Northwoods Mall (Illinois)

Northwoods Mall is an enclosed shopping mall in Peoria, Illinois. It is situated at the corner of Scenic Drive and U.S. Route 150 (West War Memorial Drive). It opened in 1973 and features JCPenney, Round 1 Entertainment, and TheRoomPlace as its anchor stores.

Northwoods Mall
Northwoods and adjacent I-74/U.S. 150 interchange, 1974
LocationPeoria, Illinois, United States
Coordinates40°44′27″N 89°37′45″W
Address2200 W. War Memorial Dr. (formerly 4501 N. War Memorial Dr.)
Opening date1973
DeveloperMelvin Simon & Associates
OwnerWashington Prime Group
No. of stores and services90
No. of anchor tenants4 (3 open, 1 vacant)
Total retail floor area694,000 sq ft (64,500 m2)[1]
No. of floors2

History

Northwoods Mall opened in 1973[1] and was designed by architects Sidney H. Morris & Associates of Chicago, with Harold Carson Associates as the manager. The original anchor stores upon opening were Montgomery Ward, Carson Pirie Scott (shortened later to Carson's), and JCPenney. Original tenants included B. Dalton, Claire's, GNC, a Fannie May candy shop, a bank, Brown's Sporting Goods, and several restaurants.[2]

The mall was sold to Simon Property Group in 1983.[2] Carson's closed that same year and was replaced two years later by Famous-Barr.[3] Also in 1983, a botulism outbreak at the mall's Skewer Inn restaurant affected 28 customers.[2]

Montgomery Ward closed its store in the mall in 1997,[4] and Sears occupied its space a year later.[5][2] A 2005 renovation added a food court.[6] The Famous-Barr store was re-branded as Macy's in 2006,[7] and closed in 2016. In 2017, Round One Entertainment moved into part of the vacant Macy's store on the 1st floor which opened on November 18, 2017. In 2018, it was announced that The RoomPlace would move into the rest of the half vacant Macy's store on the 2nd floor which opened on May 11, 2018. On May 25, 2018 a Peoria police substation opened at the mall which is located on the upper level close to Sears. On August 24, 2018 it was announced that Hibbett Sports will open on September 15, 2018. The new store will open on the upper level close to Sears. On September 25, 2018 it was announced that a new store Go! Calendars, Games and Toys opened a few days ago. The space was once occupied by Hallmark Cards. On November 1, 2018 it was announced that an indoor Knockerball facility would open. The facility will open on the upper level next to Sears and will be open to the public as well as hosting private events. On November 20, 2018 it was announced that Forever 21 would open in the mall in summer 2020 but it might not ever open because of its bankruptcy. On November 7, 2019 it was announced that Sears will close in February 2020 as part of a plan to close 96 stores nationwide.[8] After Sears closed, JCPenney became the one and only remaining anchor store left. Sears closed on February 16, 2020.

References
  1. "Norwoods Mall : Home PAge" (PDF). Simon.com. Retrieved 2013-10-06.
  2. "40 years of Northwoods Mall". The Peoria Chronicle. July 8, 2013. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  3. "Retailing". Pqasb.pqarchiver.com. 1984-10-31. Retrieved 2013-10-06.
  4. "Pantagraph.com | Archive". Nl.newsbank.com. 1997-09-05. Retrieved 2013-10-06.
  5. "Pantagraph.com | Archive". Nl.newsbank.com. 1997-09-12. Retrieved 2013-10-06.
  6. "DailyDigest". Highbeam.com. Archived from the original on 2015-03-29. Retrieved 2013-10-06.
  7. "Merger brings Macy's to Peoria, Ill". Highbeam.com. Archived from the original on 2015-03-29. Retrieved 2013-10-06.
  8. Tyko, Kelly; Bomey, Nathan (November 7, 2019). "Sears and Kmart store closings: 51 Sears, 45 Kmart locations to shutter. See the list". USA Today. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
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