Tel-Twelve Mall is 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 ...

located 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 ...

, a suburb of

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, United States. Developed as an enclosed mall in 1968, it was demolished and rebuilt in 2001 as a power center composed of big box tenants. Its anchor stores include Best Buy, DSW, Lowe's,

Meijer Meijer Inc. (, ; stylized as meijer) is an American supercenter chain that primarily operates throughout the Midwest. Its corporate headquarters are in Walker, Michigan, which is a part of the Grand Rapids metropolitan area. Founded in 1934 ...

Michaels Michaels Stores, Inc., more commonly known as Michaels, is a privately held chain of 1,252 American and Canadian arts and crafts stores, as of January 2021. It is one of North America's largest providers of arts, crafts, framing, floral and wall ...

, Office Depot and

PetSmart PetSmart is a privately held American chain of pet superstores, which sell pet products, services, and small pets. It is the leading North American pet company, and its direct competitor is Petco. Its indirect competitors are Amazon, Walmart, ...

. The complex is owned and managed by

Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust RPT Realty, formerly known as RAMCO Properties Trust and Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust, is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that owns and operates open-air shopping centers. As of August 4, 2021, the company owned 50 shopping ...

, the same company that developed it.

History

Tel-Twelve Mall opened in 1968 along Telegraph Road just north of

Interstate 696 Interstate 696 (I-696) is an east–west auxiliary Interstate Highway in the Metro Detroit region of the US state of Michigan. The state trunkline highway is also known as the Walter P. Reuther Freeway, named for the prominent auto industr ...

. The mall initially comprised two anchor stores:

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 ...

at the northern end and

Montgomery Ward Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a world-pioneering mail-order business and later also a leading department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001. The curren ...

at the southern end, with a

Chatham Chatham may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Canada * Chatham Islands (British Columbia) * Chatham Sound, British Columbia * Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi * Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...

supermarket as a junior anchor in between. It was designed by A&W Properties (now

), with Charles N. Agree as architect. It originally featured a fountain and Astroturf floors. At the time of its opening, Tel-Twelve Mall's viability was questioned by retailers, as Southfield already had a larger shopping mall, Northland Center. Tel-Twelve was expanded four times in its history, eventually gaining a

Crowley's Crowley Milner and Company, generally referred to as Crowley's, was a department store chain founded in Detroit, Michigan, in 1909. After several years of financial difficulties, the company ceased operation in 1999 and its assets were sold. Its ...

department store as a third anchor in 1985, as well as a food court. By 1990, the mall had gained a Kids "R" Us, and Silver's Office Supplies had replaced the Chatham. In 1994, a renovation of the mall added many stores, including Ruby Tuesday, Old Country Buffet,

DSW Shoe Warehouse Designer Brands Inc. is an American company that sells designer and name brand shoes and fashion accessories. It owns the Designer Shoe Warehouse (DSW) store chain, and operates over 500 stores in the United States and an e-commerce website. T ...

, and Media Play. The Montgomery Ward store was downsized to make room for

MC Sports MC Sports was an American retail sporting goods chain. Founded in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1946, the chain operated 75 stores in the Midwestern United States before permanently closing in 2017 after filing for bankruptcy. History MC Sports b ...

and Office Depot, the former of which became Circuit City by 1996. Due to space limitations, a portion of the store had to be located across the mall hallway from the rest of the store. It was also the first Circuit City store to be located inside an enclosed shopping mall. Crowley's closed in 2000, followed by Montgomery Ward a year later. Although the mall was still 85% occupied at the time, its tenant roster was largely composed of local stores. Ramco-Gershenson had made a decision to demolish everything except for Kmart, Montgomery Ward, Office Depot, and Circuit City, and replace the rest of the complex with a strip mall. Kmart closed soon afterward, and its former location at the mall was demolished for a

. The former Montgomery Ward was replaced with

and Pier One, while other big box stores such as Lowe's supplanted the rest of the former enclosed mall space. DSW also relocated to a new store on the site of the mall. Media Play became Best Buy, while the former Circuit City slot eventually became a

. The Office Depot closed in 2019, and an

Ulta Beauty Ulta Beauty, Inc., formerly known as Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc. and before 2000 as Ulta3, is an American chain of beauty stores headquartered in Bolingbrook, Illinois. Ulta Beauty carries both high-end and low-end cosmetics, fragra ...

store opened in its place by 2020.

References

{{Shopping malls in Michigan Demolished shopping malls in the United States Southfield, Michigan Shopping malls established in 1968 Power centers (retail) in the United States Shopping malls in Oakland County, Michigan 1968 establishments in Michigan Charles N. Agree buildings