Considered one of the oldest malls in Chicagoland, serving many northwest suburbs, located in Norridge, IL, half an hour outside of the city, this mall has a lot of history behind it.
Officially 700,000 square feet, currently anchored by:
Harlem Irving Plaza opened in 1956, named from its location, Harlem Avenue (RT-43) an Irving Park Road (RT-19). The original stores were W.T. Grant, Kroger, Walgreens pharmacy, Wieboldt's, and Woolworths including 45 some specialty stores.
In 1975, the mall began renovations and took a 4 year initiative to transform the mall from open-air to an enclosed, air conditioned mall, mostly to trend as many other malls were being built and becoming enclosed around the country.
In 1979, Madigan's opened a department store in the plaza.
In 1987, Mainstreet opened a store in the plaza, yet a year later, in 1988, Kohl's bought the chain and converted the store to the Kohl's nameplate.
Also, Wieboldt's liquidated all there stores in 1987 and Carson Pirie Scott replaced the plaza's location in 1988.
In 1996, a food court was added to the mall and Woolworth, the last original anchor, closed as the rest of the nations stores liquidated.
In the mid-90's, Best Buy replaced the Madigans department store.
In 2001, Best Buy relocated to the parking lot and a new parking deck was built on the old Best Buy location.
In 2004, Target opened its first store in Norridge at the HIP, which included a major renovation of the interior and exterior, and the marketing campaign, to call the mall the "HIP", which clearly stands for Harlem Irving Plaza.
In 2012, construction was planned to demolished the old bank building near the Carsons and Kohl's, to add a new wing to the plaza. The new addition would include Sports Authority, a fitness center, Red Robin restaurant, and many smaller stores to utilize the space.
Here are some pictures of the mall in 2012 and 2013:
If anyone has any of their own stories or photos, feel free to email me or post below, and thank you for reading.
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