Wonderland Village

Wonderland Village

Infobox shopping mall
shopping_mall_name = Wonderland Village


image_width =
caption =
location = Livonia, Michigan, United States
opening_date = 1959 (Mall)
2007 (Village)
closing_date = 2003 (Mall)
developer =
manager = Schostak Corporation
owner = Schostak Corporation
number_of_stores = more than 40 planned
number_of_anchors = Wonderland Mall - 5
Wonderland Village - 2, plus 1 future
floor_area = TBD
floors = 1
website =

Wonderland Village is a shopping center that is currently under construction in Livonia, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, Michigan, United States. The center is located at the southwest corner of Middlebelt Road and Plymouth Road, approximately one mile south of I-96. Wal-Mart and Target serve as anchor stores, with more retail space being added in 2008.

From 1959 until 2004, a shopping mall called Wonderland Mall (previously Wonderland Center)Water Winter Wonderland: [http://water-winterwonderland.com/wonderlandmall.asp Wonderland Mall - R.I.P] ] operated on the site. Originally an outdoor shopping center, Wonderland Mall was enclosed and expanded in the 1980s (with a second renovation in the late 1990s), although loss of major anchor stores and competition from nearby Westland Center caused Wonderland Mall to decline, eventually being classified as a dead mall. The old center was closed in 2004 and demolished a year later for construction of the current shopping center.

History

Wonderland Center opened as an open-air shopping center in August 1959 [ [http://www.retailers.com/news/retailers/06may/mr0506reretailers.html Michigan Reatiler - Re: Retailers] ] [http://retailtrafficmag.com/mag/retail_jeepers_wonderland_mall/ Jeepers! Wonderland Mall Sports Fun Look] ] , on the site of a former airport. The center, at the time, featured Montgomery Ward and Federal Department Store (Federals) as its anchor stores. Other early tenants included S. S. Kresge Corporation and F. W. Woolworth Company, as well as a Farmer Jack supermarket. Federals closed in the 1970s and was replaced with Folands, a catalog showroom chain. Farmer Jack closed in the late 1970s and was replaced with a restaurant called Spaghetti Company in 1977. S. S. Kresge closed its store at the mall in the early 1980s, with Designer Depot taking its place.

Other than the changes in anchor stores, Wonderland Center was largely unchanged, and by the 1980s, the mall was considered outdated in appearance; in addition, it was largely an outdoor complex, and was thus considered undesirable in Michigan's cold winter weather. The Schostak Corporation of Southfield, Michigan purchased Wonderland Center in 1983 and began renovations, enclosing the center and adding more than convert|100000|sqft|m2|-4 of retail space being added. After renovations were completed in 1985, the complex was re-named Wonderland Mall. Target, AMC Theatres, and a food court were added in 1989, while Service Merchandise replaced Foland's, which closed in the early 1990s. Dunham's Sports and Office Max were added in the early 1990s as well, bringing the mall up to convert|862000|sqft|m2|-2 in size.

Renovation and Downfall

Schostak continued to renovate Wonderland Mall extensively throughout the 1990s, in attempts to maintain the center's viability as a competitor to nearby shopping centers, such as Westland Center. The mall's food court was rebuilt in the late 1990s, and new tenants such as American Eagle Outfitters, Old Navy and Bath & Body Works were added, as well as a discount store called Mazel's. Woolworth closed in 1997 and was soon replaced with f.y.e.; in addition, an indoor amusement park called Jeepers! was opened as part of an attempt to add entertainment options to the mall. [http://retailtrafficmag.com/mag/retail_real_realityreal_reality/ Retail Traffic Mag - Real Reality] ] The mall also introduced Cyberspace Safari, a marketing program that allowed patrons of the mall to surf the Web and learn about the Internet. [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb279/is_199705/ai_hibm1G147342395 Schostak Brothers Puts The 'Wonder' In Wonderland Mall (Brief article)] ] The addition of these entertainment venues soon boosted mall sales 20%. [ [http://nreionline.com/mag/real_estate_retail_8/ RETAIL] ]

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; the space was originally slated to be replaced with Burlington Coat Factory, one of several anchor stores which was proposed but never came to fruition. In 2000, Montgomery Ward closed the last of its stores nationwide; many of the other inline tenants began to close as well.

Redevelopment

Wonderland Mall was officially shuttered in 2003, except for Target, Office Max, and Dunham's Sports; the latter two stores 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 Wal-Mart Supercenter. [ [http://www.detnews.com/2005/metro/0509/20/B01-319123.htm Livonia to tackle plans for Wonderland Mall] ] [http://americajr.com/news/wonderlanddemolition.html AmericaJr.com : Update: Wonderland Mall demolition is underway] ]

The Wal-Mart proposal was met with opposition by members the community, who cited the nearby presence of another Wal-Mart store; [ [http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/news/20050810-dfp.html Wake Up Wal-Mart: Wal-Mart plan spurs backlash] ] other residents simply did not want a 24-hour Supercenter in their neighborhood. [ [http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/news/20050811-tlo.html Wake Up Wal-Mart: Hundreds share anger over Wal-Mart Reputation, clientele fuel opposition to move] ] Opponents of the mall's redevelopment held a civic meeting in late 2005, which was interrupted by pranksters shouting epithets; [ [http://www.detnews.com/2005/metro/0511/04/B06-371725.htm Pranksters hold up rally in Livonia] ] other opponents picketed in front of the vacant mall. [ [http://www.detnews.com/2005/wayne/0509/17/B02-313889.htm Mall proposal divides Livonia] ] Despite the local opposition, plans were approved for the new shopping center; [ [http://www.amren.com/mtnews/archives/2005/09/livonia_board_a.php Livonia Board Approves Plans for New Wal-Mart] ] demolition of the old mall began in 2006.

Present-day

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 Wal-Mart a month later. Other tenants which have since opened include Chili's, InkStop, [ [http://www.clementscircle.org/ClementsCircle/News_and_Events/1FDFF74E-CACD-44A1-9EB7-667C60918130.html Wonderland Village update] ] and Casual Male XL. [cite web |url=http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080110/BIZ/801100323 |title=Casual Male clothing chain grows in Metro |accessdate=2008-03-28 |last=Snyder |first=Christine |date=2008-01-10 |work=The Detroit News]

References

External links

* [http://www.schostak.com/portfolio/wonderland_village.html Information on Wonderland Village from Schostak Brothers & Company official website]


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