Randall Park Mall was a two-level shopping mall 14.5 miles (23.4 km) southeast of downtown Cleveland, Ohio, between Miles Road, Warrensville Center Road and Northfield Road in North Randall, a suburb of Cleveland. The mall had six anchors which once housed Sears, JCPenney, Dillard's, Macy's, Burlington Coat Factory, and LaSalle Furniture.
Mall History[]
On August 11, 1976, Randall Park Mall opened on the former lot of Randall Park Race Track. The mall opened with five anchors and the original anchors were Sears, JCPenney, Horne's, May Company, and Higbee's. Halle's had plans to open up an anchor at the mall but went out of business in 1982 before they could do so. The mall also had a three-screen cinema opened by General Cinema in 1976. The cinema then became a second-run theater in 1991, and closed in 1993. After that, it was used for storage for Diamond's Men's Store up until that stores closure. Randall Park claimed the title of world's biggest shopping mall when it opened, but the title didn't last very long. In 1992, DeBartolo announced major remerchandising plans.
Decline[]
Decline started due to two nearby malls opening not far from Randall Park Mall. Those malls were Great Northern Mall in North Olmsted and Euclid Square Mall in Euclid. But major decline began in 1994 when Edward J. DeBartolo died. Two years after DeBartolo's death, DeBartolo Realty Corporation merged with competitor Simon Property Group to form Simon DeBartolo Group, gaining ownership of Randall Park. In 1995, the mall's occupancy was 73%, which was well below the national average of 85%. However by 2000, that figure had reached 92%, fostering hopes of recovery for the institution. In 1992, Horne's closed their store due to bankruptcy and was vacant for three years. That same year, Higbee's closed and was converted into Dillard's. In 1993, May Company closed and was converted into Kaufmann's. In 1995, the former Horne's space was converted into LaSalle Furniture and the upper level was converted into Burlington Coat Factory. In October 1998, JCPenney was converted into an outlet store, but closed in January 2001 due to falling sales and as a result of closures of 44 locations nationwide. Dillard's closed their Randall Park store in March 2003, shortly after an incident where an off duty police officer, who was moonlighting as a security guard, apprehended a suspected shoplifter and injured him by slamming his head on the floor. The suspect died in the hospital two days later. In May 2003, two months after the closure of the Dillard's store, the security was sentenced to three years in prison for murdering the suspect. By 2004, about 50% of the mall was vacant, including the former Dillard's and JCPenney. The infrastructure was physically dilapidated, and many area residents viewed the mall as unsafe. Many of the vacant store fronts were completely walled off and the escalators and fountains were shut off. In 2004, Simon sold Randall Park to investor Haywood Whichard for $6 million. As the mall declined, the stores and building around it did so too. In 2006, Kaufmann's was converted to Macy's. In June 2007, it was announced that Cleveland-based trade school, Ohio Technical College, would acquire more than 200,000 square feet of space at the mall. The school's PowerSports Institute occupied the former JCPenney and Firestone space. Macy's closed their Randall Park store in March 2008. On March 12, 2009, Randall Park Mall shut down for good leaving only a few outdoor stores open. In May, 2009 all of the power inside the mall shut down leaving the inside of the mall abandoned. In June 2009, Sears closed their Randall Park store. In January 2015, Burlington Coat Factory closed down.
Demolition/Amazon Opening[]
On August 25, 2017, the entire Randall Park Mall building except for the former Sears was completely demolished as Amazon had plans to open a warehouse. Amazon opened their 855,000 square foot warehouse in 2018 which brought over 2,000 full-time jobs to the region.
Randall Park Mall Now (With Amazon)