Westland Mall

 

As a child of the 1980’s, I recall many memories at the Huntington Mall in Barboursville, West Virginia. With it’s beige floor tiles, fountains, wooden oak benches and retro shops, you could spend hours exploring. Shops like the San Francisco Music Box Company, Hickory Farms and Radio Shack were my mainstays. Of course, the Huntington Mall sucked the shopping experience from downtown Huntington into a suburban wasteland, surrounded not by historic buildings but by a sea of asphalt.

 

The Westland Mall in Columbus, Ohio was similar. Built upon the promise of open-air shopping in suburbia, the mall boasted three anchors and over 40 stores, from stores that peddled drapes to sewing equipment and eccentric clothing.The mall was one of four directionally-named shopping centers in the metropolitan area built in the same time period: Westland, Northland, Eastland and Southland. Westland was later enclosed in the early 1980’s.

 

But the Westland Mall evoked a similar feeling to the Huntington Mall that I remembered as a child. By 2011, Westland was on its deathbed, but it’s interior was simply vintage, having never been renovated after it’s enclosure. Brown tiles adorned the floor, dark-tinted lights were fastened on the pillars and remnants of stores long gone lined the concourse. There was not a soul inside and for the 30 minutes I walked around, all I could hear was the water dripping from the deteriorated ceiling.

 

 

Several weeks ago, I revisited Westland Mall, only to find it practically boarded up and abandoned. The only tenants that remained were Staples and Sears, both of who have no entrances to the concourse. Boarded up windows cover panes of broken glass at the entrances to the concourse. Inside, sad and pathetic signs on whiteboard tell of a mall with no ATM and restroom facilities. Outside, transformers that once fed into the course lay in pieces, stripped of any valuable metal.

 

Front entrance in 2011

 

 

 

 

 

Front entrance in 2014

 

Sears

 

 

 

Sears Auto Center

 

JC Penny

 

 

 

Lazarus and later Macy's

 

 

 

 

 

I have posted over 60 historical photos of Westland Mall, but since reposting them here would be a nightmare, I have put a sample of what the shopping center once was.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over 100 photos of Westland, and a complete history, at http://abandonedonline.net/locations/malls-and-shopping-centers/westland-mall/

Thanks for the current and historical photos Sherman.  Quality work.

 

Despite the current dead-mall status of Westland (though it looks much better inside than I would have expected) these photos brought back some pleasant childhood memories when I used to go there.  Thank you for this tour down memory lane.

I heard that Staples is closing soon. That will leave Sears - who is usually the last tenant in a dead mall. That or GNC. Or Radio Shack.

I've heard Sears at both Westland and Eastland are closing. Purely rumors, though.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Westland one closed but I would be if the Eastland one did at this time. I can see the Eastland Sears Auto Center closing though.

If this mall were in Canada, it'd still be thriving...with the same exact look.

Reminds me of the now closed Euclid Square Mall in Cleveland.

JCPenney is closing their Eastland store (in addition to their Upper Valley Mall and Greenville stores).

Upper Valley Mall is pretty interesting. It's got a ninja store.

Isn't Sears also closing out at Eastland as well? That leaves just one - Macy's. It still has a 95% occupancy rate (excluding the defunct Lazarus), but many of those storefronts are not top-tier developments.

 

Here is a good article about Eastland and other B-class malls in general: http://www.costar.com/News/Article/The-JCPenney-Sears-Effect-Part-I-Retail-REITs-Target-Malls-for-Pruning-Portfolios/160010

 

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Springfield's Upper Valley Mall will have Sears and Macy's, and a concourse that's kinda empty.

One thing that's important to note about the mall in Springfield is that the inlines get to set their own hours which means the foot traffic is pretty bad.

Wait, the bigger news is Greenville had a JCPenney to begin with?!??!

Hey, Circleville had both a Sears and a JCPenney when I was a kid. The Sears only had the "man stuff" though.