The Mall at Westlake, almost always referred to as Westlake Mall is a vacant and closed

community mall A neighborhood shopping center (Commonwealth English: neighbourhood shopping centre) is an industry term in the United States for a shopping center with of gross leasable area, typically anchored by a supermarket and/or large drugstore. Versus ...

Bessemer, Alabama Bessemer is a southwestern suburb of Birmingham in Jefferson County, Alabama, United States. The population was 26,019 at the 2020 census. It is within the Birmingham- Hoover, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area, of which Jefferson County is the ...

History

Westlake Mall was built on a former

lake bed A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

, along US Highway 11. The mall opened in 1969 with three anchors,

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 ...

, Grant's, and Loveman's. In 1970, former Governor

George Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Alabama for four terms. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best remembered for his staunch segregationist and ...

held a campaign event for re-election at the mall that was estimated to be attended by 10,000 people, one of the biggest turnouts during his last gubernatorial race. In the late 1970s and 1980s, the mall saw decline. In November 1983, an 18 year old female was raped after being kidnapped near the mall by masked abductors. All three original anchors closed by 1989, making it a

dead mall A dead mall (also known as a ghost mall, zombie mall, or abandoned mall) is a shopping mall with a high vacancy rate or a low consumer traffic level, or that is deteriorating in some manner. Many malls in North America are considered "dead ...

or deserted mall. Continuing urban sprawl southwestward toward the

Tuscaloosa County Tuscaloosa County is a county in the northwest-central portion of the U.S. state of Alabama and is the center of commerce, education, industry, health care, and entertainment for the region. The county's population was 227,036 as of the 2020 c ...

line and increased crime and poverty in the city of Bessemer all contributed to the mall's demise. During the mid 1980s, there was an effort to turn the mall into a factory outlet center, though many regular stores were still open.(19 March 2009)
West Lake mall's owner dreams of revival in Bessemer, Alabama
''

Birmingham News ''The Birmingham News'' is the principal newspaper for Birmingham, Alabama, United States. The paper is owned by Advance Publications and was a daily newspaper from its founding through September 30, 2012. After that day, the ''News'' and its two ...

'' In 1994,

Bruno's Supermarkets Bruno's Supermarkets, LLC was an American chain of grocery stores with its headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama. It was founded in 1932 by Joseph Bruno in Birmingham. During the company's pinnacle, it operated over 300 stores under the names Br ...

opened a flagship store in the former Sears anchor location. It was the company's largest store. The mall continued to operate with a small assortment of stores, including a

Goody's Family Clothing Goody's Family Clothing Inc. was an American chain of department stores, owned and operated by Stage Stores and headquartered in Houston, TX. It specialized in retailing on-trend apparel, accessories, cosmetics, footwear, and housewares. It wa ...

store in the former Loveman's anchor location. The Goody's store relocated elsewhere in the late 2000s, and Bruno's filed bankruptcy in 2009, closing its store at the mall. The center was sold to Bessemer used-car dealership owner Anthony Underwood, who wants to revive the center once again as an outlet mall. , the mall sits vacant and sealed, with several of its entrances blocked.

References

External links

*http://skycity2.blogspot.com/2010/03/west-lake-mall-bessemer-al.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Mall at Westlake 1969 establishments in Alabama 2009 disestablishments in Alabama Bessemer, Alabama Buildings and structures in Jefferson County, Alabama Defunct shopping malls in the United States Shopping malls in Alabama Shopping malls established in 1969 Shopping malls disestablished in 2009