Meridian Mall is a super-regional shopping mall located in Okemos, Meridian Township, a suburb of Lansing, Michigan, United States. The mall is near Michigan State University. It opened in 1969, the same year that its main competitor, Lansing Mall, opened on the other end of the Lansing metropolitan area. Meridian Mall features about 125 stores plus a food court. Anchor stores include Dick's Sporting Goods, JCPenney, Macy's, and two Younkers stores. Meridian Mall is owned and managed by CBL & Associates Properties.
History
Meridian Mall was built by M.H. Hausman Company and opened to the public on November 6, 1969. The mall was built at the northwest corner of Grand River Avenue (M-43) and Marsh Road in Meridian Charter Township. Originally, the mall featured three anchor stores: Lansing-based J.W. Knapp Company (Knapp's), a Woolco discount store, and a G.C. Murphy dime store. Tenants at the time included a movie theater, Cunningham Drug, Hamady Brothers supermarket, Schensul's Cafeteria, and Elias Brothers Big Boy restaurant. In 1979, the Murphy store was closed and its space was divided into a new mall section consisting of twelve shops.
J. W. Knapp filed for bankruptcy in 1980 and sold three of its four stores to JCPenney: the location at Meridian Mall, plus another at Lansing Mall and a third at Westwood Mall in Jackson. These openings resulted in the closure of a JCPenney store in downtown Lansing. A new wing was added to the south end of Meridian Mall in 1982, bringing in Detroit-based Hudson's as a third anchor. Woolco closed later in 1982 as parent company F. W. Woolworth Company phased out the Woolco stores. A year later, the Woolco space was subdivided between a 50,000-square-foot (4,600Â m2) Service Merchandise catalog showroom and a new mall corridor with space for up to fifteen more tenants. A 1987 expansion added another new wing ending in a Mervyns department store. The store opened concurrently with seven others in the state, one of which was also located at Lansing Mall, as part of the chain's introduction to Michigan. This addition at Meridian Mall included more than ten new storefronts, including Lerner New York, LensCrafters, Babbage's, and new locations for Gantos and County Seat.
1990s-early 2000s
On August 27, 1998, CBL & Associates Properties acquired Meridian Mall from Samuels & Associates. Service Merchandise declared bankruptcy a year later. The former Service Merchandise was demolished for a two-story Jacobson's department store in 2000, replacing an existing Jacobson's in nearby East Lansing. In January 2000, the Meridian 4 East theaters was closed, while the Meridian 4 West continued operating until it was also closed in 2000.
Bed Bath & Beyond, Steve & Barry's, and Old Navy were added to the mall, along with a new food court and a Galyan's sporting goods store. At the time, this was the chain's closest location to a college campus (specifically, Michigan State University). Schuler Books & Music replaced the mall's original food court, having moved from a smaller store nearby. Also in 2001, Hudson's was renamed Marshall Field's by parent company Target Corporation.
Jacobson's declared bankruptcy in 2002 and closed. A year after closing, the former Jacobson's was converted to Younkers, which had also opened at Lansing Mall that same year. Due to space limitations in the old Jacobson's space, Younkers operated its men's and children's departments in a separate storefront adjacent to the former Jacobson's, and as a result, the mall's offices and Steve & Barry's were both relocated.
Mid 2000s-2010s
In 2004, Dick's Sporting Goods acquired and renamed all of the Galyan's stores. Two more changes came to the mall's anchors in 2006; first, in early 2006, Mervyns closed all of its Michigan stores, and later the same year, Marshall Field's was one of several chains to be acquired and renamed by Macy's. Younkers announced in 2007 that it would add a second store in the former Mervyns space. The second store, opened in September 2008, comprised the men's, children's and home goods departments, while the women's departments were retained at the existing Younkers.
The former Meridian Mall Outer 6 AMC movie theater, known as the Meridian Mall 6 since the closing of the East theaters, closed its doors on September 5, 2011. The theater reopened in December 2012 as Studio C!, offering drinks and made-to-order food ordered and served from patron's seats.
In late 2013, plans were approved to add H&M and Gordmans to the mall sometime in 2014. Planet Fitness and Shoe Carnival both opened in the Macy's wing in late 2013.
On April 29, 2017, Gordmans closed their Meridian Mall location due to bankruptcy.
References
External links
- Meridian Mall web site
