River Oaks Center

infobox shopping mall
shopping_mall_name = River Oaks Center


caption =
location = Calumet City, Illinois, USA
opening_date = October, 1966
developer = Philip M. Klutznick
manager = Simon Property Group
owner = Simon Property Group
number_of_stores = 140
number_of_anchors = 4
floor_area = 1.3 million ft²
floors = 1
website = http://www.shopriveroakscenter.com
parking =

River Oaks Center is located at the southeast corner of River Oaks Drive and Torrence Avenue in Calumet City, Illinois. River Oaks Center originally opened in 1966 and was a development of KLC Ventures, a firm that included pioneering developer Philip M. Klutznick and his son Tom. The elder Klutznick had developed Park Forest, Illinois after World War II, as well as Oakbrook Center in Oak Brook in 1959 and Old Orchard Shopping Center in Skokie in 1956.

River Oaks Center is the largest enclosed shopping mall in the south suburbs of Chicago, and the seventh largest in the metropolitan area totaling convert|1379824|sqft|m2|0.

History

River Oaks originally opened as an outdoor mall with one minor and two major department stores. The original anchors were Marshall Field's, which built a convert|275000|sqft|m2|-2|sing=on store, Sears, and Edward C. Minas Company. The Edward C. Minas Company later closed and was replaced by a Carson Pirie Scott store. The south end of the mall had a Jewel Food Store, which later closed and was replaced by a theatre and McDonald's. There was also an SS Kresge store next to Sears. Kresge's closed in the 1980s and was replaced with a movie theatre also.

Many of the stores in the mall in its first 20 years were outposts of Chicago retailers. Some of these included Chas A Stevens, Baskin, Lytton's, Paddor's, Florsheim Shoes, Evans Furs, Kroch’s and Brentano’s, and C.D. Peacock. All of these chains have now folded, the last being Evans which the River Oaks location was the last of its two stores to close. (C.D. Peacock has been resurrected but did not reopen its River Oaks store.) Some additional stores in the earlier years were Rosalee, Brooks, Gantos, Chandler's Shoes, Casual Corner, Benetton, Karroll's, Stuart's, Fannie May (still open), The Limited (open), GNC.

In 1984 the mall was expanded when JCPenney moved its store from downtown Hammond to the northwest portion of the mall's parking lot. The store was connected to the rest of the mall by a new row of shops.

A food court was added on the enclosed lower level of the mall. This was placed in the former John M. Smyth's Homemaker's space. This food court was labeled as the Tower Cafe. A large tower was built near center court marking the entrance to the food court. The entrance led to escalators and stairs leading down to the Tower Cafe. Some of the tenants here included Burgerville Junction, The French Baker, Mazzone's Italian, Cookie Co., One Potato Two, Wizzard's Ice Cream Magic, Hickory Farms, and Tape World. However, after two years the Tower Cafe closed due to lack of business.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s then owner JMB Corp. of Chicago had several plans to expand and enclose the outdoor mall. These plans included adding a second level and possibly a fifth department store at the end of the southeastern wing of the mall. These plans coincided with Chicago's Lake Calumet Airport which would have been just a few miles north of the mall and would have transformed the area around the mall into an office and business hub. However, these plans never materialized and finally in 1993 JMB began a smaller version of the redevelopment which included additional retail space and enclosing the common areas mall. The reconfiguration also modernized the layout of the mall putting stores closer together.

Current Anchors

*Carson Pirie Scott (convert|66737|sqft|m2|0|abbr=on)
*JCPenney (convert|139527|sqft|m2|0|abbr=on)
*Macy's (convert|263592|sqft|m2|0|abbr=on)
*River Oaks 6 Cinemas
*Sears (convert|364732|sqft|m2|0|abbr=on)
*Steve and Barry's (convert|23000|sqft|m2|-2|abbr=on)

Former Anchors

*Edward C. Minas & Co (convert|64000|sqft|m2|0|abbr=on) now Carson Pirie Scott
*Evan's later Maple Mysel's/Weiss Furs, now Steve and Barry's
*Jewel Food Store later Mc Donald's, theatres, now mall shops/partially vacant
*John M. Smyth's later Tower Cafe/original food court, now part of Westwood College
*Kresge's (convert|21122|sqft|m2|0|abbr=on) now Theatres, mall shops
*Marshall Field's (convert|263592|sqft|m2|0|abbr=on) now Macy's

Expansion/ Renovation

In 1994 the redevelopment was completed. The mall was enclosed and convert|80000|sqft|m2|-3 of gross leasable area was added. New retailers opened at the mall and the tenant mix became more upscale bringing in some retailers who had not yet located in the Southern Suburbs. These retailers included The Disney Store, Pacific Sunwear, H20 Plus, The Body Shop, Aeropostale, Limited Too, Nine West, The Bombay Company, GAP, Sweet Factory, Victoria's Secret, Gymboree, American Eagle, Mrs Fields, etc. The mall's size was brought up to 1.38 million square feet making it the largest mall in the South Suburbs. A new food court was added on the main level with nine food vendors. In 1997 the mall was sold to Simon Property Group of Indianapolis. Simon continues to own and manage this mall. The mall is currently anchored by Carson Pirie Scott, JCPenney, Macy's (formerly Marshall Field's), Sears, and a large office building with Westwood College as its major tenant in both the office building and in the former Tower Cafe space.

In January 2006 the Loews cinema at the mall closed when its lease expired. Several of the retailers who opened in 1994 have closed as well.

Surrounding Area

River Oaks WestOn the western side of Torrence Avenue is River Oaks West Mall. This was a smaller cousin of River Oaks Center built in the early 1970s also as an outdoor mall. Originally there were no anchor stores here, just a collection of smaller shops many facing an interior courtyard while others faced Torrence. There was also a movie theatre in the back of the mall and another on an outlot. TJ Maxx was the largest store here until 1986 when a Mainstreet (later Kohl's) built a store on the southern end of the mall, taking out a row of smaller shops and restaurants.Just to the north, but in the same parking lot was a Venture and an A&P grocery store. A & P (which had an entry to Venture inside) later closed and was replaced by a Marshalls store. Venture eventually went out of business as well in 1998 and became a Big Kmart and stayed that way until 2002. Several stores such as Bed Bath & Beyond, Old Navy and Michaels have all filled in the former Venture/Big K space.Today River Oaks West has evolved into a more traditional "power center" featuring mostly big box stores facing Torrence. As of December 2007 the movie theatre has been demolished, leaving only the smaller retailers such as GameStop and Walden Books. In early 2008 the former Kohl's Department store was demolished in order to make way for a new Sam's Club store that is slated to open in mid-2008, moving from it currently location in Lansing, IL.

The LandingsOn the south side of the Little Calumet River is another large shopping center called The Landings. The Landings is just across the border from Calumet City in the Village of Lansing. Built on a former driving range and mini-golf course, The Landings opened in 1987. This mall was at one time planned as an enclosed mall with a similar design as Orland Park Place in Orland Park, IL. However, this center was built as a "power center" with several large "big box" stores with smaller shops and restaurants. The original anchors of this center were Zayre, Highland Appliances, Service Merchandise, Cub Foods, Toys R Us, Kids R Us, Handy Andy, and Designer Depot. Many other retailers have come and gone including Montgomery Ward, Jo Ann, F&M, TJ Maxx, and Petco (which relocated to River Oaks West), though this center continues to do well today.

References

1. http://nwitimes.com/articles/2007/07/29/news/illiana/doc24de7630f1b7095b862573260080a2e3.txt2. http://nwitimes.com/articles/1994/03/06/export176632.txt