Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Deerbrook Mall- (Deerfield, IL)


Deerbrook Mall is a regional mall in Deerfield, IL, and has turned from typical 80's mall, to an empty, "only known for the grocery store" type of place now. It is anchored by Jewel-Osco, Officemax, Ulta, and TJ Maxx. There have been many stores that have left over the years, most recently The Great Indoors, Best Buy, Old Country Buffet, and Blockbuster. The center is located at the intersection of Waukegan Road and Lake Cook Road, minutes from the prestigious Northbrook Court.

The mall was constructed and opened in 1971 with a Turn Style grocery store, later to be turned into Jewel-Osco and Venture Department Store, which closed January 1989. The primary cause of the malls failure was the reduction of national chains like Service Merchandise, Spiegel's, and Montgomery Ward that caused mall traffic to dwindle. Marshalls clothing store was in the mall, and later changed to TJ Maxx.

The Montgomery Ward Auto Center building was used for Bally's Total Fitness, which closed in 2010, changed to LA Fitness, and closed officially in the summer of 2012.

The former Montgomery Ward and Spiegel space was re-purposed into The Great indoors, a Sears owned indoor furniture and house fixtures superstore, but later with the rest of the chain.

Best Buy closed August 2012.

In 2014, TJ Maxx announced it will relocate out of the mall, which is most likely the final nail in the coffin for Deerbrook Mall.

Here are pictures of the mall from February 2013 and September 2013;

















































Former Montgomery Ward/ Spiegel/ The Great Indoors/ WONDER!

Former Best Buy

Empty lot and former Bally's in distance

Former Border's Books (closed 2011) and Office Depot (closed July 2012)

Halloween store in former Best Buy



Here is my article on the closure of the Deerbrook Mall in June 2015.

Here is my FLASHBACK: article on the vintage Deerbrook Mall.
If anyone has any stories, or pictures of the mall, feel free to post and comment below.

Thank you for reading.


8 comments:

  1. The Deerbrook Mall is now closed, but you can still shop there, just cannot go in to the old center.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UPDATE 7/14/2015- Jewel may open a new store in place of the old one: http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/deerfield/news/ct-dfr-deerbrook-mall-tl-0709-20150714-story.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/deerfield/news/ct-dfr-mod-pizza-deerbrook-tl-0709-20150712-story.html

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think the design of Best Buy is so odd. the way the stone seems to zig zag. I wonder the reason behind this. I would LOVE to see what Bally's looked like when it was the Ward's auto center. curious if it was always 2 floors and what kind of renovations was made.

    ReplyDelete
  5. i have a pic of the empty Bally lot. not sure how to post it

    ReplyDelete
  6. i have a pic of the empty Bally lot. not sure how to post it

    ReplyDelete
  7. Post it to the Facebook page, and don't forget to like it:) https://www.facebook.com/pages/Trip-to-the-Mall/345856342233712

    ReplyDelete