Euclid Square Mall

*Update* 3/8/05 The Outlets USA concept did open in September of 2004, and the Dillards, which was closed and locked when I originally took these pictures was in fact open. Outlets doesn't qualify as a flea market, according to its owner, because the merchandise the individual vendors sell is new. That makes it a bazaar, located on the first floor of a former Kauffmans. The new owners have a lot of enthusiasm. I wouldn't be so optimistic.

During Christmas, 2004, the mall was open, and you could walk the central drag, though none of the side entrances were open, from the Dillards closeout store (which had closeout clothing and shoes for both genders, and kids, albeit only on the first floor) to Outlets USA. There were some additional vendors (I recall one making wedding cakes and a small store selling ice cream) clustered near the Outlets USA.

As Euclid Square is a straight line mall, you needed a jacket as you reached the middle of the corridor. With no stores to speak of, the heat was turned down to 61 degrees. Coupled with a chilly December day in Cleveland. It served as a motivator to get to Outlets USA quickly. But there was marginal foot traffic, so that must count for something.

The owners are trying but, for now, this mall remains dead. I don't consider a bazaar and a warehouse closeout Dillard's to be quality anchors and, with no national chains to speak of in the middle, it qualifies as one of the five worst functioning malls I've visited. It's somewhat reminiscent of the last days of Hillcrest Mall in Spartanburg, SC. It has functioning anchors, but little else.

7/5/04 I stumbled across this mall while looking to buy a replacement shirt on a lunch hour one afternoon. At the time, only Dillards was open, and was a closeout store for women's clothing, so no luck on the shirt, and the remainder of the mall was closed off. There is a Euclid Senior Citizens Center at one end of the mall, which is apparently temporary, but the remainder of the mall was roped off and locked up.

It Opened March 1st, 1977 with Higbee's (later Dillard's) and May Company (later Kauffman's) as anchors. A complete store listing, courtesy a poster on the Ohio Grocery discussion group on MSN (thank you Toby, whomever you are), is listed below.

By accounts, the mall, which has a fairly decent location off of I-90 near Ohio Route 2, was doing well until Kauffman's pulled out in 1998. No investment was made by the ownership group and, without a replacement tenant, smaller stores drifted away.

Ladies and Misses Apparel and Accessories: Alcove, Casual Corner, Frederick's of Hollywood, Jean Nicole, The Limited, Merry-Go-Round, Motherhood Maternity Shop, Paul Harris, Petrie's, Small Stuff, Susie's Casuals, Winkelman's

Men's and Boy's Apparel and Accessories: Allan Warren, The Bottom Half, Chess King, The Gap, Gingiss Formalwear, Jeans West, Richman Brothers, J. Riggings, The Rivet, Silverman's

Restaurants and Snack Bars: Beef Corral, Bresler's 33 Flavors Ice Cream, Burger King, Captain Chips Potato Ship, Carousel Hot Dogs, Helen Hutchley Candy and Ice Cream, Higbee's restaurant, Karmelkorn Shoppe, May Company restaurant, Orange Julius, York Steak House

Shoes: Butler's Shoes, Cole's, Faflik Shoes, Father & Son Shoes, Florsheim Shoes, Kinney Shoes, Naturalizer, Nobil Shoes, Regal Shoes, Stride Rite, Thom McAn

Specialty Shops: E. B. Brown Optical, Craft Showcase, Family Book Stores, Flowerama, Foxmoor, The Gallery, General Nutrition Center, Hickory Farms, Homemaker Shop, Kay-Bee Toy and Hobby Shop, Memory Lane, Musicland, Pearle Vision Center, Radio Shack, Recordland, So-Fro Fabrics, Spencer Gifts, Sumwalt Keyboard Music, Things Remembered, Tiffany Bakery, The Tinder Box, Waldenbooks, World Bazaar

The outlot merchants at the time included a Fazio's supermarket, a Revco drugstore, a Euclid National Bank auto teller, and a Red Lobster restaurant. Toys R Us opened in 1985.

When I went to take photos, the mall was closed and locked, with the exception of the Senior Citizen's Center. The above link has internal pictures of the mall from when it was still open in 2002.

A close-up of the architecture of the entrance dates the mall design to the late 1970s.

The entrance to the Senior Center area includes only the Senior Center itself, and the mall offices. The large stop sign gets the point across.

Barely visible in the rear left is a sculpture located near the entrance to the former Kauffman's property.

The former Kauffman's anchor. This was the first portion of the mall purchased by it's new owner. Outlets USA will be a "series of vendors who are purveyor's of high quality merchandise at wholesale prices." A very nice way of saying "bazaar". According to security personnel, the Outlets USA concept is scheduled to open in mid-August, 2004. It actually opened in mid September.

Time was clearly not on the side of the Super K-Mart, located across the street, either.

The former Toys 'R Us store, opened in an outlot in the mid 1980s. This location was poor, as the store was hemmed in between the mall and a set of railroad tracks on the mall service drive, with no access to either entrance.

The former Euclid National Bank Auto Teller has also seen better days. It is located near the Toys 'R Us, with railroad tracks in the rear.