Dayton Mall

Dayton Mall

Location	Miami Township
Opening date	1970 (1970)
Owner	Washington Prime Group
No. of stores and services	175
No. of anchor tenants	6 (5 open, 1 vacant}
Total retail floor area	1,416,846 square feet (131,629 m2)
No. of floors	2
Website	http://daytonmall.com/

Dayton Mall is a shopping mall in Miami Township, Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, a suburb of Dayton. The mall features five anchor stores: Dick's Sporting Goods, DSW Shoe Warehouse, J. C. Penney, Macy's and Sears (expected to close in November 2018); anchor Elder-Beerman closed in August 2018. Located ten miles (16 km) south of downtown Dayton, just north of the junction of Interstate 75 and Interstate 675 between the suburbs of Centerville and Miamisburg, the mall has attracted millions of visitors since its grand opening in 1970. The mall is owned by Washington Prime Group, a Columbus-based firm, which acquired the complex in 1997; the company also owns The Mall at Fairfield Commons nearby.

History

The Dayton Mall's official grand opening was held in 1970, although some stores were already in operation at the time, such as Rike's, Hickory Farms of Ohio and the single-screen Dayton Mall Cinema. Originally there were three anchor stores: Rike's, Sears, which contains 175,083 sq ft (16,266 m²),^[1][2] and J.C. Penney. There were also a J.G. McCrory 5 and 10, a Liberal supermarket and three outparcel tire and auto service centers.

Rike's, owned by Federated Department Stores, was placed under the Shillito Rikes nameplate in 1982. The store changed names again in 1986 to Lazarus. After adopting the Lazarus-Macy's brand in 2003, the store fully adopted the Macy's name in 2005; it contains 263,566 sq ft (24,486 m²).^[3][4][5]

The over one-million-square-foot (92,903 m²), bi-level shopping center held the distinction of being the largest in southwestern Ohio for many years. Several more stores were added when the Dayton Mall underwent two major renovations of its existing structure in 1984 and 1995-1996. In the first renovation, the interior of the east and west concourses was remodeled, as was the two-level main entrance. The central atrium area was also improved with a food court installed on its mezzanine.

On August 4, 1972, Cinema 2 opened on the mezzanine level;^[6] in October 1976, Cinemas 3 and 4 opened, also on the mezzanine, across from Cinema 2;^[7] Cinemas 5–8 opened in 1982, attached to the mall but with only exterior public entrances.^[8] Cinemas 2, 3 and 4 closed in 1993, 5–8 closed in 2000, and the original cinema closed in January 2001. Most of the cinema space was reutilized, but as of 2012, the space formerly housing Cinemas 3 and 4 remains unused behind a wall.^[9]

After the supermarket closed, its space was allocated to a Morrison's Cafeteria and a few other retailers in late 1980.^[10] In 1988, the restaurant was rebranded as Morrison's corporate sibling Sadie's Buffet & Grill.^[11] In April 1993, the restaurant was replaced by a Discovery Zone children's entertainment facility.^[12]

In the mid-1990s, a fourth anchor store was added in front of what had been the main entrance. It was occupied by J. C. Penney, which moved from its former location at the west end of the mall; its current location contains 179,000 sq ft (16,630 m²).^[13] The original J. C. Penney location became a Cincinnati-based McAlpin's in 1996 and then a Dayton-based Elder-Beerman in 1998; the store contained 227,070 sq ft (21,095 m²).^[14][15][13] After these renovations were completed, the Dayton Mall had nearly 150 retailers under one roof.^[16]

A 20,000 sq ft (1,900 m²) Designer Shoe Warehouse (DSW) store opened on July 9, 2000.^[17][18] Anticipated to open prior to the 2000 holiday shopping season, Discovery Zone was replaced by a 30,000 sq ft (2,800 m²) Linens 'n Things in early 2001;^[19] Linens 'n Things was considered a junior anchor of the mall. In addition, a new exterior public entrance and new public restrooms were added to this area of the mall.^[20]

The Greene Town Center, a retail and entertainment complex, opened in suburban Beavercreek in August 2006, prompting the Dayton Mall and The Mall at Fairfield Commons to extend their properties to attract more visitors. A 97,000-square-foot (9,000 m²), open-air, "lifestyle component" was added in the Dayton Mall's north parking lot, along Ohio State Route 725. Known as "The Village At Dayton Mall", it added twenty-five tenants and was dedicated in early 2007. With the completion of this addition, the Dayton Mall encompassed 1,300,306 leaseable square feet (120,802 m²).^[21]

In 2012, the DSW store moved to a space in the "lifestyle" area of the mall formerly held by Borders Book Stores. In April 2012, Dick's Sporting Goods announced that it would relocate from a nearby location in Miamisburg and occupy the space held formerly by DSW and f.y.e. in the mall, adding another anchor tenant and boosting the mall's occupancy rate above 95 percent.^[22][23]

In November 2014, Doppelganger Laboratories opened a store in the Dayton Mall employing a Shapify Booth, manufactured by Luxembourg's Artec Group. The booth takes a 3D scan of a person, then 3D prints a lifelike, full-color miniature figurine of the person. This was the first retail use of the booth in the United States.^[24][25]

Linens & More for Less opened at the mall in 2010, taking space formerly occupied by Linens 'n Things.^[26] Linens & More for Less closed in November 2012; its space was taken over in May 2013 by H. H. Gregg, which relocated from Miamisburg.^[27] On April 7, 2017, H. H. Gregg announced that the entire chain was going out of business, and the store closed that May.^[28][29]

On October 25, 2017, it was announced that the freestanding Sears Auto Center would be converted to an Outback Steakhouse and another unnamed tenant.^[30]

In December 2017, the mall gained Internet fame in a prank by Dan the Meme Man in which a teenager sleds down an escalator while a man posing as a security guard threatens to call police if he goes down, leading to a dramatic chase after he follows through. The viral video popularized the phrases "Sled gang" and "Eat ass, smoke grass, and sled fast".^[31]

On June 2, 2018, Macy's opened its off-price store concept, a 12,900-square-foot (1,200 m²) Macy's Backstage outlet, within its mall location.^{[32][33][34][35]}

On June 20, 2018, it was announced that a Ross Dress for Less would open in the former H. H. Gregg location; an opening date has not yet been specified.^[29]

On July 26, 2018, it was announced that The RoomPlace would open a home furniture store in the mall. Sources disagree as to the details. Trade magazine Furniture Today claims that a 51,000-square-foot (4,700 m²) store is scheduled to open around late summer 2019. Trade magazine Shopping Centers Today claims that the RoomPlace would move into an empty anchor store, however, mall owner Washington Prime Group's press release states that the store would be in newly-created inline space.^{[36][37][38][39]}

On August 22, 2018, Sears announced that its store would be closing as part of a plan to close 46 stores nationwide; the store will close in November 2018.^[40]

Elder-Beerman closed on August 29, 2018, due to the bankruptcy of parent company The Bon-Ton.^[41][42]

North side of the Dayton Mall

External links

• Dayton Mall website
• WP Glimcher

References

Coordinates: 39°38′02″N 84°13′14″W / 39.63395°N 84.22060°W / 39.63395; -84.22060