Shopping habits changed in the ’50s
Prior to the mid-1950s, Downriver residents had fewer choices when it came to quality shopping. The mom-and-pop stores were the dominant force Downriver up to that time. For that special gift or necessity, residents would have to travel north to downtown Detroit to take part in the happenings offered by Hudson’s, Kern’s, Kresge and others.
Lincoln Park would end up being the pioneer city that would usher in the modern shopping age to our area, and it was an age that showed tremendous growth over a short period of time. Every want or need was now practically at our fingertips, often at a tremendous cost savings (especially when it came to travel and gas).
This new era did come with a cost: many of the local family-oriented businesses have passed into history. Even the stores that comprised much of our shopping pleasure in the 1960s have passed on, in favor of big-box retail which is so commonplace today.
With age comes changes in shopping habits and tastes, but we’ll never forget the stores that came before them. Here is a look at some of our more important shopping plazas through the years.
Lincoln Park Plaza (Fort & Emmons)
The first major shopping center south of Detroit, ground was broken for this site in 1954, with opening a year later.
An original co-anchor tenant at this store was People’s Outfitters, which did not last long, but not due to lack of foot traffic. Detroit-based J.L. Hudson replaced People’s by 1959 and would head the mall for the next 11 years, boasting three levels of merchandise (including a full basement).
Hudson’s closed this location in 1970, moving to the new Southland Mall in Taylor. The location became best known as Farmer Jack from the early 1970s until the early 2000s (although the basement & second floor were off limits for the remainder of its lifetime).
Around 2018, the mall was purchased by an outside firm and began preliminary restoration efforts. However, the firm has differed in their efforts when compared with what the city requires to bring structures up to code. The occupancy rate jumped above 50% in 2023 with the addition of a laser tag business and Jumpp’s Amusement Park (in the former Penney’s location). Current anchor tenants are Great Lakes ACE Hardware and Dollar Tree.
ORIGINAL ANCHOR STORES: J.C. Penney, Kresge, People’s Outfitters
Alan Lori Carpet, American Health Studios, Colarossi Pizzeria, DeLore Hair Fashions, Good Housekeeping Shops, Kinsel’s, Krupa’s Supermarket, Leib Brothers, Lerner Shops, Lincoln Park Plaza Barber Shop, Martin Oil Company, Mary Jane Shoes, Sanders, Shifrin-Willens, Sibley’s Shoes, Vanity Fair, Winkleman’s, Wrigley’s
Sears Plaza, Lincoln Park (1956-2024)
The city of Lincoln Park would claim home-field rule on developing shopping malls barely a year after the brick and mortar dried at Lincoln Park Plaza. Sears, Roebuck and Co. opened here in 1956 (its smaller Wyandotte location continued on until 1976), and the official grand opening of this center occurred the following year.
Per sources, this was likely a land trade deal for the city, as the approximate cost paid for by Sears was $450,000 to the city, which would use the proceeds to construct their police station.
This center pioneered the “sidewalk sale” Downriver by their “Crazy Days” sale initiative, whose initial offering in 1958 was ushered in with radio coverage and parade, including an elephant strolling down Dix-Toledo Road.
In its heyday, the mall housed 35 stores in addition to the Sears location, which was cited in the 1960s as the biggest-grossing Sears store in the world. The mall continued to do well until the mid-1990s, when specialty stores began to leave; topped with the completion of the Fairlane Green complex, nicknamed by locals as “The Hill” in Allen Park, where the majority of remaining stores would move in the early 2000s. Talk then centered around the construction of a possible WalMart store, which Sears would fight in court and win. The center’s last tenant, Dollar Tree, would move across Southfield Road in 2017.
Demolition of the mall portion occured in spring of 2018; later that year, Sears announced the Lincoln Park store would be closed by the start of 2019 as part of the troubled chain’s latest round of closures. Its demolition would be complete by 2024.
ORIGINAL ANCHOR STORES: Kroger, Sears Roebuck & Co.
Albert’s Apparel, Albert’s Market, Awrey Bakeries, Children’s Outfitters, Cunningham’s, Danby’s, Elmar’s Restaurant, Father & Son, Giant Typewriter Mart, Guy Cari’s Beauty Bar, Hot & Kold Shops, Hughes & Hatcher, John Vargas (barber), Kinney Shoes, Kowalski Sausage, Kresge, Maling Shoes, Meyer Jewelry, Nobil Shoes, Richman Brothers, Sew & Save Fabrics, Sherwin-Williams, Sims Menswear, Skyline Restaurant, Star Drapery, Stuart’s, Three Sisters
Southgate Shopping Center (1958)
As early as 1952, the Realty Mortgage and Investment Corporation of Detroit announced that a multi-million dollar Southgate Center would be built at Eureka and Trenton Roads. Constructed by Charles N. Agree in its now-familiar L-shape, it had its grand celebratory opening on October 16, 1957, which featured a German Polka Band, plus a radio remote hosted by noted radio DJ Robin Seymour (the man who would later put “Swingin’ Time” on the local television map).
Wrigley’s supermarket was the first tenant, opening for business in September, 1957. Federal’s department store opened the following month in a separate 80,000 sq ft (7,400 m2) building next to the center. Montgomery Ward was the last store to be built, opened in 1958 and quickly becoming the center anchor for over a generation. At its height, it would hold 35 stores in the mid-1960s.
Changes in retailing (moving away from specialty stores) caused the center to fall on harder times in the 1990s; with Montgomery Ward closing in 2000 and Service Merchandise a couple years later. With the demolition of the Wards building in 2012, that parcel was remade into Market City Park, an amphitheater which opened its first full season in 2016. Shopping center ownership expressed hopes this would help in rejuvenating the complex.
ORIGINAL ANCHOR STORES: Federal, Kresge, Montgomery Ward, Woolworth
A.S. Beck, Al’s Record Shop, Cameras & Gifts, Children’s Outfitters, Cunningham Drugs, Danby’s, Good Housekeeping Shops, Hal’s Coney Island, Hartman’s, Holiday-Flagg Shoes, Irving’s Fabrics, Kinney Shoes, Monroe Optical, National Finance, Oaza Bakery, Queen Quality Coin Laundry, Sanders, Southgate Bank, Suzy’s Hats, Thom McAn, Three Sisters, United Shirt, Vanity Fair, Western Auto Supply, Winkleman’s, Wrigley’s
Southland Mall, Taylor (1970)
Southland Center was designed by Victor Gruen Associates and Louis G. Redstone Associates. Five years in the making and 22 months worth of construction later, it opened in 1970 anchored by a three-level; 272,000-square-foot Hudson’s, along with Kroger and Woolworth. Its first major addition occurred just weeks after its opening: the two-screen Southland 1-2 Theater.
Kroger would vacate by 1975, upon demolition, JCPenney and the eastern store court was constructed in its place. Southland in the 1970s was perhaps as well known for its fountains, bird cage, fish tank and other decorative displays near center court. These were removed by 1981 when the mall underwent its first renovation. Another addition was to the west side, with the debut of Mervyn’s in 1988. The best-known addition was likely “Picnic In The Garden,” a food court that would pre-date Fairlane Town Center’s by several years.
Under new ownership, Southland underwent a major renovation in 2015 which included the construction of an adjacent Cinemark movie theater.
ORIGINAL ANCHOR STORES: J.L. Hudson, Kroger, Woolworth
Albert’s, Artiste Beauty Salon, Athlete’s Foot, Baker Shoes, Dr. Borsand, Brenda K Studio, Candy World, Chess King, Circus World, Corey’s Jewel Box, Detroit Bank & Trust, Elias Brothers Big Boy, Elliott Travel Service, Fanny Farmer Candy, Flagg Brothers, Foxmoor, Franklin Simon, L.G. Haig, Hamby’s Barber Shop, Hot Sam’s Pretzels, Hugh Jarvis Gifts, Jo-Ann Fabrics, Kinney Shoes, Lady Orva Hosiery, Land of Hi-Fi, Lane Bryant, Marianne, Meyer Jewlery, Phillp’s Florsheim, Plum Tree Shops, Petal Pusher, Ray’s Prime Meats, Richman Jewelers, Sallan Jewelers, Sanders, Schiller Millinery, Singer, Sonny’s Hair Fashions, Southland Coney Island, Southland Theater 1 & 2, Suzy’s Hats, Tell Time Shop, Thom McAn, Tie Rack, United Shirt, U.S. Post Office, Van Horn’s, Winkleman’s, Wurlitzer
Southtowne Crossing Plaza (1985)
One of the biggest losses Downriver Communities felt was the closure (in 1984) and demolition (in 1985) of the fabled Michigan Drive-In. This prime plot of land did not stay vacant for long, as the first major plaza to build in Southgate in over twenty years produced Southtowne Crossing.
Two of its anchor stores provided the first local wave of competition in home improvement and toy retailing. Children’s Palace was just getting into the Michigan market, and would attempt to unseat Toys R Us as the predominant children’s toy retailer in the area. On the opposite end of the plaza stood Builder’s Square, the first major competitor to long-time Southgate (and Taylor) mainstay Forest City, in operation since 1971.
The mall would do extremely well for its first few years. Within four years of its opening, Children’s Palace would lose the battle with Toys R Us, but was quickly replaced by the area’s first Best Buy electronics store, itself in direct competition with ABC Warehouse and Radio Shack. Builder’s Square, which was a subsidiary of K-Mart, would begin to lose market share due to further market saturation (Home Quarters and Home Depot) and, with K-Mart spinning off its outside investments, this location would become Southgate’s second HQ location at one time.
Its closure in the early 2000s would hasten the plaza’s eventual demise. With Best Buy relocating to Southland later in the decade, the strip was left with little more than Bo-Rics, Dollar General and Lew Silver Diamond Broker. These businesses would quickly vanish ahead of this mall’s demolition after only 20 years in existence, now replaced by Wal-Mart.
ORIGINAL ANCHORS: Builder’s Square, Children’s Palace, Herman’s Sporting Goods
A.L. Price, Bo-Rics, Dollar Castle, Famous Footwear, Fashion Bug, Gold Nugget Jewelry, Kidsmart, Kliza Hallmark, LaPrima Music, Wear Abouts
Taylortown Shopping Center (1960)
Construction of this mall was likely completed in stages, as the Ecorse & Pardee center boasted an A & P as early as the late 1950s.
Originally named “Green Center” according to a 1962 document, the site became known as Taylortown, perhaps owing to its vast size, as well as homage to Taylor Township, which had not yet been organized as a city. It would reign supreme as Taylor Township’s flagship mall, through the Township’s incorporation as a city in 1968, until Southland Mall’s construction in 1970.
Having fallen on harder times in the mid-1990s, the mall has enjoyed a resurgence of sorts since the mid-2000s, currently anchored by what is now Downriver’s largest trade center, named after the mall itself.
ORIGINAL ANCHOR TENANTS: Federal, W.T. Grant, Woolworth
Ace Budget Store, Baker’s Shoes, Cardland, Children’s Outfitters, Dave’s Barber Shop, Dot Drugs, Fretter Appliance, Dr. C.M. Hardy, Kinney Shoes, Kroger, Sanders, Shiflin-Willens, Skinner Meats, Sim’s Menswear, Sonny’s Beauty Salon, Taylortown Cleaners, Taylortown Laundry, Three Sisters, Dr. R.R. Turner, Winkleman’s
“The Plaza” (Eureka and I-75)
With demolitions through the years of major shopping plazas such as the Shopper’s Fair building at Fort & Pennsylvania,as well as the Yankee plaza at Fort & King, perhaps the most well-known complex in recent times was simply called “The Plaza,” located just east of the former Joshua Doore / Gibraltar Trade Center.
Two entire generations of residents may not have realized that this plaza, at one time, had been bustling between the completion of I-75 in 1967, and the openings of Southland (1970) and Meijer Thrifty Acres (1977).
The last tenants, Concentra Urgent Care and Loyalty Sounds (music supply), departed in 2013. In preparation for the eventual construction of a Menard’s Home Improvement superstore and BJ’s Wholesale Club on the former Gibraltar Trade Center property, this plaza would be leveled at the end of 2015.
ORIGINAL ANCHOR TENANTS: Beckwith Evans, Fandango Hall, Wayne County
Black Shark Pet Shop, Buy-Rite, Color Tile, Concentra, Jack-In-The-Box, Knapp Shoes, MESC, Pier One Imports, Radio Shack, Real Estate One, Scanlan Music, Shattis World Imports, Weight Watchers
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