Genesee Valley Center

infobox shopping mall
shopping_mall_name = Genesee Valley Center


caption =
location = Flint Township, Michigan, USA
opening_date = 1970
developer = ?
manager = Jones Lang LaSalle
owner = Jones Lang LaSalle
number_of_stores = approx. 127
number_of_anchors = 6
floor_area = convert|1272397|sqft|m2 [cite web |url=http://geneseemall.com/mimages/factsheets.pdf |title=Genesee Valley Center fact sheet |accessdate=2008-06-10 |work=Genesee Valley Center]
floors = 1, plus mezzanine [Burlington Coat Factory, JCPenney, Macy's, and Sears are all two-story.]
website = http://geneseemall.com

Genesee Valley Center is an enclosed shopping mall located in Flint Township, Michigan, outside the city of Flint, Michigan United States. Opened in 1970, the mall has convert|1272397|sqft|m2 of leasable area, featuring more than 127 retailers. Anchor stores at Genesee Valley Center include Barnes & Noble, Burlington Coat Factory, JCPenney, Macy's, Sears, and Steve & Barry's; in addition, the mall features a food court, and an external concourse known as the Outdoor Village. The mall is located on Miller Road and Linden Road, near the junction of Interstate 69 and Interstate 75.

History

Genesee Valley Center was developed in 1970 as a one-level, enclosed shopping mall, consisting of a straight-line concourse with an anchor store at either end. Sears was the first store to open, doing so in May 1970; Detroit, Michigan-based Hudson's followed two months later.cite web |url=http://www.flintjournal.com/20thcentury/1970/1970valley.html |title=Journal of the 20th Century: Trip through just-opened Genesee Valley reveals a brand-new world of shopping |accessdate=2007-12-17 |last=Sanders |first=Rhonda |work=The Flint Journal] These two stores served as the northern and southern anchor stores, respectively. On August 8, 1970, the mall itself was opened to the public. At the time, it comprised fifty-six tenants, including a Hamady supermarket and a Cunningham drugstore. By September, Woolworth had opened next to Sears.

In the mid-1980s, an eastern wing anchored by JCPenney was added to the mall; Montgomery Ward would later be added onto this wing as well. A western wing with a Mervyns department store was completed in 1985. Two years later, a mezzanine featuring a food court was added to the mall's center court.cite web |url=http://www.shoppingcenterbusiness.com/articles/OCT06/story9.shtml |title=Bigger, Better Shopping: Genesee Valley Center remains dominant in the marketplace with a multimillion-dollar renovation and expansion. |accessdate=2007-12-17 |last=Fishman |first=Susan H. |date=2006-10 |work=Shopping Center Business]

1990s and 2000s

Woolworth closed in the 1980s as the chain declared bankruptcy; its space was eventually divided into several smaller stores, including an arcade called Tilt! Eventually, most of these stores relocated, and the majority of the former Woolworth space was reconfigured as Steve & Barry's.fact|date=January 2008

In 2001, Montgomery Ward had closed the last of its store nationwide. The same year, Hudson's was renamed Marshall Field's; five years later, Marshall Field's would be one of several nameplates to be converted to Macy's. The former Montgomery Ward location was demolished in 2005 for a new section called the Outdoor Village; [cite news |first=Lawlor |last=Joe |title=Barnes & Noble expected to anchor Genesee Valley addition |work=The Flint Journal |date=2005-02-23 |accessdate=2007-12-17] opened in early 2006, this addition features additional mall tenants in an outdoor setting. Anchoring the Outdoor Village is a Barnes & Noble bookstore, the opening of which resulted in the closure of a B. Dalton bookstore within the mall itself. [cite web |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2005_March_9/ai_n12416051 |title=Barnes & Noble Signs Lease for Flint, Michigan, Store; Store Will Open in March 2006 |accessdate=2007-12-17 |date=2005-03-09 |work=Business Wire]

Mervyns also closed its Michigan operations in 2006. A year later, their space at the mall was replaced with Burlington Coat Factory, which relocated from an existing store nearby. [cite web |url=http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=local&id=5558515 |title=Burlington Coat Factory opens new location |accessdate=2007-12-17 |last=Jones |first=Dawn |date=2007-08-13 |work=ABC 12 News]

References

External links

* [http://www.geneseemall.com/ Official website]