Frandor Shopping Center, in Lansing, Michigan, is located at the very eastern edge of the city bordering the neighboring city of

East Lansing East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most of the city lies within Ingham County with a smaller portion extending north into Clinton County. At the 2020 Census the population was 47,741. Located directly east of the state capital ...

and freeway US Highway 127. It is a strip center anchored by a

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supermarket,

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, and Cost Plus World Market.

History

Frandor was the first shopping center in Lansing and the second in Michigan, opening in 1954, shortly after Northland Center in

Southfield, Michigan Southfield is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 76,618. As a northern suburb of Detroit, Southfield shares part of its southern border with Detroit. The city was original ...

. The shopping center was originally owned by Francis J. Corr, and was named using a conjunction of his and his wife Dorothy's name. Before beginning construction, Corr secured

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 ...

as Frandor's anchor store. Corr negotiated a swap with the Sears in Lansing, buying the old store and selling the south 14.5 acres of the Frandor site to Sears. Corr then built and "fixtured" the new Sears store. In 1972, the formerly open-air center was enclosed, and several new storefronts were added. This enclosure was removed in 1998, while adding several

big-box store A big-box store (also hyperstore, supercenter, superstore, or megastore) is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain of stores. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store. The t ...

s to either end of

, then the center's western anchor. On November 7, 2019, it was announced that Sears would be closing this location a part of a plan to close 96 stores nationwide. The store closed in February 2020.

Current development

Frandor has a variety of options for incoming businesses, allowing start-ups to lease a small space with the option to expand. The Frandor Merchant Association has a high participation level and meets regularly.

Theatres

Spartan Twin

In 1967 the Spartan Twin (later Spartan Triplex) opened in the Frandor Shopping Center. The theater played the Rocky Horror Picture Show on Saturday nights. The establishment was closed in February 1994 and later used as a

Discovery Zone Discovery Zone (DZ) was an American chain of entertainment facilities featuring games and elaborate indoor mazes designed for young children, including roller slides, climbing play structures, and ball pits. It also featured arcade games. A t ...

The Odeon

The Odeon was a small film house in Frandor owned by Frank Leahey that featured foreign and independent films. It is no longer open.

References

External links

Frandor Shopping Center web site
{{Lansing-East Lansing, state=collapsed Shopping malls in Michigan Buildings and structures in Lansing, Michigan Shopping malls established in 1954 1954 establishments in Michigan