River Oaks Center

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River Oaks Center is located at the Southeast corner of River Oaks Drive and Torrence Avenue in Calumet City, Illinois. River Oaks Center originally opened in 1966 and was a development of KLC Ventures, a firm that included pioneering developer Philip M. Klutznick and his son Tom. The elder Klutznick had developed Park Forest, Illinois after World War II, as well as Oakbrook Center in Oak Brook in 1959 and Old Orchard Shopping Center in Skokie in 1956.

River Oaks originally opened as an outdoor mall with two major and one minor department stores. The original anchors were Marshall Field and Co. which built a 275,000 square foot store, Sears, and Edward C. Minas Company. The Edward C. Minas Company later closed and was replaced by a Carson Pirie Scott store. The south end of the mall had a Jewel Food Store, which later closed and was replaced by a Theatre and Mc Donald's. There was also an SS Kresge store next to Sears. Kresge's closed in the 1980's and was replaced with a movie theatre also.

Many of the stores in the mall in its first 20 years were outposts of Chicago retailers. Some of these included Chas A Stevens, Baskin, Lytton's, Paddor's, Florsheim Shoes, Evans Furs, Kroch's and Brentano's, and C.D. Peacock. All of these chains have now folded, the last being Evans which the River Oaks location was the last of its two stores to close. (C.D. Peacock has been resurrected but did not reopen its River Oaks store.) Some additional stores in the earlier years were Rosalee, Brooks, Gantos, Chandler's Shoes, Casual Corner, Benneton, Karroll's, Stuart's, Fannie May (still open), The Limited (open), GNC.

In 1984 the mall was expanded when JC Penney moved its store from Downtown Hammond to the Northwest portion of the mall's parking lot. The store was connected to the rest of the mall by a new row of shops.

A food court was added on the enclosed lower level of the mall. This was placed in the former John M. Smyth's Furniture Store space. This Food Court was labeled as the Tower Cafe. A large Tower was built near center court depicting the entrance to the food court. The entrance led to escalators and stairs leading down to the Tower Cafe. Some of the tenants here included Burgerville Junction, The French Baker, Mazzone's Italian, Cookie Co., One Potato Two, Wizzard's Ice Cream Magic, Hickory Farms, and Tape World. However, after two years the Tower Cafe closed due to lack of business.

In the late 1980's and early 1990's then owner JMB Corp. of Chicago had several plans to expand and enclose the outdoor mall. These plans included adding a second level and possibly a fifth department store at the end of the Southeastern wing of the mall. These plans coincided with Chicago's Lake Calumet Airport which would have been just a few miles north of the mall and would have transformed the area around the mall into an office and business hub. However, these plans never materialized and finally in 1993 JMB began a smaller version of the redevelopment which included additional retail space and enclosing the common areas mall. The reconfiguration also modernized the layout of the mall putting stores closer together.

[edit] Expansion/ Renovation

In 1994 the redevelopment was finished. The mall was now enclosed and 80,000 square feet of gross leasable area was added. New retailers opened at the mall and the tenant mix went more upscale bringing some retailers who had not yet located in the Southern Suburbs. These retailers included The Disney Store, Pacific Sunwear, H20 Plus, The Body Shop, Aeropostale, Limited Too, Nine West, The Bombay Company, GAP, Sweet Factory, Victoria's Secret, Gymboree, American Eagle, Mrs Fields, etc. The mall's size was brought up to 1.38 million square feet making it the largest mall in the South Suburbs. A new food court was added on the main level with nine food vendors.

In 1997 the mall was sold to Simon Property Group of Indianapolis. Simon continues to own and manage this mall. The mall is currently anchored by Macy's (formerly Marshall Field's), Sears, JC Penney, Carson Pirie Scott, and a large office building with Westwood College as its major tenant in both the office building and in the former Tower Cafe space.

In January 2006 the Loew's movie theatres at the mall closed when there leases were up. Only Theatres 1-6 next to Sears are currently running. A plan has been in the works to build a large move megaplex at the end of the unanchored Southeast wing of the mall, along with an outdoor restaurant row near the former Mc Donald's. Currently several of the retailers who opened in 1994 have been closing as well.

[edit] Surrounding Area

River Oaks West On the western side of Torrence Avenue is River Oaks West Mall. This was a smaller cousin of River Oaks Center built in the early 1970's also as an outdoor mall. Originally there were no anchor stores here, just a collection of smaller shops many facing an interior courtyard while others faced Torrence. There was also a movie theatre in the back of the mall and another on an outlot. TJ Maxx was the largest store here until 1986 when a Mainstreet (later Kohl's) built a store on the southern end of the mall, taking out a row of smaller shops and restaurants. Just to the north, but in the same parking lot was a Venture and an A&P grocery store. A & P (which had an entry to Venture inside) later closed and was replaced by a Marshalls store. Today River Oaks West has evolved into a more traditional "power center" featuring mostly big box stores facing Torrence.

• Current store listings
  • Bed Bath and Beyond
  • Bennigan's Tavern
  • Big Lots
  • Boston Market
  • Famous Footwear
  • Marshalls
  • Men's Wearhouse
  • Michaels
  • Old Navy
  • Office Depot
  • Panda Express
  • Quizno's
  • Value City Department Store
  • Shoe Carnival
  • Taco Bell/Long John Silvers
  • White Castle

The Landings On the south side of the Little Calumet River is another large shopping center called The Landings. The Landings is just across the border from Calumet City in the Village of Lansing. Built on a former driving range and mini-golf course, the Landings opened in 1987. This mall was at one time planned as an enclosed mall with a similar design as Orland Park Place in Orland Park, IL. However, this center was built as a "power center" with several large "big box" stores with smaller shops and restaurants. The original anchors of this center were Zayre, Highland Appliances, Service Merchandise, Cub Foods, Toys R Us, Kids R Us, Handy Andy, and Designer Depot. Many other retailers have come and gone including Montgomery Ward, Jo Ann, F and M, TJ Maxx, and Petco, though this center continues to do well today.

• Current Store Listing
  • A.J.Wright
  • Anna's Linens
  • Burger King
  • Burlington Coat Factory
  • F.Y.E.
  • FedEx/Kinko's
  • IHOP
  • Old Country Buffet
  • Party City
  • Pay/Half
  • Pier 1 Imports
  • Ultra Foods
  • Wal Mart