Golf Mill Shopping Center, or simply Golf Mill, is a

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 at 239 Golf Mill Center in

Niles, Illinois Niles is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, located in the townships of Maine and Niles, directly neighboring the City of Chicago's far northwest border. Per the 2020 census, the population was 30,912. The current mayor of Niles ...

. The shopping mall has a

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 ...

of . It is managed by Sterling Retail Services. It borders the intersections of Golf Road (

Illinois Route 58 Illinois Route 58 (IL 58, Illinois 58), also known as Golf Road for most of its route, is a state highway in northeast Illinois. It runs from Illinois Route 25 (Liberty Street) in Elgin east to U.S. Route 41 (Skokie Boulevard) in Skokie. This ...

), Milwaukee Avenue (

Illinois Route 21 Illinois Route 21 (IL 21) is an arterial north–south state highway in northeastern Illinois. It runs from Illinois Route 43 (Harlem Avenue) in Niles to U.S. Route 41 (Skokie Highway) north of Gurnee. Illinois 21 is 28.13 miles (45.27 ...

) and Greenwood Avenue. The shopping mall has over 100 specialty shops, three anchor stores (

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 ...

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, f ...

, and

Ross Dress for Less Ross Stores, Inc., operating under the brand name Ross Dress for Less, is an American chain of discount department stores headquartered in Dublin, California. It is the largest off-price retailer in the U.S.; as of 2018, Ross operates 1,483 sto ...

), an

AMC Theatres AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (d/b/a AMC Theatres, originally an abbreviation for American Multi-Cinema; often referred to simply as AMC and known in some countries as AMC Cinemas or AMC Multi-Cinemas) is an American movie theater chain fou ...

, a grocery store (

Gordon Food Service Gordon Food Service (GFS) is a foodservice distributor based in Wyoming, Michigan serving the Midwest, Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest regions of the United States and coast-to-coast in Canada. It also operates stores in Florida, Illinois, I ...

), an XSport Fitness gym, and a 9-story office tower and other outparcels. Former anchors included

Sears and Roebuck 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 as ...

(closed December 2018), and

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 Haw ...

(closed Halloween 2020).

History

Golf Mill opened to the public in October 1960 as an open-air mall and featured an office tower (designed by Chicago architect Edo Belli to look like the top of a

golf ball A golf ball is a special ball designed to be used in the game of golf. Under the rules of golf, a golf ball has a mass no more than , has a diameter not less than , and performs within specified velocity, distance, and symmetry limits. Like g ...

) 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 ...

. It featured a full "

mill Mill may refer to: Science and technology * * Mill (grinding) * Milling (machining) * Millwork * Textile mill * Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel * List of types of mill * Mill, the arithmetic unit of the Analytical Engine early ...

" theme, complete with ponds, bridges, and a working waterwheel. Soon after opening, a Lord's department store was built, but closed after a few years and was replaced by

. Around that time, the

Mill Run Playhouse Mill Run Playhouse (aka Mill Run Theatre) was a 1,600 seat theatre in the round in Niles, Illinois. It was built in 1965 on the grounds of the Golf Mill Shopping Center. It was scheduled to open in June 1965 but torrential rains delayed the openi ...

was built at the north end of the complex that wasn't connected to the corridors.

General Growth Properties GGP Inc. (an initialism of General Growth Properties) was an American commercial real estate company and the second-largest shopping mall operator in the United States. It was founded by brothers Martin, Matthew and Maurice Bucksbaum in Ceda ...

took over the management of the Golf Mill Shopping Center in 1994. After

went bankrupt, Milwaukee Golf Management Corporation took over the management of the Golf Mill Shopping Center in 2009. Sterling Organization purchased Golf Mill Shopping Center in August 2014 via a private equity fund, and its subsidiary, Sterling Retail Services is currently managing the property on behalf of the fund.

Store Openings

In 1989, MainStreet was acquired by

. On October 11, 1998, a

opened in the north wing across from Kohl's. In 2005, Value City Furniture opened, replacing some inline stores and an entrance. In 2010, Kerasotes ShowPlace 12 was acquired by

AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...

. Circuit City which opened in 1990 and located outside the mall closed in the mid-2000s. It was later replaced with a Lucky McGee's sports bar. It closed in January 2016.

opened outside of the mall to customers on October 18, 2011, located on the south section of the parking lot near JCPenney.

opened in 2012, replacing a dead section of the mall. The mall has added a

Panera Bread Panera Bread is an American chain store of bakery-café fast casual restaurants with over 2,000 locations, all of which are in the United States and Canada. Its headquarters are in Sunset Hills, Missouri. The company operates as Saint Loui ...

across the main entrance in early 2017.

Ulta Beauty Ulta Beauty, Inc., formerly known as Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. and before 2000 as Ulta3, is an American chain of beauty stores headquartered in Bolingbrook, Illinois. Ulta Beauty carries both high-end and low-end cosmetics, fragra ...

opened in November 2017, replacing the south section of the food court. On October 4, 2018, it was announced that

would be closing as part of a plan to close 12 stores nationwide. The store closed in December 2018. A

Chase Bank JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., doing business as Chase Bank or often as Chase, is an American national bank headquartered in New York City, that constitutes the consumer and commercial banking subsidiary of the U.S. multinational banking and fin ...

has been built next to the Panera Bread and opened to the public August 2020. The mall has also built a Chick-fil-A restaurant on the northwest corner of the parking lot, which opened on October 12, 2021. On August 21, 2020,

announced that they will permanently close their store at Golf Mill to relocate to a brand new shopping center in

Morton Grove, Illinois Morton Grove is a village in Cook County, Illinois. Per the 2020 census, the population was 25,297. The village is named after former United States Vice President Levi Parsons Morton, who helped finance the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railr ...

, called Sawmill Station. The store officially closed on Halloween 2020. A Burlington store opened on October 29, 2021, in the first floor of the former space. In January 2022, the mall announced that it will be redeveloping most of the mall, planning to demolish the former Sears, AMC, Iconic Circular Tower, and various outlots as part of a "live work play" styled development. The new development would bring back the water wheel, add new outdoor retail, apartment complexes, new greenspace.

Renovations

In 1986, the mall had major renovations, with the north end being completely rebuilt as an enclosed portion anchored by MainStreet and enclosing the mall between the Sears and JCPenney, also adding a food court in the process. In 2006, GGP remodeled the mall complete with new flooring and a new food court entrance, however the north wing and a corridor in the south wing were left untouched. The remodel also added a 12-screen Kerasotes movie theater. When Ulta first opened in 2017, the mall has planned to relocate the former south food court next to AMC, but it was scrapped. In January 2022, the mall announced that it will be redeveloping most of the mall, planning to demolish the former Sears, AMC, Iconic Circular Tower, and various outlots as part of a "live work play" styled development. The new development would bring back the water wheel, add new outdoor retail, apartment complexes, new greenspace. JCPenny, Ulta, Chick-fil-et, Panera, Chase, Xsport, Burlington,Target, and other stores will remain.

Bus routes

Pace * 208 Golf Road * 240 Dee Road * 241 Greenwood/Talcott * 270 Milwaukee Avenue OR Pulse Pace Bus * 272 Milwaukee Avenue North * 410 East Niles Local * 411 West Niles Local * 412 North Niles Circulator

References

External links

*
Cuneo family sells Golf Mill Shopping Center for $60 million
{{Shopping malls in Illinois Niles, Illinois Shopping malls in Cook County, Illinois Shopping malls established in 1960 1960 establishments in Illinois