Belk Home Sale - mid-1990s

Thanks to Pat Richardson for posting this video clip on YouTube.

former Charlottetown Mall, Charlotte, North Carolina. Vintage postcard, circa 1960. (Pat Richardson)

former Charlottetown Mall, Charlotte, North Carolina. Vintage aerial view, circa 1960. Charlottetown Mall Cinema is at top of photo. (Pat Richardson)

former Charlottetown Mall Cinema, Charlotte, North Carolina. Exterior view just before demolition, 2006. (Mecklenburg County, North Carolina Real Estate)

former Charlottetown Mall Cinema, Charlotte, North Carolina. View of former freestanding sign just before demolition, 2006. (cantnot)

Previously on LiveMalls
former Charlottetown Mall, Charlotte, North Carolina

Hudson Belk, Crabtree Valley Mall, Raleigh, North Carolina. The original three-story portico with two multi-tiered chandeliers before it was obstructed by an addition to the mall's parking deck, 2003. (Wake County, North Carolina Real Estate)

Previously on LiveMalls
Hudson Belk, Crabtree Valley Mall

former Hecht's (now Macy's), Crabtree Valley Mall, Raleigh, North Carolina. (Wake County, North Carolina Real Estate)

Previously on LiveMalls
Macy's (former Hecht's), Crabtree Valley Mall

former Hecht's (now Macy's), Valley Mall, Hagerstown, Maryland. Mall entrance. (PREIT)

Macy's (former Hecht's), West Wendover Avenue, Greensboro, North Carolina. Main entrances. Photographed 9/22/07.

Previously on LiveMalls
Macy's (former Hecht's), West Wendover Avenue

JCPenney Outlet Store, Liberty Fair Mall, Martinsville, Virginia. Former catalog department exterior entrance, sealed off to prevent theft. Photographed 9/22/07.

JCPenney Outlet Store, Liberty Fair Mall, Martinsville, Virginia. East mall entrance, sealed off to prevent theft. Photographed 9/22/07.

Previously on LiveMalls
JCPenney Outlet Store, Liberty Fair Mall

Sears, Crabtree Valley Mall, Raleigh, North Carolina. (Wake County, North Carolina Real Estate).

Previously on LiveMalls
Sears, Crabtree Valley Mall

Hudson Belk, Cary Towne Center, Cary, North Carolina. (Wake County, North Carolina Real Estate)

Previously on LiveMalls
Hudson Belk, Cary Towne Center

Belk (former Leggett), Liberty Fair Mall, Martinsville, Virginia. Photographed 9/22/07.

Previously on LiveMalls
Belk (former Leggett), Liberty Fair Mall

Marshall Field's (later Kaufmann's and Macy's), Columbus City Center, Columbus, Ohio. (Various Sources)

Macy's (former Marshall Field's and Kaufmann's), Columbus City Center, Columbus, Ohio. Mall entrance, Holiday 2006 (Karl Kuntz, Columbus Dispatch)

Marshall Field's (later Kaufmann's and Macy's), Columbus City Center, Columbus, Ohio. Exterior entrance during conversion to Kaufmann's, 2003 (James D. DeCamp, Columbus Dispatch)

Marshall Field & Company made their second debut in Central Ohio in August 1989 as one of the anchors of Columbus City Center, a large urban renewal project in Columbus highlighted by a 1.3 million square foot enclosed mall connected to the existing flagship Lazarus store. The three-level Field's covered approximately 200,000 square feet and featured a two-story atrium with a prominent clock tower.

The location of the new store, at 3rd & Rich Streets, was very near the site where the former flagship store of The Union stood. The Union was a Columbus-based department store chain that was purchased by Marshall Field in 1980. It was located at the intersection of Town & High Streets, across from Lazarus. Field's itself changed owners shortly after the transaction, and The Union was briefly merged with Field's Cleveland-based division Halle's before closing for good by 1983.

Shortly after the City Center location opened, Marshall Field's was sold again, to Dayton-Hudson Corporation (now Target Corporation). Dayton-Hudson added a second Field's location at the nearby Tuttle Crossing mall in 1996, and operated both stores until 2003, when they were sold to May Department Stores and renamed Kaufmann's, as part of the Pittsburgh-based chain's foray into the Columbus market.

In 2005, Federated Department Stores (parent of the Columbus-based Lazarus and Macy's chains) purchased May Department Stores and eventually divested the Kaufmann's store at Polaris Fashion Place (opened in 2001, prior to the Field's transaction). The City Center and Tuttle Crossing stores were converted to Macy's, and ironically the new Macy's was on the opposite end of the mall from a recently closed Macy's location that was formerly Lazarus.

In September 2007, citing a sales slide due to failing fortunes at City Center, Macy's announced that it was closing its City Center location, with a final closing date just before the holiday season.

Special thanks to Friend of LiveMalls Aryan666 for additional historical information.

former Jacobson's, Columbus City Center, Columbus, Ohio. Mall entrance during store closing sale, 2003 (James D. DeCamp, Columbus Dispatch)

Chicago Place, Chicago, Illinois

Chicago Place, Chicago, Illinois. Promotional photo, circa 1995. (from Chicago Place directory)

Chicago Place is a mixed-use high-rise at 700 N. Michigan Avenue (between Huron and Superior Streets) in Chicago, Illinois along the Magnificent Mile. The base is an enclosed eight-story shopping mall anchored by Saks Fifth Avenue featuring 45 shops and restaurants; above that is a 49 story tower containing condominiums.

The mall is one of several vertical malls along the Magnificent Mile, which include Water Tower Place, North Bridge and 900 North Michigan.

Though initially successful, Chicago Place has struggled for years, losing large tenants including Room & Board and Ann Taylor and failing earlier this year to lease space to Best Buy.

As a whole, the mall lacks a clear retail identity outside of being the home of Saks, and suffers from its oddly configured vertical layout and dated late-1980s design elements. Still, the mall has its appeal, with a number of smaller shops that specialize in European imports.

Though not for long. Change is afoot at Chicago Place.

To combat the lack of success, the mall’s owners are spending $20 million to $25 million over the next two years to eliminate the eight-story mall's center atrium and fill in the floors. The planned makeover to the mall could eliminate as much as half of the roughly 160,000 square feet of specialty-store space.

Instead of a revolving door leading into a mall, the building's Mag Mile facade will have doors into three separate retailers. Zara, the cheap chic retailer from Spain, plans to open its first Chicago store in part of the street-level space facing Michigan Avenue. Saks Fifth Avenue will remain as anchor on the north corner and could possibly expand.

Another unnamed retailer will take 15,000 to 18,000 square feet in the middle, with a floorplate stretching to the back of the building and into the basement formerly occupied by Bockwinkel's grocery store.

Additionally, the mall owners are in talks to turn 100,000 square feet to 150,000 square feet on the third through seventh floors into a hotel.

Celebrities at Belk

Belk, Huntsville, Alabama. Photo of Colonel Harland Sanders, during a promotional visit, 1969. (Photo courtesy Pat Richardson)

Belk, SouthPark mall, Charlotte, North Carolina. Professional tennis stars Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert hold a press conference in December 1989 -- they played a tournament that evening sponsored by Belk and Levi's. (Photo courtesy Pat Richardson)

Belk, SouthPark mall, Charlotte, North Carolina. Actress Brooke Shields talking with the late John Belk in January 1990. She was in town promoting her new line of hair care products. (Photo courtesy Pat Richardson)

Matthews Belk, Eastridge Mall, Gastonia, North Carolina. The California Raisins celebrating Belk's 100th Anniversary, October 1988. (Photo courtesy Pat Richardson)

Belk, Charlotte, North Carolina. Oprah Winfrey makes a benefit appearance for Belk on October 8, 1988 -- she even held a Belkie Bear! (Photo courtesy Pat Richardson)

Previously on LiveMalls
Belk, SouthPark
Matthews Belk, Eastridge Mall
The Belk Archive

Belk, Burlington Square, Burlington, North Carolina. Exterior entrance during last days of Store Closing Sale, 9/1/07. (cantnot)

Previously on LiveMalls
Belk, Burlington Sqaure Mall