Forest Mall was an enclosed

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...

Fond du Lac, Wisconsin Fond du Lac () is a city in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 44,678 at the 2020 census. The city forms the core of the United States Census Bureau's Fond du Lac United States metrop ...

, USA. Opened in 1973, the mall closed and was demolished in 2020. As of April 2023, The Former Pranges/Younkers building is still standing and Kohl’s and TJ Maxx continue operations

History

Melvin Simon & Associates, now known as

Simon Property Group Simon Property Group, Inc. is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping malls, outlet centers, and community/lifestyle centers. It is the largest owner of shopping malls in the United States and is headquartered in Indian ...

, first announced plans for Forest Mall in 1964. The mall opened in September 1973, featuring

Montgomery Ward Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a world-pioneering mail-order business and later also a leading department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001. The curren ...

, J. C. Penney,

H. C. Prange Co. H. C. Prange Co., sometimes shortened to Prange's, was an American department store chain begun by H. C. Prange in 1887 in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. At its peak, it operated stores in the states of Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan. It also operated d ...

Prange Way H. C. Prange Co., sometimes shortened to Prange's, was an American department store chain begun by H. C. Prange in 1887 in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. At its peak, it operated stores in the states of Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan. It also operated d ...

and

G. C. Murphy G.C. Murphy was a chain of five and dime or variety stores in the United States from 1906 to 2002. They also operated Murphy's Mart (full scale discount stores), Bargain World (closeout merchandise), Terry & Ferris and Bruners (junior department ...

. A Copps Department Store was also located nearby. Of these stores, Montgomery Ward, J. C. Penney and Prange had relocated from downtown Fond du Lac. The Montgomery Ward space was later taken over by

Kohl's Kohl's (stylized in all caps) is an American department store retail chain, operated by Kohl's Corporation. it is the largest department store chain in the United States, with 1,165 locations, operating stores in every U.S. state except Hawai ...

, the Prange Way space by

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 ...

and Prange's became

Younkers Younkers Inc. is an American online retailer and former department store chain founded as a family-run dry goods business in 1856 in Keokuk, Iowa. The retailer had evolved over more than 150 years to include a presence in locations throughout Iowa ...

. Simon renovated the mall in 1998, adding

skylight A skylight (sometimes called a rooflight) is a light-permitting structure or window, usually made of transparent or translucent glass, that forms all or part of the roof space of a building for daylighting and ventilation purposes. History Open ...

s and new flooring. In 2006, several new stores opened at the mall, although most were local retailers. In May 2014, JCPenney closed. It was the last of the original anchors in the mall. Sears closed on November 2, 2014, as did the Forest Mall Cinema. As a result, many retailers in the mall, local and national such as

American Eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...

, Aeropostale,

Pac Sun Pacific Sunwear of California, LLC is an American retail clothing brand. The company sells lifestyle apparel, along with swim, footwear and accessories designed for teens and young adults. As of 2022, the company operates 325 stores in all 50 stat ...

, and

Victorias Secret Victoria's Secret is an American lingerie, clothing, and beauty retailer known for high visibility marketing and branding, starting with a popular catalog and followed by an annual fashion show with supermodels dubbed Angels. As the largest ret ...

closed too. In 2014, Simon Property Group spun off its underperforming malls, including Forest Mall, into an investment group known as

WP Glimcher Washington Prime Group Inc. is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping centers. The company is organized in Indiana with its headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. From January 2015 to September 2016, the company had the name ...

. In early 2016, Simon's investment group officially sold the mall to ATR Corinth Partners, a

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

-based investment. Simon had developed the mall and owned it for more than 40 years. Younkers closed in 2018. By 2020, the mall had no internal tenants and was closed. Kohl's and Staples remained in operation, but had closed their mall entrances. In July 2020, demolition began. Staples closed too, and the mall and all anchors were demolished, with the exception of Kohl's, which remains open as a freestanding store. A

Meijer Meijer Inc. (, ; stylized as meijer) is an American supercenter chain that primarily operates throughout the Midwest. Its corporate headquarters are in Walker, Michigan, which is a part of the Grand Rapids metropolitan area. Founded in 1934 as ...

store is set to be built on the site of the mall.

References

{{Shopping malls in Wisconsin Shopping malls established in 1973 Shopping malls in Wisconsin Fond du Lac, Wisconsin Shopping malls disestablished in 2020 Defunct shopping malls in the United States Demolished shopping malls in the United States Buildings and structures demolished in 2020 1973 establishments in Wisconsin 2020 disestablishments in Wisconsin