Belvidere Mall

infobox shopping mall
shopping_mall_name = Belvidere Discount Mall


caption =
location = Waukegan, Illinois, USA
opening_date = 1965
closing_date =
developer = Judy Masterson
manager =
owner = Imperial Realty
number_of_stores = N/A
number_of_anchors = 1
floor_area = N/A
floors = 1
status = Open

Belvidere Mall is a small shopping mall located in Waukegan, IL, and was one of the first shopping malls in Chicago area. Its main anchor store is a Home Depot.

History

Belvidere opened in 1965 and was Lake County's first enclosed shopping mall. [Judy Masterson, "Realtor helped develop Waukegan", Chicago Sun-Times (IL), December 31, 2005, found at [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=CSTB&p_theme=cstb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=10ED94FE4B81C530&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM Google archives article] . Accessed December 12, 2007.] The mall has been renovated twice, in 1985 and again in 1998. The main anchor is a Home Depot, which was originally a Montgomery Ward and a Builder's Square. The mall is currently owned by Imperial Realty. As part of the 1998 renovation, the mall was renamed Belvidere Discount Mall. Today it is partially an indoor mall and a retail strip center.

Belvidere Cinema opened inside the mall in the 1960s. It was a one-screen theater that was operated by General Cinema, and later Village Theaters, the same owners of the nearby Lakehurst Cinema. Village closed the cinema in 2004 or 2005. [ [http://cinematreasures.org/theater/16224/ Cinema Treasures web site] ] [ [http://www.cinematour.com/tour.php?db=us&id=6433 Cinema Tour web site] ]

Competition with Lakehurst Mall

In 1971, a much larger mall opened minutes away from Belvidere, Lakehurst Mall, a mall more than thrice the size of Belvidere. When Lakehurst opened, many predicted that Belvedere would close down. Montgomery Ward moved out of Belvedere to Lakehurst. Eventually, the Wards store was expanded and became a Builder's Square, and then The Home Depot which it is now. Lakehurst has since been demolished.

External links

* [http://www.imperial-realty.com/WABelvedereMall.htm Imperial Realty's Belvidere Mall site]
* [http://www.freewebs.com/jlrev/belvideremall.htm Belvidere Mall commentary]

References