Bellevue Park Plaza Shopping Center

Belleville, Illinois - circa early '60s

Shop & park free, at Bellevue Park Plaza! A little strip center that opened in 1970 (current aerial), and is still there today. Below is the plaza as it looks today (via LoopNet), from almost the same angle as the one above...

Plaza today

As you can see, the current stores include the typical generic type of modern lineup (i.e. boring): CVS, Rent-A-Center, Blockbuster Video, Dollar General, Fantastic Nails, First Payday Loans, Verizon Wireless, Jackson Hewitt Tax Service and Dollar Tree. Yuck!

Retro Mall Video: Fox Valley Center (aka Westfield Fox Valley)

1983 Fox Valley Center TV spot

A wacky 1983 Chicago television commercial for the Fox Valley Center mall (aka Westfield Fox Valley), in Aurora, Illinois--using generic Muppet-like local puppet talent.

The mall's current anchor stores are: Carson Pirie Scott (originally a Lord & Taylor), JCPenney, Macy's and Sears.

Mall history: 1975 - present
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Info from Wikipedia
Previous entries: none

MOA Galleria - Dixie Square Mall Montgomery Wards

Montgomery Wards interior

(©2001 Christopher W. Trice)

Funky interior design--'70s shopping mall style! Back in 2001 photographer, Christopher Trice, documented the abandoned remnants of the Dixie Square Mall in Harvey, Illinois, for his "Dixie Square Mall Series". Here are a couple of the Montgomery Ward images from it that I dug due to the obviously frozen-in-time state of vintage '70s (or '60s?) decor they capture--interior store design still left over from retail days long gone by.

Men’s Jackets, Montgomery Wards

(©2001 Christopher W. Trice)

Of this series Trice said: "My work at Dixie Square Mall is an effort not to find beauty, but to create it." Tough assignment from the looks of things.

Here's an overview from the site I found these photos at:

"In The Dixie Square Mall Series, Christopher Trice examines the space and socioeconomic import of a long-abandoned shopping center in one of Chicago’s south suburbs. Dangling wires, fallen ceiling tiles, and peeling wallpaper evidence the decay of otherwise familiar store interiors now ravaged by vandals and weather alike. Yet the attention to color and closely controlled composition of Trice’s photographs transcend the merely documentary, generating a beauty otherwise absent from this crumbling structure."

More Dixie Square Mall: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Louis Joliet Mall (aka Westfield Louis Joliet)

Joliet, Illinois - circa late '70s

Family shopping trip... late-seventies style! Welcome to Louis Joliet Mall, or Westfield Louis Joliet, as it's officially known these days (naturally). This photo is from a print ad dating to around the late 1970s or so. Here's the ad copy:

"Whatever you have in mind, we have in store. Explore Louis Joliet Mall and find more of what you're looking for. More choices. More variety. More of the latest fashions in over 100 fine stores. Plus a mouth-watering variety of foods to suit every taste. Convenient services that put an end to driving all over town. And exciting special events. So when you're looking for more, discover... Louis Joliet Mall

More than 100 fine shops and services including Sears, Marshall Field's, Bergner's, and J.C. Penney"

Here's some excerpted history from its Wikipedia page:

"The mall opened in 1978 (August 2) with Sears and Marshall Field & Company. Bergner's opened in September 1979, and JCPenney would move from downtown to the mall one month later. In the beginning, Louis Joliet Mall had stiff competition from the slightly older mall a few miles away on Jefferson Street, Jefferson Square Mall.

The Westfield Group acquired the shopping center in 2003, and renamed it 'Westfield Shoppingtown Louis Joliet', dropping the 'Shoppingtown' name in June 2005. However, most locals do not use the Westfield name for the mall. Many call it 'Joliet Mall', or 'Louie Mall'."

Mall history: 1978 - present
Developer: Homart Development
Current website: here
Current aerial view
Info from Wikipedia
Reference links: 1, 2
Previous entries: none

The Daily Mall Reader: Joliet Mall Makeover

A daily dose of mall-related reading...

"Joliet Mall Overhaul In Works"
'Lifestyle centers' may be the trend, but Westfield has plans to stay competitive

The Herald News - March 13, 2007

(Excerpt) JOLIET -- Lifestyle malls, with their fancy architecture and enticing boutiques, may be trying to woo shoppers away from the boxy, old malls, but not everyone is willing to lose business to the latest retail mistress.

Westfield Group, the Los Angeles-based company that owns Westfield Louis Joliet, is planning not only to update the interior of the 29-year-old building but also to construct a new shopping plaza and movie theater.

"New elements, new life, new energy," is how Catharine Dickey, a Westfield spokeswoman, described the plan.

Read the full article here.

Jefferson Square Mall

Joliet, Illinois - 1981

Interior view of the now defunct, Jefferson Square Mall, as it looked back in 1981, which is pretty snazzy, I must say! Here's a small snippet from the shopping center's entry over at Dead Malls, where you can read an excellent history of the place if you're interested in all the details (I mainly just like looking at pretty pictures myself, lol):

"Built in 1975 as the first enclosed mall in Joliet, Illinois, a city about 45 miles southwest of Chicago's Loop, Jefferson Square Mall boasted 65 stores, Walgreen's, Woolworth's, Wieboldt's, and Montgomery Ward. The mall was built such that the central court had four branches off it.

The central court was oriented such that the north and east wings branched off at the northeast end, and the south and west wings branched off at the southwest end. At the northeast end of the court was a bandshell with a water feature around it, and at the southwest end was a kiosk with four shops. Between was open space."

Mall history: 1975 - 2006 (redeveloped)
Current website: n/a
Current aerial view: n/a
Info from Wikipedia
Previous entries: none