EUCLID SQUARE MALL: EUCLID, OH
Toby Radloff's Commentary
Posted January 8, 2006 (user submitted)
Euclid Square Mall opened in March of 1977, on a former industrial site.
The mall was anchored by May Company and Higbee's, and had almost 100 stores.
The mall did well up until the mid-1990's, when tenants started moving out. The
main competition for Euclid Square Mall was Great Lakes Mall in Mentor, about
10 miles east of Euclid Square, and Richmond Mall (later renamed Richmond Town
Square) in Richmond Heights, about 4 miles south. Euclid Square Mall had the
usual mix of mall tenants, including Walden Books, Kay Bee Toys, Record Town,
shoe stores, clothing stores, etc. There was no food court, but food tenants,
including Burger King, Arby's, York Steak House, etc. were all over the mall.
There was also the "Euclidian Room", which was used for meetings and community
events. Euclid Square Mall started dying when Kaufmann's (formerly May
Company) closed its store in 1998, shortly after they opened a new store at the
newly remodeled (and renamed) Richmond Town Square, itself a once-dying mall
that Debartolo never put much money into, but Simon extensively remodeled.)
Euclid Square Mall was once owned by Jacobs, Visconsi, and Jacobs, then was
sold to Heywood Whichard once the mall started losing tenants big time.
Dillard's (formerly Higbee's) became an outlet store, and is still open.
Otherwise, by the beginning of 2003, the mall pretty much closed. Tenants on
outlets included a Fazio's supermarket (closed as a Rini Rego Stop-N-Shop in
the early 1990's), and a Toys R Us (opened 1985 and closed 2002). In late
2004, Euclid Square Mall reopened as "Outlets USA", which is basically the
former May Company/Kaufmann's store reopened as a discount furniture store as
well as other businesses selling things such as clothing, tools, housewares,
and art. Other Outlets USA tenants that later left the mall included a vendor
selling single serve slices of wedding cake, and a vendor selling used DVD's
and VHS tapes. A hot dog stand reopened, and an Italian restaurant opened in
the former Rogers Jewelers. Most of the Outlets USA activity is centered at
the former Kaufmann's and the storefronts adjacent. The Euclidian Room is
still in use today for meetings. The operators of Outlets USA purchased Euclid
Square Mall from Whichard in early 2004. Whether this format will save Euclid
Square Mall remains to be seen in the long term, but I am glad that it is
there, giving local businesses a way to get started.
Years ago, I submitted photographs of Euclid Square Mall (taken when Whichard
still owned it) to deadmalls.com, then I later posted the same photos to my
"Ohio Grocery" MSN group. However, after Outlets USA took over, I was asked to
remove the photos. Rather than risk possible legal action, I took the photos
down.
Links
News Herald - As of 2011, mall is now home to many Churches and used for the community
deadeuclid.blogspot.com - put together by a Euclid, OH woman who took well over 140 photos of Euclid Square Mall and its abandoned out lot buildings.
ffgeeks.net/malls/Euclid/euclid.htm - ffgeeks.net summary on the mall