Harlem Irving Plaza (commonly referred to as "The HIP") 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 in

Norridge, Illinois Norridge is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 15,251 at the 2020 census. The village and its neighbor to the east, Harwood Heights, together form an enclave within the city of Chicago (i.e. they are surrounded ...

, a suburb of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. The mall features over 100 stores and a

food court A food court (in Asia-Pacific also called food hall or hawker centre) 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 dinner. I ...

. The mall's anchor stores are

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 ...

Nordstrom Rack Nordstrom Rack is an American off-price department store chain founded in 1973. It is a sister brand to the luxury department store chain Nordstrom. As of 2021, Nordstrom Rack operates 352 stores in 41 U.S. states and three Canadian provinces ...

, XSport Fitness,

Xfinity Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, doing business as Xfinity, is an American telecommunications company and division of Comcast Corporation used to market consumer cable television, internet, telephone, and wireless services provided by the com ...

Best Buy Best Buy Co. Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was rebra ...

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, fi ...

Hobby Lobby Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., formerly Hobby Lobby Creative Centers, is an American retail company. It owns a chain of arts and crafts stores with a volume of over $5 billion in 2018. The chain has 969 stores in 47 US states. Hobby Lobby is owned by ...

, DSW,

Five Below 5 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 5, five or number 5 may also refer to: * AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era * 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era Literature * ''5'' (visual novel), a 2008 visual novel by Ram * ''5'' (comics), an awar ...

, and Dick's. It is one of the oldest shopping malls in the Chicago area.

History

Built on the site of a former livestock farm, Harlem Irving Plaza opened in 1956 as a

strip mall A strip mall, strip center or strip plaza is a type of shopping center common in North America where the stores are arranged in a row, with a sidewalk in front. Strip malls are typically developed as a unit and have large parking lots in front. ...

featuring approximately 45 tenants. Original anchor stores included

Kroger The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates (either directly or through its subsidiaries) supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States. Founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cincin ...

Walgreens Walgreen Company, d/b/a Walgreens, is an American company that operates the second-largest pharmacy store chain in the United States behind CVS Health. It specializes in filling prescriptions, health and wellness products, health information, an ...

Wieboldt's Wieboldt Stores, Inc., also known as Wieboldt's, did business as a Chicago general retailer between 1883 and 1987. It was founded in 1883 by storekeeper William A. Wieboldt. The flagship location was at One North State Street Store in Chicago. H ...

W.T. Grant W. T. Grant or Grants was a United States-based chain of mass-merchandise stores founded by William Thomas Grant that operated from 1906 until 1976. The stores were generally of the variety store format located in downtowns. History In 1906 the ...

, and Woolworth. The plaza became a member of the

International Council of Shopping Centers The International Council of Shopping Centers, doing business as ICSC, is the global trade association of what it calls the "Marketplaces Industry" (i.e., shopping centers, shopping malls, and all other retail real estate). Founded in 1957, it fe ...

a year after opening. Between 1975 and 1979, the former strip mall was enclosed, and a

parking garage A multistorey car park (British and Singapore English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistory, parking building, parking structure, parkade (mainly Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck or indoor parking, is a build ...

was added. Also in 1979, Madigan's was added to the roster of department stores.

MainStreet Main Street is the generic street name (and often the official name) of the primary retail street of a village, town, or small city in many parts of the world. Main Street may refer to: Places Canada * Main Street (Toronto, Ontario) * Main Stre ...

, a short-lived subsidiary of

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 ...

opened at the mall in 1987, just as Wieboldt's closed. In 1989,

acquired and converted all of the stores in the MainStreet chain;

Carson Pirie Scott Carson Pirie Scott & Co. (also known as Carson's) is an American department store that was founded in 1854, which grew to over 50 locations, primarily in the Midwestern United States. Sold to the holding company of Bon-Ton in 2006, but still ope ...

opened in the former Wieboldt's the same year. A

was added in 1996, and

opened in the former Madigan's. Best Buy re-located to the mall's parking lot in 2001; its original location was replaced with a second parking garage. The mall underwent a thorough renovation in 2004, gaining a

in August of that year. In honor of the mall's 50th anniversary in 2006, Harlem Irving Plaza hosted a meet and greet with the original Mouseketeers (

Mickey Mouse Club ''The Mickey Mouse Club'' is an American variety television show that aired intermittently from 1955 to 1996 and returned to social media in 2017. Created by Walt Disney and produced by Walt Disney Productions, the program was first televised fo ...

). In honor of the mall's 60th anniversary in 2016, Harlem Irving Plaza hosted a meet and greet with Bobby Hull, Mike Ditka and Dick Butkus.

Sports Authority Sports Authority, Inc. (formerly The Sports Authority) was an American sports retailer. At its peak, Sports Authority operated 463 stores in 45 States and Puerto Rico. The company's website was on the GSI Commerce platform and supported the reta ...

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 Louis ...

Chipotle Mexican Grill Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (, ), often known simply as Chipotle, is an American chain of fast casual restaurants specializing in bowls, tacos and Mission burritos made to order in front of the customer. Chipotle operates restaurants in the Unit ...

, and a fitness center were to be added in a 2013 expansion. Sports Authority has since closed. It was announced that in the fall of 2017

would take the place of the vacated Sports Authority location.

Carson's Carson Pirie Scott & Co. (also known as Carson's) is an American department store that was founded in 1854, which grew to over 50 locations, primarily in the Midwestern United States. Sold to the holding company of Bon-Ton in 2006, but still ope ...

has since gone out of business, which prompted a transformation of the shuttered retailer into a large atrium and new entry for visitors entering via the upper parking deck. In early October 2021, Dick's Sporting Goods opened its doors on the mall's third floor addition with fellow-anchor Hobby Lobby pre-occupying the second floor. Hobby Lobby and Dick's Sporting Goods as of November 2021 are the sole two occupants of the above-first level expansion to the mall initially finalized in 2020. Target is the only other second floor holding retailer although their second floor does not have a mall entrance.

Bus routes

CTA * 78 Montrose * 80 Irving Park * 90 Harlem

References

External links

Shop the HIPHarlem Irving PropertiesUnofficial Harlem Irving Plaza History and Current Events Blog - "HIP Blog"
{{Shopping malls in Illinois Shopping malls established in 1956 Shopping malls in Cook County, Illinois 1956 establishments in Illinois