Westfield Old Orchard

Westfield Old Orchard
Location Skokie, Illinois, United States
Coordinates 42°3′33″N 87°44′58″W / 42.05917°N 87.74944°W
Address 4905 Old Orchard Center, Skokie, IL 60077
Opening date 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 1,788,919 sq. ft.
No. of floors 1 (Anchors have 2 or more floors)
Website http://westfield.com/oldorchard

Westfield Old Orchard, formerly Old Orchard Shopping Center, is a shopping center in the Chicago metropolitan area. It is located in the northern suburb Skokie, Illinois.

Its anchor stores are Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Lord & Taylor, and Nordstrom.

It recently underwent a $50 million expansion and renovation, with a grand reopening in late 2007.[1]

History

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 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. Saks Fifth Avenue opened a store here in 1959. Under Montgomery Ward, The Fair was renamed in 1964. Under this ownership, Montgomery Ward opened a store at the center as an anchor.

Saks Fifth Avenue expanded its store in 1978. Lord & Taylor opened a store at Old Orchard in 1979. The Montgomery Ward closed in 1988. In 1991 Nordstrom announced plans to open its second Chicago area location at Old Orchard. In addition to the 200,000 square foot Nordstrom, Old Orchard also expanded the mall by 100,000 square feet as part of a $200 million expansion.[2] This allowed for an additional 62 stores to open. Following the Nordstrom announcement Old Orchard also announced plans to bring in a fifth tenant: Bloomingdales. A number of other tenants also underwent renovations, including Crate & Barrel and The Limited.[3] Lord & Taylor relocated and expanded its store in 1993.

The expansion, redevelopment, and remerchandising of Old Orchard Shopping Center, completed September 1, 1995, completely transformed the mall that North Shore residents had 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. A four story parking ramp was opened and so was a movie theatre. The shopping center remained open-air and did not enclose to form a traditional shopping mall as so many others had.[4]

The Westfield Group acquired the shopping center in 2002 following 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 its 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. Marshall Field's was officially renamed Macy's on September 9, 2006.

Old Orchard Center made news when on the evening of March 1, 2008, Skokie police shut down and evacuated the Macy's and Nordstrom stores 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 nothing was found and the wings were reopened without incident.[5]

In 2009, the Chicago Transit Authority publicly announced the possibility of extending the Yellow Line to include a stop at Old Orchard. A public comment period concluded on October 27, 2009.[6] An Environmental Impact Statement was to be prepared. As of January 2014 no announcements have been made stating whether the proposed Old Orchard station plans will move forward.[7]

List of anchor stores

Stores and restaurants

Westfield Old Orchard features a variety of mall stores and restaurants.

Tenants include junior anchors Barnes & Noble, Forever XXI, LL Bean, and Crate & Barrel.

Other stores include Sephora, Zara, Henri Bendel, Hugo Boss, Rolex, Tesla Motors, Apple, Tiffany & Co., Brooks Brothers, Coach, L'Occitane en Provence, Swarovski, Akira, Tumi, Janie & Jack, See's Candies, North Face, Abercrombie & Fitch, Lucy Activewear, Teavana, Armani Exchange, Vera Bradley, Papyrus, Talbots, Pottery Barn, American Eagle Outfitters, Williams-Sonoma, Vans, Lacoste, The Art of Shaving, Brookstone, Banana Republic, Madewell, J. Crew, lululemon athletica, Foot Locker, Lucky Brand Jeans, Bath & Body Works, Splendid, Michael Kors, Anthropologie, C.D. Peacock Jewelers, Victoria's Secret, Yankee Candle Company, and Lush, amongst many others.[8]

Food options can be found throughout the shopping center. Options include Noodles and Company, Godiva, Subway, Cinnabon, Starbucks Coffee, Cheesecake Factory, California Pizza Kitchen, McCormick & Schmick's, Roka Akor, and Corner Bakery Cafe.

In addition to its stores and restaurants Old Orchard also brings in visitors due to it having community attractions like Corepower Yoga, an Aveda salon, and a Regal Entertainment Group movie theatre which has screens in two locations. During the winter months it also installs an ice rink.

List of expansions

Bus connections

CTA

Pace

In Popular Culture

Old Orchard is referenced by name in Mean Girls, which takes place in the North Shore neighborhoods of Chicago. However, in the film the mall is shown as being an enclosed center. This is because the scenes were actually filmed at Sherway Gardens in Toronto.[9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Chicagobusiness.com
  2. ↑ http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1991-08-14/business/9103280512_1_nordstrom-vice-president-jmb-woodfield-mall
  3. ↑ http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1994-10-07/business/9410070328_1_woodfield-mall-new-specialty-stores-john-nordstrom
  4. ↑ http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1991-12-20/business/9104240162_1_wards-store-oakbrook-center-jmb-realty-corp
  5. ↑ Bradley, Ben (March 1, 2008). "security scare at skokie illinois shopping mall". ABC7Chicago. Retrieved August 17, 2012.
  6. ↑ http://www.transitchicago.com/yelloweis/default.aspx
  7. ↑ http://www.transitchicago.com/yelloweis/abouttheproject.aspx
  8. ↑ http://www.westfield.com/oldorchard/map
  9. ↑ http://torontoist.com/2008/09/reel_toronto_mean_girls/

External links