Sandburg Mall, a.k.a. Carl Sandburg Mall, was 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 ...

Galesburg, Illinois Galesburg is a city in Knox County, Illinois, United States. The city is northwest of Peoria. At the 2010 census, its population was 32,195. It is the county seat of Knox County and the principal city of the Galesburg Micropolitan Statistical ...

. The mall operated as an enclosed shopping center from 1975 to 2018 with main anchor stores and a variety of interior stores. The interior mall was closed September 28, 2018, leaving just three businesses as of 2019 — a car repair shop, a building supply outlet store, and a moving van rental operation. The mall's anchor stores were

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 ...

Bergner's P.A. Bergner & Co. (also known as Bergner's) was an upscale Midwestern department store established in 1889. The chain is now an online retailer operated by BrandX.com, Inc. The flagship store was located in Peoria, Illinois at The Shoppes at Gr ...

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 ...

, and

Kmart Kmart Corporation ( , doing business as Kmart and stylized as kmart) is an American retail company that owns a chain of big box department stores. The company is headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, United States. The company was inc ...

History

Carl Sandburg Mall was proposed and developed by Skokie, Illinois-based Kenroy, Inc. beginning in 1971. The $15 million development was built beginning in February 1974 and continuing into 1975 on 97 acres near the intersection of Henderson Street and U.S. Route 34 in northwest Galesburg. The mall was named for poet and writer

Carl Sandburg Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg ...

. Its original owner was Illinois-based mall developer General Growth Properties (GGP). Sandburg Mall opened on October 1, 1975. The original anchors were

, and

. The Mall expanded twice in 1982 and 1992 bringing about a two-screen cinema operated by

Kerasotes Theatres Kerasotes Showplace Theatres, LLC is a movie theatre operator in the United States. Based in Chicago, Kerasotes Showplace Theatres, LLC was the sixth-largest movie-theatre company in North America with 957 screens in 95 locations in California, ...

and a fourth anchor when

opened a location in the mall. In addition to the four anchors, Sandburg Mall has spaces for 46 interior stores and has two outparcel buildings for automotive centers. Original retailers included Osco Drugs,

Bresler's Ice Cream Bresler's 33 Flavors was an American ice cream chain founded in 1927. Its founder was Polish immigrant William J. Bresler, who died in 1985. In 1954, Bresler's began a fast food hamburger chain called Henry's Hamburgers. The Bresler's chain w ...

, Team Electronics, Garcia's Pizza-in-a-Pan, GNC,

Karmelkorn Karmelkorn was an American popcorn retailer. It was founded in 1928 in Casper, Wyoming, by Mr. and Mrs. William O'Sullivan. The O'Sullivans patented their candy-coated popcorn and trademarked the product's name and logo in 1929. Initially, they ...

, and

Musicland The Musicland Group, Inc. was an entertainment company that ran Musicland, Sam Goody, Discount Records, Suncoast Motion Picture Company, On Cue, and the Media Play Superstore Chains. The Musicland Group was purchased by Best Buy in 2001 at the hei ...

. In March 1994, a

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 ...

store opened right next to the mall. The mall began a downturn not long after its original owner GGP sold it in the late 1990s. The mall was operated next by Ken Tucker and Associates but the Galesburg area suffered through economic downturn including the closing of its

Maytag The Maytag Corporation is an American home and commercial appliance company owned by Whirlpool Corporation since April 2006. Company history The Maytag Washing Machine Company was founded in 1893 by businessman Frederick Maytag. In 1925, ...

factory. As 30-year leases came due, many interior stores left the mall. Kerasotes closed the twin-screen cinema on December 18, 2003 creating an eight-screen theatre not far from the mall. With the mall heading toward greyfield status, a term associated with a dead or dying mall with high vacancy rates, it was purchased for $3.3 million by Sandburg Mall Reality Management in 2007. In 2014, the mall lost its first anchor when Sears closed April 30. Sandburg Mall Realty filed for bankruptcy and the mall was next offered in a sheriff's sale. The winning bidder was Mall Group Investments which paid $1.326 million for the mall in the Summer of 2015. During Mall Group's operation, the mall lost its second anchor when Kmart closed in July 2016. The mall was purchased through an online property auction on October 25, 2016 for $690,000 by G.L. "Buck" Harris of Fort Worth, Texas. Harris had purchased other greyfield malls, including

Six Flags Mall Six Flags Mall was a shopping mall that opened in August 1970 in Arlington, Texas. Arlington's first enclosed shopping center, it was named after the nearby Six Flags Over Texas theme park. When it opened, it was the largest shopping center in T ...

in Arlington, Texas, which closed in 2016 and Sunrise Mall in Corpus Christi which closed in 2018. Plans were announced a month after Harris' purchase of the Sandburg Mall that the interior of the mall would be demolished to create an outdoor plaza with the two remaining anchors staying in place. But that plan did not materialize and in 2018, the mall lost its two remaining original anchors when JCPenney closed in January and Bergner's closed in August. Access to Sandburg Mall's interior was closed off on September 28, 2018 when its final remaining interior store, GNC, closed and moved to a new location. The mall continued with an automotive garage, which was joined by a moving van rental place in December 2018 and a builder supply outlet in February 2019 as its only operational retail outlets. The Galesburg Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved a proposal to slice the mall for expanded uses in April 2019. The first proposal was to turn the former Bergner's anchor into a Convention Center.Connelly, Robert. "Old Bergner’s Transforming into Convention Center." ''Galesburg Register-Mail,'' 5 June 2019.

References

{{Reflist 1975 establishments in Illinois Defunct shopping malls in the United States Galesburg, Illinois Shopping malls in Illinois Shopping malls established in 1975