Westland Mall (Columbus)
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Westland Mall is a 860,000-square-foot shopping center located on the west side of Columbus, Ohio, at the western intersection of U.S. Route 40 and Interstate 270. It opened in 1969 as an open-air shopping center, and was enclosed in 1983. The original anchor stores were Sears, JCPenney, and Lazarus (now Macy's), as well as a Woolworth acting as a secondary anchor. All but the JCPenney were free-standing stores on the property before the mall structure was built. Westland was one of four directionally-named malls in Columbus, along with Northland (the original mall in Columbus, closed in 2002 and demolished in 2004), Eastland (still in operation), and Southland (a smaller discount-style mall, now demolished).
Although considered a major landmark in the Columbus area, Westland Mall has faced many challenges in more recent years. It was negatively affected by the opening of the nearby Tuttle Crossing in 1997, which attracted many customers that may have otherwise shopped at Westland. In particular, JCPenney abandoned Westland for Tuttle, giving the latter an advantage in that it had four anchor stores at the time while Westland only had two. The former JCPenney store at Westland is now used for community events hosted by the mall, including a gun show and an annual manufacturer-closeout sale. The Woolworth store, which closed with most of the chain in 1997, became a Staples and no longer has mall access. Other major stores, such as Express and The Limited, also left Westland, motivated both by shifting economic fortunes in Columbus as well as an increase in crime around the Westland area. Currently, Westland Mall is still struggling but trying to re-establish itself as a desirable place to shop.
In January 2007, Macy's announced the closure of several underperforming stores, including the Westland Mall location. This leaves Westland with only Sears as an anchor, making its future even more uncertain.
