Meridian Mall
Encyclopedia
Meridian Mall is a super-regional shopping mall
located in Meridian Township
, a suburb of Lansing, Michigan
, United States
. The mall is near Michigan State University
. It opened in 1969, the same year that its main competitor, Lansing Mall
, opened on the other end of the Lansing metropolitan area. Meridian Mall features about 125 stores plus a food court
. Anchor store
s include JCPenney, Macy's
and two Younkers
stores, with other major tenants including Schuler Books & Music
, Bed Bath & Beyond
, Dick's Sporting Goods
and Old Navy
. Meridian Mall is owned and managed by CBL & Associates Properties.
) and Marsh Road in Meridian Charter Township. Originally, the mall was a straight line of stores with an anchor store on either end: discount chain Woolco
at the east, and local chain Knapp's
at the west, with a G.C. Murphy dime store in the middle. Meridian Mall also included a four-screen movie theater near center court, and a supermarket near Woolco. Two years later, a second set of theatres (known as the Meridian 4 East) opened in the former supermarket space, and the older theater complex in the mall was re-named Meridian 4 West. A third movie theater was eventually opened in the parking lot as well. Other retail stores soon began opening along Grand River Avenue near the mall, including Kmart
(which closed in 1995 and was replaced with Best Buy
) and Meijer
.
Knapp's closed all of its stores in 1980, and its store at Meridian Mall was sold to JCPenney, which had also acquired Knapp's at Lansing Mall
on the other end of Lansing. A new wing was added to the south end of Meridian Mall in 1982, bringing in local chain Hudson's as a third anchor. Woolco closed later that same year, and its space was eventually divided among a Service Merchandise
catalog showroom, a new food court
, and additional retail space. In 1987, the mall was expanded again, with a new northern wing ending in a Mervyns
department store. The 1980s also brought further expansion to the retail around the mall, with a strip mall anchored by Target
opening on the other side of Marsh Road.
declared bankruptcy a year later. The former Service Merchandise
was demolished for a two-story Jacobson's department store in 2000, replacing an existing Jacobson's in nearby East Lansing
which was closed and converted to a Barnes & Noble
bookstore. Around 2000, the Meridian 4 West theaters closed and was converted to mall space, while the East theater complex remained open for a longer time.
Bed Bath & Beyond
, Steve & Barry's
and Old Navy
were added to the mall in the early 2000s, while MC Sports was closed. The former MC Sports was soon demolished for a new wing angling off the center court. This wing featured a new food court with new restaurants such as A&W
and Blimpie
, as well as a Galyan's sporting goods store, which opened in August 2001. At the time, this was the chain's closest location to a college campus (specifically, Michigan State University
). Schuler Books & Music
subsequently replaced the mall's former food court, having moved from a smaller store nearby. Also in 2001, Hudson's was renamed Marshall Field's by parent company Target Corporation
.
Jacobson's declared bankruptcy in 2002 and closed. A year after closing, the former Jacobson's was converted to Younkers
, which had also opened at Lansing Mall
that same year. Due to space limitations in the old Jacobson's space, Younkers operated its men's and children's departments in a separate storefront adjacent to the former Jacobson's, and as a result, the mall's offices and Steve & Barry's were both relocated.
The mall's second theater complex, Meridian 4 East, closed in 2003 and was converted to retail space. Also, in 2004, Dick's Sporting Goods
acquired and renamed all of the Galyan's stores. Two more changes came to the mall's anchors in 2006; first, in early 2006, Mervyns closed all of its Michigan stores, and later the same year, Marshall Field's was one of several chains to be acquired and renamed by Macy's
.
Younkers announced in 2007 that it would add a second store in the former Mervyns space. The second store, opened in September 2008, comprised the men's, children's and home goods departments, while the women's departments were retained at the existing Younkers.
(CATA). It is the eastern terminus of CATA's Route 1 (running along Grand River Avenue
and Michigan Avenue to downtown Lansing), Route 22 (to MSU via Haslett
), and Route 23 (to MSU via Okemos
). It is also served by the CATA Rural Service.
42.724885°N 84.418774°W
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
located in Meridian Township
Meridian Charter Township, Michigan
Meridian Charter Township is a charter township of Ingham County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census the township had a population of 39,688. Meridian Township is the local government unit that includes the unincorporated communities and census-designated places of Okemos and...
, a suburb of Lansing, Michigan
Lansing, Michigan
Lansing is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located mostly in Ingham County, although small portions of the city extend into Eaton County. The 2010 Census places the city's population at 114,297, making it the fifth largest city in Michigan...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The mall is near Michigan State University
Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
. It opened in 1969, the same year that its main competitor, Lansing Mall
Lansing Mall
Lansing Mall is an enclosed shopping mall located in Delta Charter Township, Michigan, United States, just outside Lansing, the state capital of Michigan. Opened in July 1969, the mall comprises of gross leasable area, with more than 100 stores and restaurants, as well as a food court. Anchor...
, opened on the other end of the Lansing metropolitan area. Meridian Mall features about 125 stores plus a food court
Food court
A food court is generally an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food vendors and provides a common area for self-serve dining. Food courts may be found in shopping malls and airports, and in various regions may be a standalone development...
. Anchor store
Anchor store
In retail, an anchor store, draw tenant, anchor tenant, or key tenant is one of the larger stores in a shopping mall, usually a department store or a major retail chain....
s include JCPenney, Macy's
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
and two Younkers
Younkers
Younkers is an American department store chain founded as a family-run dry goods business in 1856 in Keokuk, Iowa. The retailer has since evolved over more than 150 years to include a presence in locations throughout Iowa and surrounding states in the Midwest region of the United States...
stores, with other major tenants including Schuler Books & Music
Schuler Books & Music
Schuler Books & Music, formerly known as simply Schuler Books, is a small Michigan chain of bookstores. Along with books, DVDs, and music CDs, the stores also sell food and beverages at its in store cafes. Founded in 1982, it has since become one of the largest independent bookstores in the nation...
, Bed Bath & Beyond
Bed Bath & Beyond
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. was formed in 1971 and today operates a chain of domestic merchandise retail stores across United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. They feature mostly medium-ranged, but also a limited selection of high quality, domestic merchandise: items for the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen,...
, Dick's Sporting Goods
Dick's Sporting Goods
Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc. , or Dick's, is a Fortune 500 American corporation in the sporting goods and retail industries.The company's headquarters are on the grounds of Pittsburgh International Airport in Findlay Township near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Dick's has 451 stores in 42 states as of...
and Old Navy
Old Navy
Old Navy is an American clothing brand as well as a chain of stores owned by Gap, Inc., with corporate operations in San Francisco and San Bruno, California. It is one of the first major corporations to house headquarters in the new Mission Bay district of San Francisco.Gap, Inc. was run by...
. Meridian Mall is owned and managed by CBL & Associates Properties.
History
Meridian Mall opened in 1969. The mall was built at the northwest corner of Grand River Avenue (M-43M-43 (Michigan highway)
M-43 is a state trunkline highway in southwestern and central parts of the US state of Michigan. The highway runs from South Haven to Webberville along an indirect path through both rural areas and larger cities...
) and Marsh Road in Meridian Charter Township. Originally, the mall was a straight line of stores with an anchor store on either end: discount chain Woolco
Woolco
Woolco was an American-based discount retail chain. It was founded in 1962 in the city of Columbus, Ohio, by the F.W. Woolworth Company. It was a full-line discount department store unlike the five-and-dime Woolworth stores which operated at the time. At its peak, Woolco had hundreds of stores in...
at the east, and local chain Knapp's
Knapp's
The J.W. Knapp Company, more commonly known as "Knapp's", was a chain of department stores based in Lansing, Michigan.-History:In 1893, Joseph W. Knapp, a salesman originally from Hillsdale, Michigan opened a dry-goods, coat and carpet store in Albion, Michigan in partnership with Frank W. Jewett,...
at the west, with a G.C. Murphy dime store in the middle. Meridian Mall also included a four-screen movie theater near center court, and a supermarket near Woolco. Two years later, a second set of theatres (known as the Meridian 4 East) opened in the former supermarket space, and the older theater complex in the mall was re-named Meridian 4 West. A third movie theater was eventually opened in the parking lot as well. Other retail stores soon began opening along Grand River Avenue near the mall, including Kmart
Kmart
Kmart, sometimes styled as "K-Mart," is a chain of discount department stores. The chain acquired Sears in 2005, forming a new corporation under the name Sears Holdings Corporation. The company was founded in 1962 and is the third largest discount store chain in the world, behind Wal-Mart and...
(which closed in 1995 and was replaced with Best Buy
Best Buy
Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United States, accounting for 19% of the market. It also operates in Mexico, Canada & China. The company's subsidiaries include Geek Squad, CinemaNow, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and, in Canada operates...
) and Meijer
Meijer
Meijer, Inc. is a regional American hypermarket chain based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Founded in 1934 as a supermarket chain, Meijer is credited with pioneering the modern supercenter concept in 1962. About half of the company's 196 stores are located in Michigan, with additional locations in...
.
Knapp's closed all of its stores in 1980, and its store at Meridian Mall was sold to JCPenney, which had also acquired Knapp's at Lansing Mall
Lansing Mall
Lansing Mall is an enclosed shopping mall located in Delta Charter Township, Michigan, United States, just outside Lansing, the state capital of Michigan. Opened in July 1969, the mall comprises of gross leasable area, with more than 100 stores and restaurants, as well as a food court. Anchor...
on the other end of Lansing. A new wing was added to the south end of Meridian Mall in 1982, bringing in local chain Hudson's as a third anchor. Woolco closed later that same year, and its space was eventually divided among a Service Merchandise
Service Merchandise
Service Merchandise is an online retailer and former retailer chain of catalog showroom stores carrying fine jewelry, toys, sporting goods, and electronics that existed for 68 years...
catalog showroom, a new food court
Food court
A food court is generally an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food vendors and provides a common area for self-serve dining. Food courts may be found in shopping malls and airports, and in various regions may be a standalone development...
, and additional retail space. In 1987, the mall was expanded again, with a new northern wing ending in a Mervyns
Mervyns
Mervyns was an American middle scale department store chain based in Hayward, California. It carried national brands of clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics, and housewares. Many of the company's stores were in shopping malls...
department store. The 1980s also brought further expansion to the retail around the mall, with a strip mall anchored by Target
Target Corporation
Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
opening on the other side of Marsh Road.
1990s and 2000s
On August 27, 1998, CBL & Associates Properties acquired Meridian Mall from Samuels & Associates. Service MerchandiseService Merchandise
Service Merchandise is an online retailer and former retailer chain of catalog showroom stores carrying fine jewelry, toys, sporting goods, and electronics that existed for 68 years...
declared bankruptcy a year later. The former Service Merchandise
Service Merchandise
Service Merchandise is an online retailer and former retailer chain of catalog showroom stores carrying fine jewelry, toys, sporting goods, and electronics that existed for 68 years...
was demolished for a two-story Jacobson's department store in 2000, replacing an existing Jacobson's in nearby East Lansing
East Lansing, Michigan
East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located directly east of Lansing, Michigan, the state's capital. Most of the city is within Ingham County, though a small portion lies in Clinton County. The population was 48,579 at the time of the 2010 census, an increase from...
which was closed and converted to a Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble, Inc. is the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered at 122 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District in Manhattan in New York City. Barnes & Noble also operated the chain of small B. Dalton...
bookstore. Around 2000, the Meridian 4 West theaters closed and was converted to mall space, while the East theater complex remained open for a longer time.
Bed Bath & Beyond
Bed Bath & Beyond
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. was formed in 1971 and today operates a chain of domestic merchandise retail stores across United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. They feature mostly medium-ranged, but also a limited selection of high quality, domestic merchandise: items for the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen,...
, Steve & Barry's
Steve & Barry's
Steve & Barry's was an American retail clothing chain, featuring casual apparel. By mid-2008, the chain operated 276 stores in 39 states. The company was headquartered in Port Washington, New York. The company liquidated all of its stores throughout 2008....
and Old Navy
Old Navy
Old Navy is an American clothing brand as well as a chain of stores owned by Gap, Inc., with corporate operations in San Francisco and San Bruno, California. It is one of the first major corporations to house headquarters in the new Mission Bay district of San Francisco.Gap, Inc. was run by...
were added to the mall in the early 2000s, while MC Sports was closed. The former MC Sports was soon demolished for a new wing angling off the center court. This wing featured a new food court with new restaurants such as A&W
A&W Restaurants
A&W Restaurants, Inc., is a chain of fast-food restaurants, distinguished by its draft root beer and root beer floats. A&W was arguably the first successful food franchise company, starting franchises in 1921 in California. Today it has franchise locations throughout the world, serving a typical...
and Blimpie
Blimpie
Blimpie is a submarine sandwich chain in the United States. The company is based in Scottsdale, Arizona.The first Blimpie store was opened in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1964. . By mid-2002, there were about 2,000 Blimpie outlets in operation, located in 47 U.S...
, as well as a Galyan's sporting goods store, which opened in August 2001. At the time, this was the chain's closest location to a college campus (specifically, Michigan State University
Michigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
). Schuler Books & Music
Schuler Books & Music
Schuler Books & Music, formerly known as simply Schuler Books, is a small Michigan chain of bookstores. Along with books, DVDs, and music CDs, the stores also sell food and beverages at its in store cafes. Founded in 1982, it has since become one of the largest independent bookstores in the nation...
subsequently replaced the mall's former food court, having moved from a smaller store nearby. Also in 2001, Hudson's was renamed Marshall Field's by parent company Target Corporation
Target Corporation
Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
.
Jacobson's declared bankruptcy in 2002 and closed. A year after closing, the former Jacobson's was converted to Younkers
Younkers
Younkers is an American department store chain founded as a family-run dry goods business in 1856 in Keokuk, Iowa. The retailer has since evolved over more than 150 years to include a presence in locations throughout Iowa and surrounding states in the Midwest region of the United States...
, which had also opened at Lansing Mall
Lansing Mall
Lansing Mall is an enclosed shopping mall located in Delta Charter Township, Michigan, United States, just outside Lansing, the state capital of Michigan. Opened in July 1969, the mall comprises of gross leasable area, with more than 100 stores and restaurants, as well as a food court. Anchor...
that same year. Due to space limitations in the old Jacobson's space, Younkers operated its men's and children's departments in a separate storefront adjacent to the former Jacobson's, and as a result, the mall's offices and Steve & Barry's were both relocated.
The mall's second theater complex, Meridian 4 East, closed in 2003 and was converted to retail space. Also, in 2004, Dick's Sporting Goods
Dick's Sporting Goods
Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc. , or Dick's, is a Fortune 500 American corporation in the sporting goods and retail industries.The company's headquarters are on the grounds of Pittsburgh International Airport in Findlay Township near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Dick's has 451 stores in 42 states as of...
acquired and renamed all of the Galyan's stores. Two more changes came to the mall's anchors in 2006; first, in early 2006, Mervyns closed all of its Michigan stores, and later the same year, Marshall Field's was one of several chains to be acquired and renamed by Macy's
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
.
Younkers announced in 2007 that it would add a second store in the former Mervyns space. The second store, opened in September 2008, comprised the men's, children's and home goods departments, while the women's departments were retained at the existing Younkers.
2010 and Beyond
The former Meridian Mall Outer 6 AMC movie theater, known as the Meridian Mall 6 since the closing of the East theaters, closed its doors on September 5, 2011.Transportation
Meridian Mall serves as a hub for the Capital Area Transportation AuthorityCapital Area Transportation Authority
The Capital Area Transportation Authority provides mass transit bus service and paratransit within the metro Lansing, Michigan area including Michigan State University .- CATA system :...
(CATA). It is the eastern terminus of CATA's Route 1 (running along Grand River Avenue
Grand River Avenue
US Highway 16 , also called Grand River Avenue for much of its length, is one of the principal pre-Interstate roads in the state of Michigan. Before the creation of the United States Numbered Highway System in 1926, the highway had been designated M-16...
and Michigan Avenue to downtown Lansing), Route 22 (to MSU via Haslett
Haslett, Michigan
Haslett is an unincorporated community in Ingham County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a census-designated place used for statistical purposes. The population was 11,283 at the 2000 census. Though it has its own school district and post office , Haslett is administered by Meridian Charter...
), and Route 23 (to MSU via Okemos
Okemos, Michigan
Okemos is an unincorporated community in Meridian Charter Township, Ingham County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a census-designated place for statistical purposes and does not have any separate legal existence as a municipality. Local government is provided by the township...
). It is also served by the CATA Rural Service.
External links
42.724885°N 84.418774°W