Steve Sargent’s Commentary:

One quick correction to the original poster...the mall was built in 1976, not 1978.  One of the very few tidbits of history available online is an article about the Star Wars craze in 1977, and how stores in the Traverse City area were unable to keep up with the toy demand that Christmas, including those in the mall.  That article can be found here (scroll down to the bottom, then up just a tad for the Cherryland Mall entry): http://plaidstallions.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html

I moved to Traverse City at the age of 10 in 1990.  At the time, Cherryland was still a vital mall.  I remember going into Waldenbooks, Mr. Bulkys, Aladdin's Castle arcade Foot Locker, Camelot Music, and many more.  There was no food court in the mall, however there was a restaurant right across from K-Mart.  There was a fountain you could toss pennies into directly in front of Pranges/Younkers.  In the mall parking lot were (and still are) a Burger King, a Huntington Bank, and a restaurant space that has changed hands what seems like dozens of times over the years.  It is currently vacant.

In 1992, Grand Traverse Mall opened on the west side of town, as retail development moved to that side during the 90's.  In a short span, Horizon Outlet Center and a strip mall with Wal-Mart, Toys R Us, Borders, Home Depot, and Circuit City opened around the new mall.  Cherryland began being called the "old mall", while the GT Mall was the "new mall".   Slowly most of the retailers moved out of Cherryland, either to the new mall or just out of business completely.  Oddly enough, several years ago Fashion Bug moved from GT Mall to Cherryland, though it's been out of business for a few years now.

In 2000, the decision was made to turn Cherryland into a strip mall.  Sears took over a good portion of its wing of the former mall.  Other than the anchors, the only store to stay in business was a lingerie store called Ravissant.  A GameStop, Fashion Bug, Bath and Body Works, Sam Goody, and Quiznos were added to the new shopping center.  As the other posted wrote, the back of the mall remained the same, while the front was almost entirely redone.  The only true part of the original mall left is one hallway to the immediate left of K-Mart.  It's the only spot with the original tiling.

Over the last decade, the newly renamed Cherryland Center starting losing stores again.  Sam Goody died out, Fashion Bug did the same.  As of right now there are only empty stores from Sears to Younkers, save the Bath and Body Works.  The Toms grocery store closed in 2010.  The owners of the mall went into default with the mall, and the mall is now being handled by Wells Fargo. This is echoed by the outlet mall previously mentioned, as it is nearly vacant as well.  Grand Traverse Mall holds on, despite a Target wing with a nearly empty right hand side, and an owner that has declared bankruptcy.  Shopping center retail in Traverse City is certainly challenged at the moment.

Tim Ulrich’s Commentary:

Cherryland Mall opened in Traverse City, Michigan in 1978 as the first enclosed shopping mall in northern Michigan. It featured the following anchors: K-Mart, Sears, Pranges, and Kroger (not accessible from inside the mall - external entrance only). In the early 1980's the Sears expanded and underwent several remodels. Sometime in the late 1980's the Pranges became a Younkers and the KMart was remodeled. There were only 30 or 40 stores in the mall at its peak in the 1980's and early 1990's. In 1992 a larger mall (100+ stores, JC Penney, Hudsons (now Macy's), Target, TJ Maxx, Multi-Screen Cinema, and a large food court with a carousel) opened on the same road a few miles away and this quickly syphoned traffic away.&n
bsp; The mall continued to get traffic to Sears, but most people avoided the mall entirely because many of the stores had set up a second location in the newer mall (Grand Traverse Mall) which was in a more convenient location for shoppers from neighboring towns. Eventually many of the national chains began closing their Cherryland locations (
i.e. Footlocker) and this led to lower foot traffic in the mall itself. In 1998, the mall underwent a transformation of its signage / advertising but this did not improve its fortunes. In 2000 all mall tenants were notifies that it was being converted to a "power center" format. Sears expanded its storefront (at the time one of the smaller Sears stores) by taking over most of the space from the mall. The remainder of the mall was converted into an open-air format. Oddly enough, the Younkers did not do any remodeling and still (as of 2000 timeframe) appeared to be from the late 1970's/early 1980's. The mall reopened as "Cherryland Center" and still features the Sears, KMart, and Younkers with a local grocery store (Tom's Food Market) as the other main tenant. The rear of the mall still contains much of the original concrete block look whereas the front has been convert
ed from a stone veneer, wood, and concrete block look to a painted stucco or concrete type look. The interior of the mall originally had large skylights, a fountain, and several wishing wells as well as an area of a stage but none of that remains. I suspect that you might still be able to see portions of the original mall hidden behind the new facade from an aerial vantage point, but I have not flown over the mall in 8 years.