| Location | Skokie, Illinois, United States |
|---|---|
| Opening date | October, 1956 |
| Developer | Philip Morris Klutznick |
| Management | Westfield Group |
| Owner | 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 (formerly Marshall Field's), Lord & Taylor, L.L. Bean and Nordstrom. It recently underwent a $50 million expansion and reconfiguring that opened in late 2007.[2]
Marshall Field's was officially renamed Macy's on September 9, 2006.
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In response to post-World War II suburban expansion, developer Philip Morris Klutznick 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. Since many prospective merchants wanted to be near Marshall Field's, the anchor was placed in the center of the site. The Fair was bought by Montgomery Ward in 1957 and renamed 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. 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 in the breakup of previous owner Urban Shopping Centers, 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 opened late in 2007. Today, Old Orchard is home to more than 170 stores and restaurants.
On the evening of March 1, 2008, Skokie police shut down and evacuated the Macy's and Nordstrom anchors after a man with a backpack was spotted walking around suspiciously, then leaving without the backpack. Cook County bomb squad was called in to search the mall, but found nothing. [2]