Oxmoor Center is a

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

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 7900 Shelbyville Road in eastern Louisville.

History

The 1970s

Opened on February 8, 1971 on the opposing side of the Watterson Expressway from

Mall St. Matthews Mall St. Matthews, formerly known as The Mall, is a shopping mall located near Louisville, Kentucky at 5000 Shelbyville Road (US 60 (KY), US 60) in the eastern suburb of St. Matthews, Kentucky, St. Matthews. History Originally named simply "The ...

, the mall originally had

Shillito's John Shillito & Co. (commonly known as Shillito's) was Cincinnati's first department store. In 1817 John Shillito (November 1808-September 1879) arrived in Cincinnati (from Greensburg, Pennsylvania). The nine-year-old lad was soon working for th ...

and Stewart's as its

anchor store 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. Wit ...

s. In July 1984 the mall opened a new wing over the Middle Fork of Beargrass Creek to include a

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 ...

store that relocated from 4121 Shelbyville Road. The land the mall was built on is a part of

Oxmoor Farm Oxmoor Farm is an estate in Louisville, Kentucky located east of downtown. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. It has also been termed Oxmoor or the Bullitt Estate. With . History Oxmoor was surveyed in 177 ...

and, due to the land being inherited as a trust which stipulated that it not be sold for a certain number of years, was leased to the mall. The deed restriction has since expired which led to the development of Oxmoor Woods subdivision, but the mall does not own the land it sits upon and remains a leaseholder. The Shillito's store, at the mall's east end, was three stories, and included a small restaurant on the third floor. The mall featured a Stewart's department store on its west end. A Yudofsky Furriers store was adjacent to Stewart's (the last store before Stewart's on the south side). The central atrium had a large circular fountain. Oxmoor Center once had a Putters Park on the upper level, along with four cinema screens. Other upper level tenants included

Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour was an American ice cream parlor and sandwich chain that was founded in Portland, Oregon, in 1963. The chain became defunct following the closure of its last location in Brea, California, in 2019. History Farrell's ...

, Something to Do (a games store now known as Something2Do, which remained in the mall until moving out in July 2014), Modelle's Custom Tailors (still operating at the lower level) and Athlete's Foot. Lower level tenants included Lerner's (women's clothing), a tobacco shop (with a wooden Indian statue, also still in business), a candle store, a small store selling imported gifts called Far East and Thom McAn Shoes. By the 1980s, there were six cinematic auditoriums in operation at Oxmoor Center. The original two larger auditoriums located on the ground floor level (in the northern half of today's

Old Navy Old Navy is an American clothing and accessories retailing company owned by multinational corporation Gap Inc. It has corporate operations in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The largest of the Old Navy stores are its ...

) had been joined by four smaller screens located on the second floor of the Oxmoor Mall.

1980s – present

was rebranded as Shillito Rikes in June 1982, Lazarus in March 1986, Lazarus-Macy's in August 2003 and

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 March 2005. Stewart's would be rebannered six times between November 1985 and September 2003. The store operated as an

L.S. Ayres L. S. Ayres and Company was a department store based in Indianapolis, Indiana, and founded in 1872 by Lyman S. Ayres. Over the years its Indianapolis flagship store, which opened in 1905 and was later enlarged, became known for its women's fash ...

, Ben Snyder's,

Hess's Hess's was a department store chain based in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The company started in 1897 with one store, originally known as Hess Brothers, and grew to nearly 80 stores by its peak in the late 1980s. The chain's stores were closed or sold ...

Jacobson's Jacobson's was an American regional department store chain. Based in Jackson, Michigan, the chain operated primarily in Michigan and Florida, but also had stores in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Kansas. Jacobson's focused on apparel, fine jewelry ...

and Von Maur, its most recent conversion. The Famous Blue Boar Cafeteria, a 1971 charter tenant, closed in 1995 along with Rax. 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 ...

was created on the mall's upper level in 1989. In 1997, a 2-level

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 ...

opened next to the mall. The following year, a major reconstruction on the mall was completed. It included a new octagonal main entrance, vaulted ceilings, escalators and an updated north facade. In October 2001, Galyan's Trading Company opened a new, 2-level store that was built in the front parking area. It became a

Dick's Sporting Goods Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc. (stylized as "DICK'S Sporting Goods") is an American sporting goods retail company, based in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. The company was established by Richard "Dick" Stack in 1948, and has approximately 854 stores an ...

location in October 2004 after Dick's purchased the Galyan's chain. The mall currently has over and includes the anchor stores of

, Von Maur, H&M, and

, with one vacant anchor space. The retail hub is currently owned by

Brookfield Properties Brookfield Properties is a North American subsidiary of commercial real estate company Brookfield Property Partners, which itself is a subsidiary of alternative asset management company Brookfield Asset Management. It is responsible for the pro ...

. In January 2013, the mall announced a major renovation in which the center mezzanine containing the food court and a few retailers would be torn down and replaced with a new center court. The renovation, which added new seating areas plus a play area near the Sears store, was completed in time for the 2013 Christmas shopping season. On October 6, 2017, Sears announced that their Oxmoor Center location would be closing on January 14, 2018.

References

External links

Oxmoor Center Official web site
{{coord, 38.24715, N, 85.61032, W, source:placeopedia, display=title Economy of Louisville, Kentucky Shopping malls in Kentucky Brookfield Properties Buildings and structures in Louisville, Kentucky Tourist attractions in Louisville, Kentucky Shopping malls established in 1971

History

The 1970s

1980s – present

References

Further reading

External links