Battlefield Mall

Battlefield Mall is an enclosed shopping mall in Springfield, Missouri. Opened in 1970, the mall features 153 stores in 1,202,116 square feet (111,680.2 m2) of mall shop space. The anchor stores are JCPenney, 2 Dillard's stores, and Macy's. There is 1 vacant anchor store that was once Sears. It is managed and owned by Simon Property Group, the successor of the same company that built it.

Battlefield Mall
LocationSpringfield, Missouri, U.S.
Address2825 South Glenstone Avenue
Opening dateJuly 23, 1970 (1970-07-23)
DeveloperMelvin Simon & Associates
OwnerSimon Property Group
No. of stores and services153[1]
No. of anchor tenants5 (4 open, 1 vacant)
Total retail floor area1,202,116 square feet (111,680.2 m2)[1]
No. of floors1 (2 in Dillard's North, J. C. Penney, and Macy's)
Public transit accessBus interchange Springfield Transit Services

History

Melvin Simon & Associates, now known as Simon Property Group, built and developed Battlefield Mall. Their plans had begun in 1963 with a proposed Montgomery Ward department store. By 1968, J. C. Penney and Dillard's had also been confirmed as the second and third anchor stores.[2] After two years of construction, it opened to the public on July 23, 1970. On opening day, the mall was 93 percent occupied, consisting of 685,000 square feet (63,600 m2) of shop space along with the three department stores.[3] Among the tenants of the mall at the time were a McCrory dime store,[4] Piccadilly Restaurants,[5] and Osco Drug.[6] After only five years in operation, the McCrory store was closed and converted to local department store Heer's, which opened there in 1975.[7]

The mall's owners announced an expansion plan in 1979, to consist of over 400,000 square feet (37,000 m2) of mall shops and two new anchor stores.[8] Upon opening in 1982, this expansion added about 85 stores, including a Sears department store and a new location for Dillard's. At the same time, the original location of Dillard's in the mall was sold to Famous-Barr.[9] In 2001, following the closure of Montgomery Ward, Dillard's moved some of its departments into the former Montgomery Ward location, while retaining other departments in the store built in 1982. This new store, known as Dillard's South, opened in 2002. The addition of Dillard's South allowed the chain to offer a greater variety of merchandise between the two stores.[10]

On May 30, 1998, Old Navy opened at the mall.[11] Another anchor store change ensued in 2006 when Federated Department Stores (now Macy's, Inc.) acquired Famous-Barr's parent company The May Department Stores Company, and renamed all of that company's stores to Macy's.[12]

On February 6, 2020 Sears announced after many years in business that it would be closing its Battlefield Mall location in mid April 2020 as part of a plan to close 39 stores nationwide.[13]

Notes
  1. "Do Business at Battlefield Mall, a Simon Property". business.simon.com. Retrieved 2020-05-27.
  2. "Battlefield Mall plans announced". The Springfield News-Leader. March 14, 1968. p. 24. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
  3. "Battlefield Mall ready for customers". The Springfield News-Leader. July 23, 1970. p. 77. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
  4. "Varied lines at McCrory's". The Springfield News-Leader. July 23, 1970. p. 79. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
  5. "Cafeteria Spanish in decor". The Springfield News-Leader. July 23, 1970. p. 79. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
  6. "Osco is called Drug Store Plus". The Springfield News-Leader. July 23, 1970. p. 88. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  7. "Heer's to add branch in Battlefield Mall". The Springfield News-Leader. December 31, 1975. p. 32. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
  8. "Chains commit to Battlefield Mall". The Springfield News-Leader. October 16, 1979. p. 4C. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
  9. "All mall stores expected by Thanksgiving". The Springfield News-Leader. August 11, 1982. pp. Mall–4. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
  10. Poneleit, Sandy Z. (March 3, 2002). "Covering more ground: Dillard's plans grand opening for second Battlefield Mall store this month". The Springfield News-Leader. p. 10. Retrieved September 13, 2002.
  11. "Old Navy at Battlefield Mall sets grand opening for Saturday". The Springfield News-Leader.
  12. Tang, Didi (September 8, 2006). "Famous-Barr's transition to Macy's nears its end". The Springfield News-Leader. p. 1B. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
  13. "Sears announces it will close the Springfield store in the Battlefield Mall". www.ky3.com. Gray Television. February 6, 2020. Retrieved 2020-02-21.

37.1624°N 93.2647°W / 37.1624; -93.2647

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