Westland Mall (Columbus)

Infobox shopping mall
shopping_mall_name = Westland Mall


caption =
location = Columbus, Ohio
opening_date = 1969 (enclosed 1983)
developer =
manager = Cyndi L. Perkins, General Manager
owner = The Krone Group, LLC
number_of_stores = ~60
number_of_anchors = 1
floor_area = 860,000 ft²
floors = 1 (2 in anchors)
parking =
website = http://www.westlandmallcolumbus.com/

Westland Mall is an 860,000 square-foot shopping center located on the west side of Columbus, Ohio, at the western intersection of U.S. Route 40 and Interstate 270. It opened in February 1969 as an open-air shopping center, and was enclosed in 1982. The original anchor stores were Lazarus, Sears, and JCPenney, as well as Woolworth which acted as a secondary anchor.

The Lazarus store, the chain's first suburban operation, had opened as a free-standing location in 1962. The Sears and J.C. Penney were built, along with the mall, in 1967-1969. Westland was one of four directionally-named shopping centers in Columbus, along with Northland (the original mall in Columbus, closed in 2002 and demolished in 2004), Eastland (still in operation), and Southland (a smaller discount-style mall, now closed).

Although considered a major landmark in the Columbus area, Westland Mall has faced many challenges in more recent years. It was negatively affected by the opening of the nearby Tuttle Crossing in 1997, which attracted many customers that may have otherwise shopped at Westland. In particular, JCPenney abandoned Westland for Tuttle, giving the latter an advantage in that it had four anchor stores at the time while Westland only had two. The former JCPenney store at Westland is now used for community events hosted by the mall, including a gun show and an annual manufacturer-closeout sale. The Woolworth store, which closed with most of the chain in 1997, became a Staples and no longer has mall access. Other major stores, such as Express and The Limited, also left Westland, motivated both by shifting economic fortunes in Columbus as well as an increase in crime around the Westland area. The Lazarus store was converted to Lazarus-Macy's in 2003, and subsequently to Macy's in 2005; this store was closed in 2007 and is currently vacant.

Anchors

*Sears 1969 to present (176,917 sq. ft.)

Former Anchors

*Lazarus 1962-2003 [rebranded as Lazarus-Macy's in 2003; Macy's in 2005] (211,740 sq. ft.)
*Macy's 2005-2007
*JC Penney 1969-1997 (104,832 sq. ft.)

External links

* [http://www.westlandmallcolumbus.com/ Westland Mall Official Site]