Westfield Old Orchard

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Mall facts and statistics
Westfield Old Orchard

Location	Skokie, Illinois, USA
Opening date	October, 1956
Developer	Philip M. Klutznick
Management	The Westfield Group
Owner	The Westfield Group
No. of stores and services	140
No. of anchor tenants	4
Total retail floor area	1.8 million ft²
No. of floors	1
Website	http://westfield.com/oldorchard

Westfield Old Orchard, formerly Old Orchard Shopping Center, is an open-air upscale shopping center in Skokie, Illinois. It is the third largest mall by total square footage in Illinois.^[1] Its anchor stores are Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Lord & Taylor and Nordstrom. It is currently undergoing a $60 million expansion and reconfiguring expected to open in late 2007.^[2]

Marshall Field's was officially renamed Macy's on September 9, 2006.

1 History
2 List of Expansions
3 Trivia
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

In response to post-WWII suburban expansion, developer Philip Klutzkick, one of the founders of JMB Realty, commissioned Loebl Schlossman and Bennett (now Loebl Schlossman and Hackl) to design Old Orchard Shopping Center at a site with easy access to the new Edens Expressway, which had been constructed to serve suburban dwellers. Old Orchard Shopping Center was first opened in 1956, with Marshall Field's and the The Fair Department Store. The architect's original design treated the center as a community, creating a series of walkways that turned storefronts inward rather than facing them to the parking areas. The irregular mall plan encouraged shoppers to stroll along a path of new discovery with each turn, reflecting the perception of shopping as a social event. Original anchor stores were Marshall Field's and Montgomery Ward. Since many prospective merchants wanted to be near Marshall Field's, the anchor was placed in the center of the site. The Fair company was bought by Montgomery Ward in 1957 and they renamed the store in 1964. The expansion, redevelopment, and remerchandising of Old Orchard Shopping Center, completed September 1, 1995, has completely transformed the mall that North Shore residents have known since 1956. A major portion of the remerchandising was the addition of a Nordstrom department store in 1994 and Bloomingdale's in September 1995, which joined existing anchors Marshall Field's, Lord & Taylor, and Saks Fifth Avenue. The shopping center remained open-air and did not enclose to form a traditional shopping mall as so many others did.

The Westfield Group acquired the shopping center in 2002, and renamed it "Westfield Shoppingtown Old Orchard", dropping the "Shoppingtown" name in [[[June]] 2005. In July 2005, Saks Fifth Avenue closed their store. After initially proposing a massive expansion and reconfiguration, Westfield instead began a more scaled-down $60 million project in July 2006, demolishing the former Saks store in the process. The addition is expected to open late in 2007.

[edit] List of Expansions

1959 Saks Fifth Avenue opens
1978 Saks Fifth Avenue expands to larger store
1979 Lord & Taylor opens
1993 Lord & Taylor expands to larger store
1994 Nordstrom opens
- 242,000 square feet of new specialty retail (including the Cineplex Odeon Theaters)
- Parking deck -- five levels, 1,150 vehicle capacity
1995 Bloomingdale's opens
- 154,000 square feet of new specialty retail
- 600 seat-food court
- Parking deck -- six levels, 2,200 vehicle capacity

[edit] Trivia

Old Orchard is mentioned by Lindsay Lohan's character in the movie Mean Girls, which is set in nearby Evanston, Illinois. The mall in the movie, however, is not set Old Orchard and is set in an enclosed mall.

Old Orchard mall was mentioned as the site of his new store by fictional character P.K. Winsome from The Colbert Report.

A scene from The Weather Man, starring Nicholas Cage, was filmed at the Old Orchard food court.