Westland Mall (Columbus)
| Location | Columbus, Ohio |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 39°57′02″N 83°06′56″W / 39.9505556°N 83.1155556°WCoordinates: 39°57′02″N 83°06′56″W / 39.9505556°N 83.1155556°W |
| Opening date | 1969 (enclosed 1983) |
| Closing date | 2012 |
| Developer | Richard E. Jacobs Group |
| Management | Cyndi L. Perkins, General Manager |
| Owner | The Krone Group, LLC |
| Total retail floor area | 860,000 ft² |
| No. of floors | 1 (2 in anchors) |
Westland Mall was an 860,000-square-foot (80,000 m2) shopping center located on the west side of Columbus, Ohio, at the western intersection of U.S. Route 40 and Interstate 270.
As of November 2012, Westland Mall was reported as closed to all traffic, pending redevelopment of the property.
Westland Mall opened in February 1969 as an open-air shopping center. The original anchor stores were Lazarus, Sears, and JC Penney, as well as Woolworth which acted as a secondary anchor. The Lazarus store, the chain's first suburban operation, had opened as a free-standing location in 1962. The Sears and JC Penney were built, along with the mall, in 1967-1969, and the Lazarus was also expanded at that time. The mall was enclosed sometime in 1982.
The Sears store was constructed as a two-story building, as were the other two anchors, but only the main floor is currently utilized as retail space; the upper level was closed off to customers at some point during the 1980s. At one point the upper level was used as office space for Discover when it was still under Sears ownership.
Westland was one of four directionally-named shopping centers in Columbus, along with Northland (the original mall in Columbus, closed in 2002 and demolished in 2004), Eastland (still in operation), and Southland (a smaller discount-style mall, now closed). All but Southland were constructed and originally operated by the Richard E. Jacobs Group, and featured the same mix of anchor stores.
Although considered a major landmark in the Columbus area, Westland Mall faced many challenges towards the end of the 20th century that would eventually see it lose its status as a premier shopping destination for the city's far west side. It was negatively affected by the opening of the nearby Mall at Tuttle Crossing in 1997, which attracted many customers that may have otherwise shopped at Westland. In particular, JCPenney abandoned Westland for Tuttle, giving the latter a perceived edge; the move gave Tuttle four anchor stores while reducing Westland to two. The Woolworth store, which closed with most of the chain in 1997, became a Staples that closed off the portion of the store that connected to the mall; the interior-facing portion became a Footaction USA. Other major stores, such as Express and The Limited, also left Westland, motivated both by shifting economic fortunes in Columbus as well as an increase in crime around the Westland area. After its enclosure in 1982, Westland never saw another major renovation despite both of its sister malls, Northland and Eastland, receiving facelifts in the early 1990s, and the increasingly dated look of the shopping center also worked against its attracting shoppers and major retailers as time went on.
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