Wonderland Village

Wonderland Village is an outdoor shopping center in Livonia, Michigan, United States, a suburb of Detroit. The center is located at the southwest corner of Middlebelt Road and Plymouth Road, approximately one mile south of I-96. Opened in 1959 as the outdoor Wonderland Center, it originally featured Montgomery Ward and Federal's as its major anchor stores. A 1980s renovation enclosed the formerly open-air complex and renamed it Wonderland Mall, by which point the anchor stores were Montgomery Ward, Service Merchandise, and Target. This configuration lasted throughout the late 1990s, by which point the closure of both Service Merchandise and Montgomery Ward had led to a number of vacancies. The center reopened officially in 2007.

Wonderland Village
LocationLivonia, Michigan, United States
Opening date1959 (as Wonderland Center)
2007 (as Wonderland Village)
DeveloperSchostak Corporation
ManagementSchostak Corporation
OwnerSchostak Corporation
No. of stores and services40 +
No. of anchor tenants2
No. of floors1
Public transit accessDDOT 38

History

Schostak Brothers, a real estate company based out of Livonia, Michigan, announced plans to build Wonderland Center in that city in 1958. The company chose to construct a 60-store outdoor mall at the southwest corner of Plymouth and Middlebelt roads. Serving as the anchor stores would be a 215,000-square-foot (20,000 m2) Montgomery Ward and a 80,000-square-foot (7,400 m2) Federal's; other major tenants would include Food Fair and Wrigley supermarkets, along with S. S. Kresge and Woolworth department stores. Many Detroit-based chains would have locations at the mall, including Winkleman's clothing store and Sanders Confectionery, as well as the national shoe store chains Edison Brothers and Thom McAn. A 1958 article in the Detroit Free Press described it as the "largest regional shopping center in western Wayne County".[1] At the time of opening in September 1959, the Montgomery Ward store at Wonderland Center was the largest in the chain.[2] One month later, Federal's opened for business as well. The store was the 31st in that chain.[3]

In 1983, Schostak converted Wonderland from an open-air complex to an enclosed shopping mall. As part of the renovation was a 22-restaurant food court called Eaton Place, in the former location of the Federal's department store which closed in 1980.[4] The new Wonderland Mall was dedicated in November 1986. This renovation added 100,000 square feet (9,300 m2) of gross leasable area. Further renovation in 1989 added a Target store and a movie theater operated by AMC Theatres, followed by Service Merchandise, OfficeMax and Dunham's Sports in the early 1990s. After these latter expansions, Wonderland Mall was 862,000 square feet (80,100 m2) in size and comprised more than 80 tenants.[5]

Schostak continued to renovate Wonderland Mall extensively throughout the 1990s. By the end of the decade, the company relocated some stores from a wing to add entertainment-oriented tenants such as an f.y.e. music store and an indoor amusement park called Jeepers![6] The mall's food court was also redesigned and increased in size by 40%, adding national chain restaurants such as Burger King, Sbarro and Steak Escape.[5] The mall also introduced Cyberspace Safari, a marketing program that allowed patrons of the mall to surf the Web and learn about the Internet.[7] The addition of these entertainment venues soon boosted mall sales 20%.[8]

Despite the increase in sales brought on by the addition of entertainment venues, the mall gained a reputation for crime, which combined with the demise of two anchor stores, led to the mall's downfall. Service Merchandise closed in 1999 with the chain.[9] In 2000, Montgomery Ward closed the last of its stores nationwide; many of the other inline tenants began to close as well. Mazel's, a closeout store, opened at the mall in 2000.[10]

Redevelopment

Wonderland Mall was officially shuttered in 2003, except for Target, Office Max, and Dunham's Sports, the latter two of which closed in 2004. After the mall was closed, plans were announced to demolish the entire structure and an adjacent former Kmart store (which also closed in 2003), and build a new shopping center anchored by a new Target store, as well as a Walmart.[11]

Opponents of the mall's redevelopment held a civic meeting in late 2005, which was interrupted by pranksters shouting epithets,[12] and other opponents picketed in front of the vacant mall.[13] Despite the local opposition, plans were approved for the new shopping center and demolition began in 2006.

Description

The demolition of the old Wonderland Mall made way for construction of the new Wonderland Village shopping center, on which construction began in late 2006. Target opened its new store on July 25, 2007, followed by Walmart a month later.[14] Other tenants which have since opened include Noodles & Company, Qdoba, Verizon, FedEx Kinkos, Dot's, Five Guys, Chili's,[15] and Casual Male XL.[16]

References
  1. "Wonderland is started". Detroit Free Press. November 7, 1958. p. 15. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
  2. "New store opens, Ward to expand". Detroit Free Press. September 17, 1959. p. 9. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
  3. "Federal to open 31st store". Detroit Free Press. October 15, 1959. p. 6. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
  4. "Judging by food, Eaton Place is a success". Detroit Free Press. August 18, 1983. pp. 8B. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
  5. McCloud, John (May 1, 1999). "Jeepers! Wonderland Mall sports fun look". Archived from the original on May 3, 2016. Retrieved December 24, 2010.
  6. "Retail Traffic Mag – Real Reality". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-05-10.
  7. Schostak Brothers Puts The 'Wonder' In Wonderland Mall (Brief article)
  8. "Nreionline.com". Archived from the original on 2007-10-08. Retrieved 2007-05-10.
  9. "Area malls wary of retail bankruptcies". Crain's Business Journal. May 31, 1999. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
  10. HighBeam
  11. Livonia to tackle plans for Wonderland Mall
  12. Pranksters hold up rally in Livonia
  13. Mall proposal divides Livonia
  14. "Two Retailers are Now Open inside Livonia's Wonderland Village shopping district". AmericaJr.com. August 11, 2007. Archived from the original on July 24, 2011. Retrieved December 24, 2010.
  15. "Wonderland Village update". Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-05-10.
  16. Snyder, Christine (January 10, 2008). "Casual Male clothing chain grows in Metro". The Detroit News. Retrieved 2008-03-28.

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