Eastland Mall is a

regional In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

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 on North Green River Road in

Evansville, Indiana Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in ...

. It is operated by the

Macerich Macerich ( ) is a real estate investment trust that invests in shopping centers. It is the third-largest owner and operator of shopping centers in the United States. As of December 31, 2020, the company owned interests in 52 properties comprisi ...

, a group which owns and develops malls around the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The mall has 130 specialty stores, three department stores, and a food court with a variety of fast food eateries and a

TGI Friday's TGI Fridays (operating in the UK as FRIDAYS) is an American restaurant chain focusing on primarily American cuisine and casual dining. The restaurant's founder said the name stood for "Thank God It's Friday", although some television commerc ...

restaurant. The anchor stores are

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 ...

, Dillard's, and

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 ...

. Sales per square foot in 2016 were $367, a decline from $402 in 2012. As the regional hub of the Illinois-Indiana-Kentucky Tri-State Area, retail sales

per capita ''Per capita'' is a Latin phrase literally meaning "by heads" or "for each head", and idiomatically used to mean "per person". The term is used in a wide variety of social sciences and statistical research contexts, including government statistic ...

are 60% higher for Evansville than the state average and are the highest in the state. Total square footage for Eastland Mall is one million.

History

The mall was originally developed by

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 ...

, opening in August 1981. The original anchors were

, Ben Snyder's, and deJong's. Lazarus was added in August 1982. General Growth sold the mall as part of a larger portfolio of 19 centers to a passive institutional investor, Equitable Life Assurance Society in 1984. General Growth retained the management agreement for over the next decade. Snyder's was acquired by

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 sol ...

in 1987 and assumed the Hess's nameplate in 1988. Hess's ran into financial difficulties a few years later, shuttering this store in 1993. The

Famous-Barr The Famous-Barr Co. (originally Famous and Barr Co.) was a division of Macy's, Inc. (formerly Federated Department Stores). Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, in the Railway Exchange Building, it was the flagship store of The May Department S ...

division of May Company bought the closed anchor, demolished it and opened a new store on the same site in 1996. After the mall was acquired by a partnership of

Simon Property Group Simon Property Group, Inc. is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping malls, outlet centers, and community/lifestyle centers. It is the largest owner of shopping malls in the United States and is headquartered in India ...

and

, it was expanded to provide a larger food court area and a carousel was installed. Simon assumed management at this time. In 2005 the vacant deJong's location was converted into various specialty stores. Lazarus briefly adopted the Lazarus-Macy's moniker in 2003 before dropping the legacy Lazarus name in early 2005, becoming simply

. After the Federated and May Company department store merger in 2005, the Famous-Barr site was closed in 2006 and sold to Dillard's. The latest center mall anchor renovated and opened in 2007. In late 2011 Simon and Macerich terminated their decade plus long multi-state partnership and distributed the remaining 11 properties, with Macerich receiving Eastland Mall and assuming management rights in January 2012. In January 2017, The Limited announced they would be closing all of their 250 stores, including the one at Eastland Mall. In July 2017, Gymboree announced they will close 350 outlet locations, including the one at Eastland Mall.

References

External links

{{Evansville, Indiana Buildings and structures in Evansville, Indiana Shopping malls established in 1981 Macerich Shopping malls in Indiana Tourist attractions in Evansville, Indiana 1981 establishments in Indiana