1982 because by the early 80’s, Jacobs group was using hexagons up the ying yang… just see the attached pictures.)
I’ve included 3 shots of Eastgate and one of Towne Mall, apologies about the lack of quality.
http://getcarbonated.com/jacobsmalls
Do note this is right before Eastgate was renovated, so much of its original gloom was on its way out.
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Allan
August 11th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
Thanks for posting those pics of both Eastgate and of Towne Mall. I presume both these malls are in the greater Columbus(OH) area, am I right?
The ones of Eastgate are especially interesting, and what I particularly enjoyed looking at. Sad to hear that it may be the next dead mall in Columbus to come, beyond Westland…..(unless say, Eastgate somehow can reinvent itself, or do something drastic to prevent further decline)
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rich
August 11th, 2007 at 8:11 pm
I wondered about the history on this one. Eastland opened around ‘69 or ‘70 and was enclosed. It’s difficult to find a mall, anywhere, that was built after the early 60s that wasn’t originally built as a mall (there are exceptions like Landmark & Tysons in the DC area, but those are rare). Jacobs enclosed Westgate in Cleveland (one of their first centers) around ‘69 or ‘70. This center was to Great Western what Eastland was to Great Eastern and Town & Country on the east side. My guess is that it either opened as a mall or opened as strip well before ‘69. If it did open as a strip in ‘69, it would have been designed with eventual enclosure in mind.
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SEAN
August 11th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
Is it to far fetched to say that Easton Tuttle crossing & PFP will be the only malls left in Columbus?
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alpha
August 12th, 2007 at 1:48 am
Eastgate is in Cincinnati, was renovated in 2003 (looks nothing like it does in the pictures nowadays.. at least on the inside) and is doing allright.
Eastland mall is in Columbus… and also was recently renovated. It is doing okay, but it is missing an anchor, and is trying hard to fight off its “b-mall” image. Still a functional mall serving a minority customer base, but that image combined with difficult freeway access make its future questionable.
Towne Mall is halfway between Cincinnati and Dayton (opened about 2 year prior to Eastgate) and is at death’s door (anchors are healthy, inline is gone.)
Eastgate & Towne Malls were sold to CBL from Jacob’s Group about 5-6 years ago (in the 3 year period where just about every mall in Cincinnati changed hands) .
Two other points of interest:
1) Eastgate added an addition in 1992 when McAlpin’s relocated to the mall. Despite the obvious changes in style over the 11 years, Jacobs Group demanded that the addition match the original mall exactly, and actually had the light fixtures re-fabricated to match the original 1981 mall decor.
2) Eastgate’s current owner felt the mall was so dark that the skylights weren’t serving any purpose but to exaggerate how gloomy the mall was, so when installing the new light fixtures (basically, industrial grade fluorescent fixtures behind a translucent canopy covering almost all of the corridor), they kept adding more and more light fixtures on a trail-and-error basis until the lights matched the brightness of the skylight. It certainly brightened the mall up quite a bit, and watching the construction workers grumble as they had to add MORE fixtures was hilarious. It’s one of the few renovations I’ve heard of where the end result was LESS natural light.
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Jonah Norason
August 12th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
“B-mall”? What’s that? African American?
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Steven Swain
August 12th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
Jacobs Group malls were known for their seamless additions. In two cases I remember in North Carolina, older malls they owned were doubled in size, but you’d never know where the old part ended and the new part began unless you really studied the minute details.
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rich
August 12th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
A “B-mall” is basically one rung below the largest regional malls; a mall that may be missing anchors or only has 1 or 2 anchors, and fewer stores than the usual regional mall–in a large metro area, a mall with 50 or 60 stores and 2 anchors would be a “B-Mall” even if it always functioned that way.. Malls with only second string anchors like Burlington Coat Factory might be considered a “B”, too.
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Jonah Norason
August 13th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
The Matter of Steak sign is funny and old, I like neon in dark malls. One mall in Corpus Christi has lots of neon and a Burlington Coat Factory too.
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phil t
August 16th, 2007 at 10:08 am
does the failure of this mall and others like this a result of the oft-mentioned economic problems in OH?
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Lorilei
August 26th, 2007 at 5:39 am
Westland opened as an outdoor mall about 1965-1966. I was probably in the sixth grade at Clinton Elementary at the time. By 1969, I was in high school in southern Kentucky. I didn’t visit the mall again until a family reunion in 1982. We went to see “Annie” in the theater at Westland. I understood the reasons a mall in Ohio might benefit from being indoors, but I missed the mall I had first seen as a child. To me, it was like putting Walt Disney World inside.
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SEAN
October 1st, 2007 at 9:57 am
Phil T; let me try and answer this for you, it looks like retail shift is or has moved northward to Easton & PFP & away from Westland & other malls. As for OH’s economic problems-maybe you got something, but i just don’t know.
Well i tried my best.
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Deb said
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Westland Mall has been going under for over a year. There using duck tape to keep it up and running. Only forced into fixing the problems as the totally go into failure.
Customer Service is now gone as of the first of 2008. I for see that it will be gone by June or July.
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Jamie
January 17th, 2008 at 8:47 am
Westland Mall was enclosed before 1982. It was as early as 1980, maybe 1979. As a teen, Westland was a great place to hang out. Aladins Castle was the arcade were everyone hung out. They even had an Orange Julius. In my opinion, when they closed the Orange Julius, They killed the mall. The line was always long there. I still visit the mall since I live just down the street. But even on the busiest day, you can shoot a gun and not hit anyone. It’s sad…
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Diana Reply:
July 13th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Diana, Its true the Westland mall we grew up with is but a collection of foggy memories. Do any of you remember the Westland Cinema thatwas just two screens? Marianne`s, Gray drug, Woolworths,Merial Normans, Brooks Brothers, Chess King,The old Hallmark Store,The Fire place store,Lazarus,The leotard store……the list goes on and on. I believe there was even a ice cream store, Lunch counters in Lazarus, Woolworths, Sears,Penneys, a cafeteria besides Woolworths. Plus all the other little snack places as well as shops. A part of my youth has just faded away, Yes, It`s very sad. The new malls are more of a amusment park atmospher ,rather than a fun shopping trip. Maybe things will change,,,,I fear not,
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Matt Reply:
August 28th, 2009 at 9:41 am
@Diana,
I remember ice cream was called Soda Jerk. It was in the same wing as Aladdin’s Castle. It’s kind of sad to see that this mall has become a ghost town. I spent many days of my youth hanging out there.
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Jack
January 22nd, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Of The “Land” malls (Northland, Eastland, Westland), Westland was always the least pretty of the three. Neighborhood shifts will prevent Eastland from ever being what it had once been (there was a shooting there recently, fortunately no one was hurt) And Northland has not been redevelloped in any way since it was demolished in 2002. Right now it’s just a giant empty lot with a Taco Bell in the front. Westland has been completely destroyed by the construction of the nearby Mall at Tuttle Crossing. They use the empty JC Penney (it closed and moved to Tuttle in 1997) as a convention center of sorts, housing gun shows and other whatnot on the main floor. And the few brief ventures I made out into the mall found absolutely no one.
and SEAN, it is far fetched to say that the new “Big 3″ will be the only ones left. Eastland has booming sales, and it’s always full. However, It seemes like every time I go there, the influence from Whitehall is bigger.
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Cyndi
January 26th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Just searching for information on Westland Mall closing, as I have heard just this week that Les Wexner (Limited) has bought the property. I also heard that he bought the apartment complex in the back of the mall and is looking into buying the old GM plant across the street. The goal with all this real estate buying is to build a shopping complex like Easton and call it Weston. Sounds too good to be true, dosen’t it?. The west side of Columbus has certainly had it’s share of crime and business demise in the past 10 years.
Now with Meijer on Georgesville Rd closing, the westside of Columbus needs to have a makeover. Does anyone know if this information is true? or is it just another rumor?
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ECHO
January 29th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
I recently went to Famous Footwear on the old west side and was told they were closing. The rumor is that Les Wexner purchased Westland Mall and the surrounding property. I live closer to the City Center and Westland Mall. I’m tired of driving to another side of town for mall shopping. I don’t understand why these two malls have been left for ruin. The old malls are in prime locations and once again could prosper. Why continue to build new malls and leave abandon sites to shatter the surrounding neighborhoods. Crime rate is high and property values are lower due to the disregarded stores. There should be laws that prohibit the crazy of over building. There are to many structures left standing. The old shopping locations should be tore down if not remodeled as they are eye sores, and contribute to rise in crime. If the rumor is true, then it would be wonderful to have shopping, restaurants, and entertainment close to work, home, and Downtown Columbus. Does anyone know anything about this resent rumor?
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Craig
January 30th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
City Center Mall was bought up by the State and City to be converted into office space. Several state departments are moving into the Lazarus building there. Hopefully the rumor of Weston is true. If you look at the Krone Group (owners of Westland mall) it has had the name changed to Weston Towne center which would go along with the rumors that I have heard.
http://www.thekronegroup.com/krone_group/docs/Weston_Brochure.pdf
I have lived on the west side of town for almost 2 years now and I would love to see a mall and business come back to the area. I feel safer on the west side of town then I do when I go to Easton. Last time I went to go see a movie there (about a month ago) I saw a huge fight break out and about 4020330483024823 Somalians running through the mall screaming at each other. Cops were out in force and they had their hands full.
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THE DEAD WEST
February 7th, 2008 at 1:32 am
The entire Westside of columbus around the mall seems to be going dead with major closings of
media play, Meijer, Schottenstein’s, Sears inside the mall (coming soon), Golds gym in the mall parking lot.
There is no reason to shop at westland unless you looking for a pair of sneakers or jewelery.
there are currently 4 shoe stores left, Finishline, Champs, Lady Foot Locker, & KC’s men’s clothing, maybe 2 jewelry places, a Matter of Steak is still there, the arcade somehow is still open nothing what it use to be, other than that the mall is gone, soon as Sears closes say goodbye to westland.
Honestly the area is not that bad as said in previous posted above it’s not easton but it’s not like your gonna get robbed or raped on trip the Bob Evans
, there is still lots of good restaurants down the road in georgesville square. In my honest opinion problems went wrong with the cheap ass apartment complex behind the mall, low income families moving in to run down apartments equals shopping in the mall in non existent.
I worked in the mall about 6 years ago, I would always hear great ideas from management of the mall talking about bringing in new stores, they were even in talks about putting in a Skate Park inside of the old J.C penny’s building but that quickly fell through & I never heard why.
I don’t wanna go into where I worked but in a 11 hour day the store I worked for would only take in a few hundred dollars a day, take into count rent cost & paying employees you can see why stores can’t last in westland. Funny story, one day during a weekday we opened at 10:00 am we didn’t get our first paying customer until about 2:00 pm. that’s so sad, haha.
a complete rebuild of the entire mall, apartment complex out back is the only way to get people back shopping, trust me we are all here ready to shop but with no stores in the mall obviously shoppers will go elsewhere.
there is still hope!
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kyle
February 16th, 2008 at 12:42 am
Sears is not closing! My sister works at sears and they are not closing any time soon. That sears is the busiest sears in Columbus believe it or not. Also westland has been bought by Les Wexner. He is also getting ready to buy GM, the two shooping centers by westland, and the apartments behind it. The only reason he has not announced this yet is because he is working with ODOT to have a freeway ramp lead right into weston like it does at easton.
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Cindy
February 22nd, 2008 at 9:04 am
We moved to this Far West Southwest area from Raleigh NC three years ago to take a job at OSU. We thought that the area around our subdivision seemed safe enough.
I will not go to the upper Georgesville Road area even though it is a little closer to us. In fact, I travel to the Hilliard Rome Meijers instead of patronizing the more closer one on Georgesville. Many people must feel the same, the store is scheduled to close as many others have.
Why? There are an extreme abundance of housing projects that cater to thousands of illegal immigrants and somali refugees in this area (better for the landlords to have the complexes full than empty?). The young children of these people are not assimilating into the schools easily and therefore we have resulting gang problems with these two groups. My family calls this area “little Tijuana”. I DO NOT FEEL SAFE in this area!
This area will not be safe at these stores until the following things happen…
We have seen beautiful renovation of many small towns in the Raleigh area. One of the first things they do is to better plan roads to ease traffic into the area. Second thing is to plan green areas all around the metro complexes. Next come nearby housing and condos that take advantage of the green areas. Then comes the inviting shopping areas with great retail stores. Tax base improves, schools are built which entice more homeowners near the area, the area looks “pretty” and better and safer communties develop. We have seen this plan over and over in North Carolina.
I absolutely agree with the prospect of redevelopment of this area. The easy access to 270 needs to be reworked and the Georgesville/Broad street area can be another Easton Towne Center. When we moved here, we asked “Why isn’t there a good mall area in this area of town? It would be a goldmine!” I wrote letters to mall property development companies!
BUT FIRST…the area housing projects MUST BE CLEANED of the crime eliment or nobody will come to an area that they will not think is safe.
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Dominick The King of The Westside
February 24th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
To truly say it, I am a die hard Westside resident. I was born and raised out here from birth until I was 18 (last year). I seen the Westside peak climb and seen it drop from 2004. It hasn’t been the same, it all has to do with the Mall. The Mall is the back center of a town and or a side of town. Grove City, Hilliard, Urbancrest, Hilltop, Franklinton, Far West, all went to this mall and brought a lot of business. When they took JCPenny’s out that hurt the mall and brought more revenue to the Northside (Tuttle, Polaris, and Easton). It’s hurts me how the West Side was a good place to live. I look at it now, living out in Reynoldsburg, it hurts to see how my City is dying. And West Side is it’s own city.
The Wingate Villages (Lincole Park West formaly) where I grew up at from 1990 to 1995, was a great place to live for the Blacks and the Whites, it was calm community and the biggest apartment complex. The apartment complex has so much history that my mom grew up there when she first move from Indiana, in 1973. I mean when I was growing it rough there but, not like it is now, but Westside was rough city as it is. Now “I look back at it and drive through there and it hurts me to see what the heck the ownership is doing and why would they let get this bad to a point where it’s a projects and a trap house (drug area). And it sad the City isn’t doing squat for the West Side (the first settlement in Columbus) there is a lot history out here. But it’s up to us, to change it so…. Hopefully one day, when I get out of College, I’ll be that person.
When ever they will be, Weston Town Center. They are going to knock down the whole strip from the mall area, to the little stores surrounding, that’s gonna be knock down, and the stores across the street will be knock down. And also if they are trying to rebuild it, the guy is gonna have to by the apartments (Lincoln Par West, Brittany Hills, Country Brook, Pleasent Grove) The Westside is showing a little progess in the Lincoln Village area, building new stores. You also can’t look at the area you got look at where Target is, where K-Mart use to be, where AJ Wright is now, all those areas you have to look at. If it was to get back where it was, these are things they have to do.
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Adam Gilbride
March 26th, 2008 at 12:17 am
It was all over when Orange Julius left. As my father being a mall manager in the late 70s of the mall before it was enclosed shared many memories of how nice of a place it was with the open air feel. It was a beast at winter time, but look how Easton has made the best of it. Here is my idea…since the amphitheater at Polairs is gone. Put it over on the West Side of Columbus. Then build from that. I mean really, you have a bunch of room to grow. With rumors of Target leaving this side of town, that area will open up and the Kmart area. Lots and lots of room to grow.
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CEC Thugz
March 26th, 2008 at 12:52 am
Ok so I have lived in a suburb near Westland Mall most of my life and I have to say, Westland Mall has been on the decline since I was in high school (1995 – 1999). It got to the point where during high school we stopped going to movies there because it wasn’t safe!!! I couldn’t be happier to see the west side torn down and rebuilt from the ground up. Maybe by time my daughter is in high school it will be a safe place again. Go Wexner, I support you 100% in tearing down the west side!!!
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Viv
April 25th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
I have not lived in this area long but before I moved over here back years ago, Westland Mall use to be very active, you could go there and buy some things that you could not find in other places, what happen, is there ever going to be someone that will take it on and bring it back to life. We can”t let something as great as this Mall go to waste. Places like this that use to be a land mark need to be fixed up again stop building new places and take care of the old ones that we have. Columbus needs to take care of it city.
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Peter
April 28th, 2008 at 11:02 am
Anyone have any confirmation of the rumour that Les Wexner purchased Westland Mall, the apartment complex behind it and/or the GM plant? Or know where I could go to get confirmation?
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Zach
April 29th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
The GM building is for sale there’s a big sign in front of saying for sale but I don’t know if Wexner bought to resell or someone else is selling.
on another note the Chrysler Car lot has went out of business the one that sits in front of Target on West Broad & how about that fancy new Radio Shack, Lol a 4 unit building was built with tons of empty spaces in the mall & were K mart was hell even down by Meijer on Georgesville there’s spots. Seems like a waste to me build a new building just for a radio shack, you know damn well no one else is moving into those other units.
hahaha….
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Wayne Poe
May 8th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
I just came across this site and It’s a bummer! I was the Mall Manager in the late 60’s and early 70’s and knew Adam Gibride’s dad ( I think I hired him and trained him). The mall was brand new when I took over and it was great! Great tenants, (i knew the family that owned Orange Julius well), great customers, and I loved it. The name of the owners at that time was Jacobs-Visconsi & Jacobs (JVJ) It has now become the Richard Jacobs group. I have fond memories of Westland and JVJ. I left Westland to open more malls for JVJ and in the day, they were one of the top developers in the country. I hope Les comes through for you all.
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Sylvia
May 23rd, 2008 at 9:40 am
I really hope something is going to happen on the westside. We so need a boost to the community. I too lived in in the apartment complex when it was Shannonway. Blacks and whites lived together and it was a really nice place to live. IT was sold. They started renting to anyone and then things went bad. We bought a house and it’s just heartbreaking to see what has happened to that part of town. I hope these rumors I keep hearing are true.
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T-Smoove
May 30th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Dear Mr. Wexner:
Come revitalize the West Side, please!!! My house is only 6 years old and it’s now only worth 75% of what I paid for it. Please come drive my home’s value up. The whole west side would greatly apreciate it.
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Brandon J.
August 19th, 2008 at 12:21 am
It’s interesting to watch people compare old & new Columbus malls and say that the new malls (Easton/Polaris/Tuttle) killed the old malls (Westland/Northland/Eastland).
Listen people! The old malls were almost dead long before the new malls came along.
The reason that Westland/Northland/Eastland malls failed (or are failing) is because they’re located IN THE GHETTO!
This especially true with Northland. I mean the reason that this mall closed was because of crime & violence. Not because of other malls. People got tired of being mugged in the parking lot on the way to their cars. With Northland, not only did this mall close, but the stores across the street might be leaving soon too! I work for Kohl’s department stores, and I’ve heard that once Kohl’s lease is up, they will then be OUT of the Morse Road area (across from the old mall). I believe all the area stores feel that way. Morse Road will continue to deteriorate.
Another factor to consider when comparing these malls is to look at the STORES at these malls. Westland/Northland/Eastland have (or had) businesses like Lazarus, Sears, & JC Penny. Places like Easton & Polaris have businesses like Saks Fifth Avenue, The Apple Store, Abercrombie & Fitch, & the AMC IMAX Theater. Is this even really competition? Are families really going to think: “Well…we went to the Westland Mall, and couldn’t find a prom dress for our daughter at Sears, so we’ll just go to Saks Fifth Avenue and look for one there (and pay like ten times as much).”
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Mary
August 23rd, 2008 at 3:06 pm
The city needs to address the gangs of teens and young adults that rove the surrounding area. The crime rate has climbed on the west side. The are hundreds of teens with nothing to do and yes, there are a lot of immigrants, but they are not all illegal. The westside will not get any better until a way is found to give this growing element new direction. Throw some $ into recreation or community centers, soccer fields, skate parks, something, anything at this point!
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Sylvia
August 25th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
I agree Mary. The young people need something to do besides roaming the streets and getting into trouble. They also need to do something with that huge apartment complex.
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Sylvia
August 25th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
I agree Mary. The young people need something to do besides roaming the streets and getting into trouble. They also need to do something with that huge apartment complex.
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Alpha
December 16th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Believe it or not this mall is still open, and you can still get your kid’s picture taken with Santa. Sears doesn’t appear to be going anywhere (given they are the only anchor denied a spot at Tuttle crossing, no surprise…) , but a few things worth mentioning…
1) The layout for this mall is really strange… almost shaped like a question mark (especially if you consider the Sears the dot with the ending of inline stores on either side.) The main entrance actually has you snake around these dark narrow corridors with inline shops until you finally end up in the fairly nice center court.
2) It is really, really dark and gloomy until you get to the center court… even for a Jacobs group mall. With the exception of the Sears-to-Macy’s corridor, everything else is really cramped, too.
3) It has not been touched since 1982.
4) The layout isn’t very space efficient. A lot of inline space is wasted due to the fact that the anchor store butts right up to the corridor.
5) They no longer run the heat or A/C in this mall.
It’s miraculous the mall is still standing and that it held on for as long as it did.
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CoryTJ
December 17th, 2008 at 12:46 am
This mall reminds me of Machesney Park Mall in Rockford, IL. The same thatch pattern faux cobblestone floor tile, and dated “mini mall” motiff. Pipe in the smell of popcorn and poverty, and you’d have Machesney.
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Jonah Norason
December 17th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
CoryTJ: You do realize Machesney is on this site, right? (http://www.labelscar.com/illinois/machesney-park-mall)
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Kenny Bocook
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:55 am
It’s really sad to see westland mall in the shape it’s in. I’ve lived on the westside of town my entire life and went to this mall almost every weekend. I remember going to see santa there when I was little! haha. But I guess time’s change and people move on. I would really like to see something good happen to this place tho. I feel that if they can get this mall busy like it was before, the westside would be a better place to live
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Ben
March 6th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
Westland has a few quirks. The Penneys, Sears, and the Lazarus predate the enclosed mall. I wonder if the stores across the front (former Wendy’s Rest., Wendy’s bridal, etc.) may have been there before the enclosed mall since the ceiling is lower there and it almost seems from another time.
Unfortunately, I seriously doubt a “Weston” will be in the future there, since there are so few jobs out west. The GM plant is gone, as is the John Deere facility, and the Sears warehouse. Lack of spending power is the death knell of malls, not stores leaving. Stores do not leave as long as they make money. One recent vacancy out here that surprises me, though, is Meijer. They always had good prices, and often better merchandise than WalMart. However, Meijer never felt the Georgesville store perfomed to their liking, and after the Hilliard-Rome store opened there was talk of converting it to a Source Club.(Meijer’s answer to Sam’s Clubs) But, like many big Meijer Ideas, they jump in with both feet, and jump right out again, Source Club lasted little more then a year, leaving them with the underperforming store again. They now have a new store on State Route 665. It’s a bit of a hike, but it’s usually empty. (Like our pockets…) I would like to see something out here, but I won’t hold my breath.
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Ben
March 6th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Note – I didn’t mean that Meijer ever converted the Georgesville store to a Source Club, They just intended to if the concept had taken hold. At that time, there were several Wholesale clubs and a consolidation was happening, meaning Meijer was “too little, too late”. They also griped that Columbus wouldn’t allow them to put in a gas station out front, either.
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Bobby
March 7th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
One thing I find interesting about Columbus is, like Detroit, it has all four “Land” malls (Northland, Eastland, Westland, Southland). North, West and East in C-bus all had similar designs with Sears, Penney’s and Lazarus (although Eastland gained a Kaufmann’s as well — big mistake as they now have one huge vacancy in the old Lazarus), but somehow Southland never amounted to anything more than a tiny 20 store deal with Gold Circle and Fazio’s.
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Amy
March 13th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
I grew up on the west side of Columbus in the seventies. I remember back when Westland was an open air mall and a few of the stores were Petty’s card and gift shop, Seven Seas, Harvest House restaurant, and Foxwood Casuals (along with the anchors– Lazarus, Penneys and Sears). Does anyone else remember more names of the old stores?
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Jerry Pittman Reply:
August 7th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
@Amy, I managed a store for about six months at Westland, it was a family shoe store Sils (name later changed to Faflik’s). In the mall as I remember was Florsheim Shoes (no longer in retail business anywhere) Thom McCan (also totally out of business) a Waldens Book Store, Orange Julius, Lazarus, Sears, Woolworths, J. C. Penny’s (my wife worked there), Gray Drug, and assorted stores ie. card store, gift shop, almost all were name reconized chain stores as the independant retailer can not usually afford the crazy mall rents. The word back in the fall of 1969 was “as soon as the freeway opens up this mall will do fantastic business”. I saw that most (not all but more than 50%) of our customers seemed to be below average in intelligence and I lived on Hilton Avenue (walking distance to work) and many of my neighbors were a bit “trashy” and I understand that now the neighborhood is not one of the nicer places to live in the Columbus area. On Buckeye football days, you might as well not be opened as we did almost no Saturday business. It was a great looking place, just poor retail business.
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Bill
March 16th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
I remember Tinder Box (a tobacco shop), Aladdin’s Castle (an arcade), and Orange Julius.
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Roy
June 29th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
I remember the West Side and Westland Mall being the king in the 1980’s. Dublin, Worthington, and Hillard were small and those people came to the Westland Mall for their shopping. By the 1990’s the West Side and the Westland Mall started it’s fall. The West Side has always been blue collar working class people. It will never attract the type of building that you see in other parts of Columbus. It is called ubran sprawl at it’s worst! Where in the world is the West Side? I know where Upper Arlington, Dublin, and Grove City are located. The West Side is just lot’s of concrete and horrible urban planning.
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Pam
August 5th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
My family moved to the West Side in 1961 when my dad got transferred (he was with Nationwide) Growing up in Lincoln Village was truly the “wonder years” We spent every summer day at the pool, there was a community tennis court that was flooded in the winter to make a skating rink. After church we went to Frisch’s, Ponderosa or Lincoln Lodge for lunch. We rode our bikes everywhere and the only rule was that we had to home when the street lights came on. Doors were never locked and if my mom wasn’t home and we were hungry, we went next door and got fed. We even had ou rown transit system.When Westland opened up we thought we had died and gone to heaven. We spent all day there walking around and having lunch at Orange Julius. Pre I-270, the traffic on Broad St. was brisk. My dad was the President of the Resident’s Association and he warned them that if they did not zone into Cols., the area would be forgotten about. I come to Cols. every year for an Ohio State game and I can’t stand to see what happened to my neighborhood. I never ever thought I would live to see the day that the word “ghetto” would be used to describe the magical place I spent so many happy years. And as usual, dad was right.
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Amy Reply:
September 8th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
@Pam, Thanks for the memories that you listed. I also remember the excitement of Westland Mall as it once was; Orange Julius and Harvest House were the best. I, too, spent many summer days at Livco pool. You got it exactly right– we had our very own Wonder Years, which I’m very grateful to have been a part of…
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Kristi Reply:
January 21st, 2010 at 8:38 am
@Pam,
I remember those “golden years” in Georgian Heights as well. Our neighborhood pool was Westview. Wasn’t it great growing up in the 70s on the Westside?
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Diana Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 11:58 pm
@Pam, How sad it is to see how this area has faltered. Not just the Mall ,but Lincoln Village. The little shopping center on Broad ,across from Frisch`s. It had a Basken Robbins,Big Bear, two or three neighborhood restaurants.Zayers , then Harts….it seems sad to see its decline.Yet, We saw the same to the open shopping centers, Great Western, Great Southern, Northern Lights, Graceland,Centeral Point…..to name most…..started to fail as Westland ,Northland and Eastland rose to stardom….With each of these failures so does the neighborhoods around them……become just urban pools of decay.
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funky-rat
August 30th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Stopped by today with some friends to check it out. Found it very sad. In the process of taking photos, discovered a small fire burning on a store frot (I believe the store was occupied, but not open – a number of them were that way).
At any rate, the employees of other stores and customers (the few that were there) seemed to be more interested in staring at it rather than putting it out. One did call 911 and was waiting for the fire department, but apparently doesn’t understand that the way the fire was burning, it was likely electrical, and had it been allowed to burn, by the time the fire deparment would get there, it could be in the ceiling, and burn the mall down (although at this rate, it might be doing it a favor).
Finally, my husband, and a friend of ours (who – like me – are fire extinguisher trained), located two nearby fire extinguishers, and put the fire out themselves.
The fire department showed up about 10 minutes later.
Yes, I’m serious. And I have the photos to prove it (although I’m on vacation, and can’t post them right now – I will when I return home).
First time in all my dead mall adventures that I’ve ever run in to something like this. Freaky.
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SEAN Reply:
September 1st, 2009 at 7:56 am
@funky-rat, What caused the fire. If it took the fire dpt 10 minutes to respond, then a few conclusions can be drawn. Either they are understaffed or don’t believe it is worth responding to. reguardless it doesn’t look good. Would they respond the same way if it was Easton Town Center?
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funky-rat Reply:
September 1st, 2009 at 9:07 am
@SEAN, I have no idea. We thought that it was electrical in nature, as it seemed that it started behind the sign on the storefront. It had just a painted sign – nothing lighted, but one could logically conclude that at one time, there was a lighted sign behind the painted sign. There was also a lot of crackling (more than I’d expect to hear from a small fire). The store itself was a hair salon.
I’m not sure why it took the fire department 10 minutes. This never made the news (we looked), but I did see there was a big fire at Marzetti’s, but I’m not sure when it was. That could have held them up. We’re not from Columbus (we were down there for something else, and decided to stop by Westland because it was there), so I don’t know about what goes on down there, but I will say that the area is a bit run down, full of dead retail and abandoned buildings. Maybe it’s not a priority.
What’s really scary is the apathy of the people there in general (we saw a security guard earlier, but never saw him again), the fact that no fire alarm went off, and that the fire was burning right below a sprinkler that never went off. Had this happened an hour or two later when the mall was closed, it might have burned to the ground.
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SEAN Reply:
September 1st, 2009 at 2:47 pm
@funky-rat, My point exactly.
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Alpha Reply:
November 17th, 2009 at 1:31 am
@funky-rat,
I came across your Flickr pics and it was unreal! I was about to link to them on this post. Truly, truly strange- my thought was the wires for the old sign somehow weren’t properly capped/disconnected and caused the fire.
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ColumbusDave
January 15th, 2010 at 10:01 pm
Westland Mall has continued to change. Nearly everything is vacant, and the “new” tenants are fly-by-night souvenir and jewelry shops, and the standard spate of public service storefronts, like the Franklin County Sheriff.
It has, however, suddenly become quite a topic on the news. Ohio just passed a state constitution amendment granting four casinos to specific owners in specific locations. (Yes, you read that right. Ohioans just modified their *state constitution* to grant four specific businesses to four specific owners in four specific locations. It is appalling that nobody thinks this a gross abuse of the state’s highest law, under which all are supposed to be equal. But I digress.)
Franklin County, in which Columbus and Westland Mall are located, voted against the measure. Suddenly interest groups are popping up saying “We’ll take the casino!” as there is considerable opposition to its presence downtown in the arena district. One of those groups, which has such businesses as Haydocy Pontiac (located near Westland), has said that they would like to see the casino on the Westland site or on the old Dephi plant across the street on Georgesville Road.
I live about 1.5 miles southeast of Westland Mall. I voted against the amendment as I perceive use of the constitution for this purpose as a perversion. However, if they’re going to put it somewhere, I wouldn’t mind it going either at Westland or the Delphi plant. My preference would be for Westland, as this is least likely to impact my drive to and away from my house everyday, as I usually go through the intersection at Georgesville and Broad.
In an incomprehensible twist, the Franklin Township authorities said they were against the idea. Their reasoning? They get property taxes from Westland and Delphi. Yup, these geniuses oppose the plan because of the property taxes they think they’re going to get from a completely vacant auto supplier plant, and a nearly-dead mall complex. There are politics involved with the City of Columbus because of annexation and other things, but still…
The Westland saga continues.
On an even sadder note, I took 275 photos inside City Center on the day it closed. I don’t like to shop, but I really liked City Center. In September 1989, it was the first place real place I went in Columbus after starting school at tOSU. It has always had a special place in my heart. I even shot 15 minutes of video inside the mall so that I could coordinate all my photos. If I were really documenting its ultimate demise, I would have been taking pictures of its demolition, but I refuse to go see it.
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Wanna Know
January 24th, 2010 at 3:28 am
Does anyone know what they are gonna do with the old meijer building on Georgesville?
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Nick
January 24th, 2010 at 10:35 pm
Here is a Facebook page that was created just last week. Over 3000 fans already!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/I-remember-when-Westland-Mall-was-awesome/258290049036?ref=mf
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Diana
February 11th, 2010 at 12:06 am
Now a challenge to all westsiders…..does anyone have any photo of Westland Mall when it first opened up….know a bit more about all that was there.
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