Eastwood Mall

Eastwood Mall opened in 1969 with Sears, Strouss, Montgomery Ward, and Woolworth as anchors. It was the first mall to feature both Montgomery Ward and Sears.[1] The JCPenney wing was added in 1979.[2] Montgomery Ward closed in 1984, and its building was split among Gold's Gym (now a local gym), Toys "R" Us, and Carlisle's. After Carlisle's closed in 1994 and Toys "R" Us moved to a new store, those spaces both became Dillard's.[3][4][5][6] Target was added onto the mall in 2000.[7] Strouss became Kaufmann's in 1986, and Macy's in 2006.[8]

A food court was added near Macy's in 2006, in conjunction with interior and brand renovations. Kahunaville, which opened at the mall in 1996, closed in March 2007. In late 2007, a three-tank aquarium was added to center court. In 2012, construction began on a Residence Inn by Marriott in the Dillard's wing.[9] Firebirds Wood Fired Grill opened next to the store later that year on December 10.[10] On August 24, 2016, Dillard's was initially closed, but later reopened as a Dillard’s Clearance Outlet.[11] In late 2016, the Cafaro Company added a new wing for their corporate offices and an event center, along with a new Hampton Inn & Suites. Coinciding with these, in 2017, additional renovation of the mall's entrance features and interior occurred.[12]

On October 15, 2018, it was announced that Sears would be closing as part of a plan to close 142 stores nationwide.[13] In 2019, Nickels and Dimes announced that it will close the Tilt Studio location at the mall by December 2019.[14] In 2020, Boscov's announced plans to open a store in the former Sears and Tilt Studio.[15] It opened on October 7, 2021.[16] It makes Eastwood Mall the first and only mall to contain a Boscov's and a Dillard's. In June 2020, it was announced that a cosmetology school would open at the mall. It later opened on July 14, 2020 in the former Kahunaville space. The first floor houses the Aveda retail store and the second floor houses the cosmetology school with elevator and stairs access from the first floor of the retail store.

The Cafaro Company has been seeking investors to embark on the deforestation of an adjacent natural wetland totaling 105 acres, which would be named Enterprise Park at Eastwood. This new tract that will be connected to the existing mall property is envisioned as a mixed-use development that will include residential buildings along with office space for medical, educational, research, health care and other commercial activities.

Despite the main concourse being all one-level, the food court does have a second floor, along with two of the anchors. In addition, the Cafaro Offices have three levels, and the Residence Inn has four levels. Eastwood Mall has 10 elevators total: 2 in Macy's, 2 in JCPenney, 1 in Cafaro Offices, 2 in the Residence Inn, 1 in the food court, 1 in the Aveda Institute, and a freight elevator behind the food court, giving access to the management offices and Aveda Institute. The Macy's elevators are supplied by Otis, the JCPenney elevators are supplied by Dover, the Cafaro Offices elevator is supplied by Otis, the Residence Inn elevators are supplied by ThyssenKrupp Elevator, the food court elevator (and freight elevator) are supplied by Otis, and the Aveda Institute elevator is supplied by Canton Elevator, which sadly had a cab upgrade and call station replacement in 2020 during the conversion to Aveda Institute.

The Eastwood Mall reported 3,200,000 square feet (300,000 m²) of gross leasable space to the International Council of Shopping Centers in 2007, which included it in the list of largest shopping malls in the United States.[17] However, the Directory of Major Malls reports that less than 1.6 million of gross leasable space are enclosed within the mall property itself, disqualifying it from the list. The greater square footage included a separate strip mall, big-box stores and restaurants within the complex adjacent to the enclosed mall structure.[18]

• The Eastwood Mall