Polaris Fashion Place

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Polaris Fashion Place, opened on October 25, 2001, is a two level shopping mall on the northern edge of Columbus, Ohio. The mall, owned locally by Glimcher Realty Trust, is located off Interstate 71 on Polaris Parkway. The mall's six anchor stores are: Saks Fifth Avenue, Von Maur, Macy's, JCPenney, Sears, and The Great Indoors, along with more than 150 specialty stores, and a food hall located on the upper level. There are also three full-size restaurants: California Pizza Kitchen, Lindey's and Molly Woo's.

The mall was snubbed, however, by local company Limited Brands, which operates stores such as Express, Bath & Body Works, and Victoria's Secret. Not a single Limited store is found at Polaris. This shows the company's strong opposition to the creation of the mall which quickly followed Limited-sponsored Easton Town Center. Polaris, as the mall is referred to locally, is also shunned by many Columbus city residents as an obvious "sprawl" development, placed as far away from the city as possible but is still within the city limits.

Polaris Fashion Place entrance sign in December 2006

Traffic in the Polaris area is notoriously congested. Construction continues around Polaris as of summer 2006, as a new interchange is built on adjacent I-71. The worst situations for potential "road rage" occur when weeknight concerts are scheduled at nearby Germain Amphitheatre, to which concertgoers are flocking just as hundreds of area offices are emptying out during the afternoon rush hour. The combination of construction, concert traffic, commuter traffic and mall traffic generates an overall harrowing experience for many Polaris Fashion Place shoppers.

Polaris Fashion Place is considered by many to be one of central Ohio's main shopping destinations, competing mainly with Easton Town Center, Columbus City Center, and The Mall at Tuttle Crossing.