Livonia Mall - History

History

Livonia Mall opened in 1964 as the second mall to be constructed in Livonia. Livonia Mall was one of the first two enclosed shopping malls to open in the state of Michigan. The mall was developed by Jack Shenkman as an enclosed mall. At the time of its opening, Detroit's suburbs were expanding, and new shopping malls were being developed in these suburbs. Livonia already featured an open outdoor mall in Wonderland Center (later Wonderland Mall), which opened in 1959 and closed in 2004.

Livonia Mall remained largely unchanged until the mid-1970s. A movie theater was added in the Crowley's wing. Also in 1987, a new wing ending in a Mervyns department store was added. Children's Palace, a toy store chain, was added to the west end of the mall in 1989. This store closed three years later and was eventually converted to a paintball arena which closed in the mid-2000s. Value City bought the Crowley's store and two other mall-based Crowley's stores (at Universal Mall and Macomb Mall) in 1999, operating these as Crowley's Value City but later removing the Crowley's name. Konover Properties bought the mall in 2005.

By the early 2000s, Livonia Mall lost the majority of its stores due to competition from newer malls nearby, and thus became a dead mall. By 2007, Dollar Tree, Gamestop, Jo-Ann Fabrics and Foot Locker were the only national chains with a presence there (besides the anchor stores), and the remaining tenants were local, independent shops. The mall also lost its Mervyns store in early 2006 when the chain exited Michigan. Konover Properties announced plans in 2007 for a possible redevelopment of the mall, including the addition of a new big box retailer. Originally, plans called for the demolition of everything but the Sears and Value City stores. Value City subsequently closed in March 2008 when the chain went out of business, and the entire mall was shuttered except for Sears and Jo-Ann Fabrics on May 31, 2008. Demolition began in February 2009.