Washington Square Mall is a shopping mall located 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 i ...

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 Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. It opened October 31, 1963 and was the first enclosed shopping center in

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...

. Developed by Erie Investments, the mall was originally anchored by

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 ...

and an

A & P The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, better known as A&P, was an American chain of grocery stores that operated from 1859 to 2015. From 1915 through 1975, A&P was the largest grocery retailer in the United States (and, until 1965, the la ...

supermarket. Louisville-based Stewart Dry Goods was added, as a second anchor department store, in 1969. This store -as well as the entire chain- was merged with Indianapolis'

L. S. Ayres L. S. Ayres and Company was a department store based in Indianapolis, Indiana, and founded in 1872 by Lyman S. Ayres. Over the years its Indianapolis flagship store, which opened in 1905 and was later enlarged, became known for its women's fa ...

chain in 1980. After the larger Eastland Mall opened in 1982, Washington Square struggled to retain stores. In 1987, the mall was remodeled and expanded to help it compete with the newer mall. The expansion was initially successful and the mall was sold a few years later to Facet Financial. Facing even more department store consolidation, L. S. Ayres closed in January 1992. The location was converted into a Dayton, Ohio-based

Elder-Beerman The Elder-Beerman Stores Corp., commonly known as Elder-Beerman, was an American chain of department stores founded in 1883 and whose last stores closed in 2018. The chain, based primarily in the Midwestern United States, was composed of 31 stor ...

, which held its grand opening in October 1993. This store was shuttered in December 2000, as Elder-Beerman said the mall "lacks a strong tenant base". As a result, vacancy rates at the mall climbed, with much business being lost to Eastland Mall. In 2002, the struggling Washington Square Mall was sold to local real estate developer Gene Hahn. A portion of the former Elder-Beerman store was home to a Values Unlimited discount mart between October 2004 and March 2007. In July 2010, Merchants Outlet Mall opened, utilizing all of the 2-level store space, until its two-year lease expired in 2012. Washington Square Mall was re-branded as Washington Square after it was purchased in November 2016 by a New York-based real estate developer. The new owner is doing business as Evansville Holdings LLC. Hahn Kiefer Real Estate Services will be the leasing agent and property manager. Over the next year improvements were slow to be made, but new parking lot lighting and signage have brought hope to nearby residents. On Thursday, January 4, 2018, Sears Holdings announced they were closing 103 stores nationwide, including their location in Washington Square. On April 8, 2018 the Sears location closed for good in Washington Square Mall. This now leaves the mall with no anchor stores.

External links

Washington Square website

References

{{Evansville, Indiana Buildings and structures in Evansville, Indiana Shopping malls established in 1963 Shopping malls in Indiana Tourist attractions in Evansville, Indiana 1963 establishments in Indiana