WOODVILLE MALL: NORTHWOOD (TOLEDO), OH
Blake Hutchison's Commentary
Posted July 9, 2007 (user submitted)
Woodville Mall Logo from 1995
I was driving down State Route 51 today, and a few minutes after I crossed I-280, I noticed a mall to my left that looked like it was healthy from the outside, but there were almost no cars in the parking lot. On a Saturday afternoon! This peaked my curiousity, making me think it might be another potential submission.
The mall looks like it was maybe built in the early 80's. One of the things that makes me suspect this is the interior design with heavy focus on natural lighting.
The Woodville Mall (which is actually in the same county as the Woodland Mall in Bowling Green, but much closer to Toledo) is fully anchored, but there are almost no stores between the anchors.
Anchors are Sears, Elder Beerman, and The Anderson's, which is a grocery/hardware/general store (very common in Northwestern Ohio). There is also a Fox Theater, which wasn't open when I was in the mall this afternoon, but had recent showtimes listed, so I assume it's still in business.
The Anderson's has three entrances, one outside, and two in the mall, which are about 100 feet apart (it's not L-shaped or anything) and The larger mall entrance into the mall has been sealed, but you can still see in the windows. The smaller entrance, which has checkout lanes in front of it, is still open into the mall. I am assuming this is an effort to prevent theft, since there are no checkouts at the larger entrance, and The Andersons is not typically a mall store.
The Sears wing is completely bereft of stores other than Sears, with the exception of an investment office that has set up shop here. The movie theater wing has the movie theater and a nail shop closer to the exit, and that's it.
The Elder Beerman wing has about three occupancies other than Elder Beerman. There's a GNC, what I believe was another nail salon, and some store selling windows, which wasn't open. The Elder Beerman itself doesn't look like it has been renovated since the 1980s on the lower level. The signage still has those rounded fonts they used back then, where the E looks like a C with a line (not to be confused with the Euro symbol.)
I think a number of factors have contributed to the decline of Woodville:
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Location - The location is really odd. It's on the outer edge of one of Toledo's outer suburbs. If you drive a half mile east of the mall, there's nothing but fields and grass for miles.
- I-280 closure for over a year, which just happened to occur as Franklin Park renovated and nearly doubled in size. The area of north-east Toledo just north of the Maumee River, and east of Detroit street, is about the same distance from Franklin Park as they are from Woodville. The problem is that for people in this part of town, there really is no practical way to cross the Maumee without using I-280, unless they want to go several miles out of their way, and/or fight congested downtown streets.
- Economic Issues. Oregon and Northwood are nice, but they do not really seem large enough to support a mall on their own. There are also a lot of less affluent neighborhoods just west of Northwood. People in these neighborhoods can't really afford to shop in the mall, and prefer the Great Eastern shopping center, which has stores like Goodwill, Value City, and Dollar General.
I have no idea whether to say the mall looks like it has a chance, or whether to say it is doomed. It looks like it could go either way. The anchors do okay, but they don't necessarily need the mall to survive...
Links
Labelscar.com -
blog entry on the mall
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Del Kuntz’s Commentary:
User submitted Mar 2014After several legal battles between the Woodvill Mall owners (New York)
and the City of Northwood, Ohio the Judge has ruled the Mall is unsafe and is being torn down as we speak (to be completed by May 2014).Sears, the only store left at the mall is closing this July.
Noah Cope’s Commentary:
User submitted Sep 2007Just wanted to add a little to your section on the Woodville Mall.
The Woodville Mall was actually built in the mid-60s, but was renovated in the late 80s/early 90s, which explains the 80s-style decor. It was actually the first mall built in northwest Ohio and was hugely popular in its first couple of decades. However, growth in Toledo tends to span toward the west and south, and while Oregon and Northwood are thriving communities; their residents have a stubborn tendency to to take their shopping dollars to the other side of town.
The mall has seen its ups and downs, but I think I can honestly say it is worse off now than it has ever been...I have literally been going there my entire life, and I don't remember it ever being as dead as it is now.
When I was a kid, in the early 80s, it was still fairly busy and full. Then, as the 80s wore on, and into the 90s, it slowly began to decline. In the late 90s it seemed to bounce back a little...it still had all three anchor stores, which is where a lot of the money comes from in the first place. They also had a lot of mom-and-pop local stores at that time, which are not generally the greatest draw for a mall (but at least it was SOMETHING.) Seems to me like the first major blow was in 1994, when Woolworth closed. My grandmother worked there, and I can recall meeting her for lunch at the Woolworth coffee shop and watching people walk past the window and into the stores across the hall...so it was at least fairly busy as late as then.
Here are some more tidbits about Woodville:
-The ANDERSONS anchor used to be JC Penney. When Penney's left, it sat empty for a time, until Andersons was nice enough to do the community a favor and fill in an unsightly retail gap.
-The theatre IS still open. When the mall was built, it had only two screens...at some point, they divided the two screens, making four cinemas, and severely compromising screen size and seating capacity. The seats there are also notoriously uncomfortable and outdated. However, it still shows first-run movies and charges less than more modern cinemas.
-At Christmas, most of the stores would put model train displays in their front windows. Each store would try to outdo the other. It made for a really cool attraction for kids...and all you saw were electric trains, purely for enjoyment and the love of the season, and it cost you nothing to stop and stare at them--you didn't even have to enter the store. Nowadays, that same space at a mall would be used for ads or displays to get you to come in and buy something.
Just thought you guys might like this info! I am currently writing an essay about the mall, which I can send you when I'm done, if you are interested.
Tony Tertuliani’s Commentary:
User submitted Jul 2007The Woodville Mall actually opened in 1969. It was anchored by JCPenney and Sears. The Andersons General Store, based in nearby Maumee, Ohio, occupies the former JCPenney's space. I do not know about Elder Beerman, but I do know Sears is still operating. The former JCPenney had a gasoline station as well as an auto repair service, and was very large because The Anderson's is huge. The mall is in general disrepair, and is dark and unoccupied. The Sears and Elder Beerman are both one of two in the area, as the only strong mall in the area, Westfield Franklin Park, does not have either. The Toledo Blade ran a story about the mall being purchased, and it is rumored that the Woodville Mall will be turned into a lifestyle center of sorts.
Nancy Koebel’s Commentary:
User submitted May 2007The original poster didn't know when this mall opened. It was built in the mid-70s, although I don't know the year.
One of the original anchors was JC Penney, which relocated to BG from the Woodville Mall in Toledo. That store closed in 2001 or 2002, and I believe might be where Dunhams is now located.
I don't go there often, as it's off my beaten track, but as the writer agreed, it's in a college town and has pretty much of a captive audience. It remains to be seen how long they will stay at their current level, which the last time I was there was maybe 50% occupancy, some local stuff and some chains. The major shopping area in BG is on the south end of town, so having such a distance between the mall and the SuperWalmart could spell trouble.