Rolling Acres Mall

infobox shopping mall
shopping_mall_name = Rolling Acres Mall

---

image_width = 200
caption = Façade of former Kaufmanns (later Macy's; now closed) at Rolling Acres Mall
location = Akron, Ohio, USA
coordinates = coord|41.0488|N|81.5839|W|display=inline,title
opening_date = August 6, 1975
developer = Forest City Enterprises and R.B. Buchholzer
manager = Invest Commercial LLC
owner = Invest Commercial LLC
number_of_stores = 140 +/- (at maximum capacity); [ http://rollingacres.org/page.php?3 Rolling Acres Mall Store Count Graph 1975-2004 Retrieved November 12, 2006. ]
number_of_anchors = 2 (operating); 5 (at maximum capacity)
floor_area = 1,300,000 ft² (approx.)
floors = 2
website = http://www.rollingacresmall.net
parking = 7,500 [ Byard, Katie. "Enjoy your mall while you shop 'til you drop."Akron Beacon Journal. 27 August 1987: E7. ]

Rolling Acres Mall is a retail mall located in the Rolling Acres area of Akron, Ohio. Once one of the most premier malls in the region, it is now considered a dead mall.

History

*1975: Rolling Acres Mall opens in Akron, Ohio with Sears and 21 stores on August 6. It is developed and owned by Forest City Enterprises. By year's end the mall has 50 stores and it would keep growing.
*1976: JCPenney opens.
*1977: The Court of Aquarius and Montgomery Ward open. The Court of Aquarius features a large aquarium, which is later removed.
*1978: A large "Promenade"-themed wing opens. This wing is two levels and features the "Prom-N-Eat" food court, a large fountain, and O'Neil's. A fifth department store is planned. A three-screen General Cinema movie theater opens.
*1984: The mall hits a peak at 140 stores.
*1985: The mall remodels, dropping the previous earth-tone look for pastel tints, a la Miami Vice. The food court is renamed "Picnic Place", with a vague Victorian look.
*1986: Montgomery Ward closes and becomes Higbee's.
*1989: O'Neil's is merged into the May Company Ohio branch, changing the store's nameplate.
*1991: The mall struggles with violence. In a cost cutting measure, Rolling Acres stopped using off duty police officers and instead relied on cheaper security guards. [Hoiles, Robert. "Mall Balks at Pay Hike." Akron Beacon Journal. 1 February, 1991: B1.] During a showing of "New Jack City", two movie patrons got into a fight outside of the cinema. In the scuffle, a metal sign was knocked down. People in the area believed it to be a gunshot, and a panicked crown ran through the mall, sausing nearby anchors May Co. and J.C. Penny to close their gates. Rumors of a shooting continued to plague the mall. [cite news|title=' GUNSHOT' SOUND PANICS SCORES AT MALL|last=McMahan|first=Kim|coauthors=Katherine Spitz|url=http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=NewsBank&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=0EB62C853567EFB7&d_place=ABJB&f_subsection=sMETRO&f_issue=1991-03-10&f_publisher=|work=Akron Beacon Journal|date=1991-03-10|page=E16] [cite news|last=Ethridge|first=Mary|title=ROLLING ACRES PUTS SECURITY ON DISPLAY MALL PROMOTES SAFETY AS IT WORKS TO CHANGE ITS IMAGE|url=http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=NewsBank&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=0EB6BE57657F89FF&d_place=ABJB&f_subsection=sBUSINESS&f_issue=1996-03-31&f_publisher=|work=Akron Beacon Journal|date=1996-03-31|page=E1] http://cinematreasures.org/theater/15322/]
*1992: Higbee's is absorbed into the Dillard's nameplate. It later becomes a Clearance Center. Around this time, the mall loses many tenants during this time as stores close or merge out of existence.
*1993: May Company Ohio becomes Kaufmann's. General Cinema closes the Cinema for the first time.
*1995: Target added as fifth anchor store. Around this time, the JCPenney becomes an outlet store.
*1997: Summit Mall is bought by Simon Property Group and is extensively renovated.
*2000: The mall is sold to Bankers Trust [ [http://www.alacrastore.com/storecontent/Thomson_M&A/Bankers_Trust_Corp_acquires_Rolling_Acres_Mall_from_Forest_City_Enterprises_Inc-967408020 Alacrastone.com] ] who give the mall a new logo, a new website, and a new entrance. A few new stores open, and the cinema reopens by an independent group calling itself "Blind Squirrel Cinema".
*2002: The cinema closes for the second time.
*November 2003: The cinema reopens again. This time, the cinema shows first-run movies at discount prices.
*February 2006: Target closes.
*August 2006: Dillard's Clearance Center closes.
*September 2006: Kaufmann's becomes Macy's.
*April 2007: Dollar General, one of the few remaining concourse stores, moves out.
*December 2007: Macy's announces it will close it's Rolling Acres store. [http://blog.cleveland.com/business/2007/12/macys_to_close_three_stores_in.html]
*February 2008: Macy's closes.
*March 2008: The website goes down for good.
*May 2008: Many former store/mall fixtures are auctioned off.
*August 2008: The mall cinema closes once again. Last shows include Meet Dave, Hancock, The Dark Knight, and midnight showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. [http://www.rollingacrescinema.net/]

Ownership

After being sold by its developer, Forest City Enterprises of Cleveland, Rolling Acres Mall has since changed hands several times. It was in the hands of the Whichard family, known for buying malls and then flipping them for a profit. However, even Whichard had problems attracting major players. Invest Commercial LLC, a real estate developer from California bought the facility in July 2006. [ http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/14990476.htm Rolling Acres Mall sold for $1.7 million ] A number of employees were immediately fired. The future of the site remains unknown. Although Invest Commercial now owns the enclosed mall, concourses, and the Dillards facility, they do not own the other four anchors' buildings. This could become a problem in regards to the redevelopment of the site.

References

External links

* [http://deadmalls.com/features/rolling_acres_mall.html Rolling Acres Mall on DeadMalls.com]
* [http://rollingacres.org/ RollingAcres.org]

* [http://labelscar.com/ohio/rolling-acres-mall Rolling Acres Mall on Labelscar]