The Eastfield Mall is a shopping mall in
Springfield, Massachusetts, which is owned by Mountain Development Corporation, and was built in late 1967 by the Rouse Company. The three anchors,
JCPenney
Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gir ...
,
Macy's
Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...
, and
Sears
Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...
closed in 2011, 2016, and 2018, respectively. The movie theater,
Cinemark closed in 2020. The mall is managed by Mountain Development.
History
Eastfield Mall opened in 1967 with three anchors, two of which were local department stores:
Forbes & Wallace and
Steiger's.
The third anchor store,
Sears
Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...
, also opened with the mall. Forbes & Wallace closed in 1975 leaving the space vacant, it was eventually sold to
JCPenney
Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gir ...
, which moved into the former space. In 1994,
Filene's
Filene's (formally William Filene & Sons Co.) was an American department store chain; it was founded by William Filene in 1881. The success of the original full-line store in Boston, Massachusetts, was supplemented by the foundation of its off-p ...
, whose parent company
May Department Stores
The May Department Stores Company was an American department store holding company, formerly headquartered in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. It was founded in Leadville, Colorado, by David May in 1877, moving to St. Louis in 1905. After many c ...
had bought Steiger's moved into their old space.
This store became
Macy's
Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...
in 2006 after
May
May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the third of seven months to have a length of 31 days.
May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, May ...
was purchased by
Federated Department Stores
Macy's, Inc. (originally Federated Department Stores, Inc.) is an American conglomerate holding company. Upon its establishment, Federated held ownership of the regional department store chains Abraham & Straus, Lazarus, Filene's, and Shillito ...
(Macy's parent company at the time). The 16 screen movie theater was added in 2000 and was initially a Showcase Cinemas. The theater later became owned by
Cinemark.
The addition of a
Steve & Barry's clothing store in 2006 put the mall at full occupancy for the first time since 1978. The store displaced nine smaller retail outlets, of which only two relocated within the mall. This store closed in 2008 following the chain's bankruptcy proceedings. In 2009, Hannoush Jewelers opened a showroom in the space vacated by Steve & Barry's. In 2004, the mall implemented a teen escort policy, stating that any customer under the age of 15 must be with an escort after 5:00 PM. The JCPenney store was later downgraded to an
outlet store
An outlet store, factory outlet or factory shop is a brick and mortar or online store in which manufacturers sell their stock directly to the public. Traditionally, a factory outlet was a store attached to a factory or warehouse, sometimes allowi ...
, and closed in 2011 when JCPenney eliminated its outlet store division.
On January 6, 2016, Macy's announced that it would be closing the Eastfield Mall location as part of a plan to close 36 stores nationwide. The store closed in April 2016.
On May 31, 2018, Sears announced that its store would also be closing on September 2, 2018 as part of a plan to close 78 stores nationwide which left the mall with no store anchors.
In late June 2020, Cinemark closed permanently.
References
External links
Official websiteParent Company
{{Shopping malls in Massachusetts
Shopping malls in Massachusetts
Economy of Springfield, Massachusetts
Buildings and structures in Springfield, Massachusetts
Tourist attractions in Springfield, Massachusetts
Shopping malls established in 1967