Considering the only mall in the city of Toledo, and the finest in terms of stores and location, Franklin Park Mall is a great place to shop. There have been many malls in the city and surrounding area, most of which, have closed and have been demolished in recent years. Franklin park sits along Monroe Street and Interstate 475. Current anchor stores include Macy's, JCPenney, Dillard's, and Dick's Sporting Goods.
Franklin Park Mall opened in 1971 on what was the grounds of the former Franklin Airport. Original anchor stores were Hudson's, JCPenney, and local department store, Lamson Brothers. The mall about 940,000 square feet and had 75 inline stores. At the time, the JCPenney was one of the largest in the chain.
In 1974, Lamson Brothers went bankrupt and was replaced by Jackson, MI- based department store chain, Jacobson's.
In 1993, the mall was significantly remodeled with the addition of a new wing anchored by The Lion Store. In 1998, The Lion Store was renamed by Dillard's after buying the parent company, Mercantile Stores Company, INC.
In 2001, the Hudson's store was renamed Marshall Field's, and the mall was bought by Westfield Group. Jacobson's went bankrupt and closed its location in early 2002, days before Westfield announced the takeover of the mall property.
The former Jacobson's Department Store was torn down in 2004 for a 100 million dollar renovation that included the addition of Dick's Sporting Goods, new Theater, new food court, and Borders Books.
Marshall Field's was renamed Macy's in 2006.
In 2008, Westfield announced it would add DSW Shoes, Ulta Beauty, and Old Navy to the outside of the mall in another addition.
Borders closed in 2011, and was replaced by Forever XXI, which relocated from a smaller store in the mall.
The mall was sold off from Westfield to a new property owner and reverted to its original name, Franklin Park Mall.
Here are Pictures of the mall from March 2014:
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| New concept store, won't see many of these any more |
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| Former The Lions Store |
If anyone has any questions or comments, feel free to post below.
Thank you for reading.
Wow, that architecture on the JCPenney.... Unreal. Almost makes you wonder what they were thinking. I bet the inside is dated a bit too?
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