Northland Center

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Mall facts and statistics
Northland Center

Location	Southfield, Michigan, USA
Opening date	1954
Developer	J.L. Hudson Company
No. of stores and services	110
No. of anchor tenants	3
Total retail floor area	2 million ft² Macy's - 500,015 ft² Target - 117,000ft² NWL - ? ft² former JCPenney - ? ft²
No. of floors	1
Website	http://www.shopatnorthland.com/

The Northland Center is a shopping mall located at Northwestern Highway and Greenfield Road in Southfield, Michigan, USA, a suburb of Detroit. Construction began in 1952 and the mall opened on March 22, 1954.

Northland was a milestone for regional shopping malls in the postwar United States. Designed by Victor Gruen, it became the model for many other major malls, with 110 stores on two levels clustered around a four-level Hudson's Department Store anchor, and surrounded by the parking lot. The Northland opening has been identified as the beginning of suburban sprawl within the country. Northland also contains Michigan's largest Macy's department store with 500,015 square feet on four levels.

The mall has continuously operated since its opening. Currently, Macy's, National Wholesale Liquidators, and Target Corporation are among the anchor tenants.

1 History
2 Current operations
3 Anchors
4 Former anchors
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] History

The Northland Center mall was built by J. L. Hudson Company, a major retail department store based in Detroit that went on to become the second largest department store (next to Macy's of New York City) in the United States. At the time Northland opened, Hudson's store in downtown Detroit was its sole location and sales were suffering due to the spread of the community outward from the city's core.

The Northland opening was the first major postwar development in suburban Detroit and was the first of many forays into the suburbs by Hudson's. Some $30,000,000 was invested in constructing the facility. The first-year gross for the Northland Hudson's was $88,000,000.[1]

The downtown Hudson's store closed in January, 1983 and was demolished in October, 1998. Hudson's merged with Dayton's of Minneapolis to form the Dayton-Hudson Corporation (now Target Corporation), was re-branded as Marshall Field's in 2001 and renamed Macy's on September 9, 2006 after Marshall Field's then-parent company May Department Stores was acquired by Federated.

Designed by Victor Gruen, the mall opened to much fanfare. Articles about the center appeared in national media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, Look, Life, Ladies Home Journal and Newsweek. All heralded that the concept represented the future of shopping in post-war America. Besides Hudson's, Northland opened with a number of other prestigious local retailers including: Hughes & Hatcher, Baker's Shoes, Himelhoch's, Winkelman's, Kresge, Robinson Furniture, Better Made Potato Chips, Kroger, and Sanders in the two-million-square-foot center. Northland featured auditoriums, a bank, post office, infirmary, sculptures, fountains, an office for lost children, lavish landscaping, and free gasoline for certain customers.

Gruen would later grow disenchanted with the malls he helped start with Northland. The architect, who also designed suburban Detroit's Eastland Center, Chicago's Randhurst and South Jersey's Cherry Hill Mall, pronounced himself disillusioned with the ugliness and fast-buck approach of many projects. "I refuse to pay alimony for those bastard developments," he told Time Magazine.[2]

Northland center was enclosed in 1974, gaining a JCPenney and Montgomery Ward in the process). Later additions included Main Street (later Kohl's), TJ Maxx, Target, and in 1992, a food court. Despite the additions, Northland has suffered a natural decline as its buildings aged. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, major tenants such as Circus World, Waldenbooks, Victoria's Secret, Jo-Ann Fabrics and The Limited vacated their operations, as did anchor tenants Montgomery Ward, Kohl's (closed ca. 1995), Kresge and J.C. Penney (closed 2000). Beginning in 2000, some $120,000,000 was invested in revitalization of the area by GP Northland II, a New Jersey-based partnership, which took control of operations that year.

[edit] Current operations

Northland's current operations include three anchor department stores, listed below. In addition, the mall features over 100 retailers, a food court with seven restaurants, and a small outdoor court.

Northland's operations have been affected by the urban decay that has enveloped the southern Southfield area; however, the mall remains a viable, successful center, with sales per square foot well above the national average. Foot Locker, Payless ShoeSource, Radio Shack, Jeepers! (a children's entertainment complex similar to Chuck E. Cheese's), Subway, and Mrs. Fields are among the chain tenants at Northland.

The mall is open 10:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. on Sunday and holidays.