Genesee Valley Center is 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 ...

located in

Flint Township, Michigan The Charter Township of Flint, also known as Flint Township, is a charter township of Genesee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 31,929 at the 2010 census. The City of Flint is adjacent to the township, but the two are ad ...

, outside the city of Flint, Michigan, United States. Opened in 1970, the mall is of leasable area. The mall has three

anchor tenant In retail, an "anchor tenant", sometimes called an "anchor store", "draw tenant", or "key tenant", is a considerably larger tenant in a shopping mall, often a department store or retail chain. They are typically located at the ends of malls. W ...

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 Play Big. It comprises more than 120 tenants, including a food court, and an external concourse called the Outdoor Village which also features a Barnes & Noble bookstore. The mall is located on Miller Road and Linden Road, near the junction of Interstate 69 (I-69) and

I-75 Interstate 75 (I-75) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end in 5, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, traveling from St ...

History

Genesee Valley Center was developed in 1970 by Shopping Centers, Inc. of

Southfield, Michigan Southfield is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 76,618. As a northern suburb of Detroit, Southfield shares part of its southern border with Detroit. The city was original ...

, a retail division of

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

-based

Hudson's The J. L. Hudson Company (commonly known simply as Hudson's) was an upscale retail department store chain based in Detroit, Michigan. Hudson's flagship store, on Woodward Avenue in Downtown Detroit (demolished October 24, 1998), was the tallest ...

department stores. It was built as a one-level, enclosed shopping mall, consisting of a straight-line concourse with an anchor store at either end.

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 ...

, the northern anchor, was the first store to open, doing so in May 1970. Hudson's followed two months later, with this location being the chain's largest store outside of Detroit. These two stores served as the northern and southern anchor stores to the mall, respectively. On August 8, 1970, Genesee Valley Center opened to the public. At the time, it comprised fifty-six tenants, including a

Hamady Brothers Hamady was an American supermarket chain based in Flint, Michigan, United States, which at its peak had 37 stores and 1,300 employees. Given the chain's pervasiveness in the area, paper grocery bags were known as “Hamady sacks”. History Hamady ...

supermarket and Cunningham Drug. By September, a Woolworth dime store had opened next to Sears. In 1979, an eastern wing anchored by

was added to the mall. A mezzanine level with a food court was added in 1987. The Cunningham Drug Store was demolished for a wing featuring a

Mervyns Mervyn's was an American middle-scale department store chain based in Hayward, California, and founded by Mervin G. Morris (1920–2021). It carried national brands of clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics, ...

in 1993,

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 ...

was also added. These additions brought the mall to of

gross leasable area In architecture, construction, and real estate, floor area, floor space, or floorspace is the area (measured as square feet or square metres) taken up by a building or part of it. The ways of defining "floor area" depend on what factors of the buil ...

, making it the largest mall in Michigan to be located north of

. Woolworth was briefly downsized to a

cosmetics Cosmetics are constituted mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either natural sources, or synthetically created ones. Cosmetics have various purposes. Those designed for personal care and skin care can be used to cleanse or protect ...

-oriented prototype called Woolworth Express before closing entirely. In 2001, Montgomery Ward had closed the last of its store nationwide. The same year, Hudson's was renamed

Marshall Field's Marshall Field & Company (commonly known as Marshall Field's) was an upscale department store in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in the 19th century, it grew to become a large chain before Macy's, Inc acquired it in 2005. Its eponymous founder, Mar ...

, which itself became

when the parent company of Marshall Field's was acquired.

Mid-2000s onward

The former Montgomery Ward location was demolished in 2005 for a new section called the Outdoor Village. Opened in early 2006, this addition features additional mall tenants in an outdoor setting. Anchoring the Outdoor Village is a Barnes & Noble bookstore, the opening of which resulted in the closure of a B. Dalton bookstore within the mall itself. Mervyns also closed its Michigan operations in early 2006. A year later, their space at the mall was replaced with Burlington Coat Factory (now known as Burlington), which relocated from an existing store nearby. Steve & Barry's was added in the former Woolworth space. It closed in early 2009 when the chain declared bankruptcy, and became a clothing store called Wear District in October. Wear District later closed and became Shoe Dept. Encore. In 2012, the mall was sold to by

Jones Lang LaSalle Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated (JLL) is a global commercial real estate services company, founded in the United Kingdom with offices in 80 countries. The company also provides investment management services worldwide, including services to insti ...

to Spinoso Group. Since 2002, the mall has had a branch of Genesee District Library in it. The branch was first opened as an experiment. It was first slated for closure in October 2013, but the library board instead decided to keep it open until at least 2014. Also in 2013, several storefronts were remodeled throughout the mall, including Bath & Body Works,

Kay Jewelers Sterling Jewelers, Inc. is an American specialty jewelry company headquartered in Akron, Ohio. The company was founded in 1910 by Henry Shaw (the father of Jerry Shaw, the chairman emeritus of Sterling today), from LeRoy's Jewelers in Lorain, Oh ...

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

, and

Victoria's 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 ...

Lane Bryant Lane Bryant Inc. is an American women's apparel and intimates specialty retailer focusing on plus-size clothing. The company began in 1904 with maternity designs created by Lena Himmelstein, Lena Himmelstein Bryant Malsin. Lane Bryant, Inc., i ...

, an original tenant, moved to a new space in the mall in 2014 which had been vacated by a Ruby Tuesday. A

Planet Fitness Planet Fitness (PFIP LLC) is an American franchisor and operator of fitness centers based in Hampton, New Hampshire. The company reports that it has 2,039 clubs, making it one of the largest fitness club franchises by number of members and loc ...

opened in the Burlington Coat Factory wing in early 2015. A H&M opened in the JCPenney wing in November 2017. Burlington relocated to a nearby strip mall on May 11, 2018. Sears closed on September 2, 2018, which leaves JCPenney and Macy's as the only anchors left. On December 15, 2018, Play Big, an indoor playground consisting of mostly inflatable bounce houses and arcade games, opened in the former Burlington store. In 2019, Forever 21 moved from its existing location near JCPenney to a larger location near Macy's, but it closed later that year. In December 2019 The mall was sold to

Namdar Realty Group Namdar Realty Group is an American shopping mall investment company based in Great Neck, New York. They primarily purchase shopping malls with partner Mason Asset Management. Namdar and Mason are both family owned, and as of 2021, own over 400 p ...

, which in turn made drastic cuts to the malls operational staff. Allied Universal’s mall security contract was terminated effective December 31, 2019, and Namdar Group opted to use In House Security personnel as well as in house housekeeping.

References

External links

Official website
{{Shopping malls in Michigan Shopping malls established in 1970 Shopping malls in Michigan Buildings and structures in Flint, Michigan Namdar Realty Group