Belden Village Mall

Belden Village Mall, is a shopping mall in Jackson Township, Ohio. Its current anchor tenants are Dave & Buster's, Dick's Sporting Goods & Golf Galaxy (All formerly occupied by Sears), Dillard's, (formerly Higbee's), and Macy's (formerly O'Neils, later May Company Ohio, then Kaufmann's, includes a "Macy's Backstage" store)
==History==
Belden Village Mall opened October 1, 1970 as a fully enclosed shopping center. Encompassing over 800,000 leasable square feet, it was anchored by O'Neil's, Sears, and Higbee's. The latter operated until 1992 when it was rebranded by Dillard's. O'Neil's was merged into May Company Ohio in 1989, which in turn became Kaufmann's in 1993.
Belden Village underwent a minor facelift in 1989. The food court was adorned in pastel colored flags hanging from the ceiling, along with updates to tenant signage. Major entrances were refreshed with glass atriums. The Kaufmann's store was renamed Macy's on September 9, 2006.
Outlot businesses have been added at different times to the mall. These include a Sears Auto Center, Chili's Bar & Grille which opened in 1986, Bravo Cucina, a restaurant opening in 2006, and Max & Erma's, which is now closed opened in 2005. After many years of ownership by Cleveland developers The Jacobs Group, the Westfield Group acquired the shopping center in early 2002, and renamed it "Westfield Shoppingtown Belden Village", dropping the "Shoppingtown" name in June 2005. In November 2013, Starwood Retail Partners purchased several Westfield properties including Belden Village. The mall name returned to "Belden Village Mall". In the latter half of 2016, the main entrance was redone in a more modern style. Also in 2016, the Max and Erma's was closed and later converted into a Burntwood Tavern. In 2017, a truck bay was transformed into more retail space, including Melt Bar & Grilled. In 2019, the food court underwent a "one-night" renovation, adding new furniture and light fixtures.
In 2015, Sears Holdings spun off 235 of its properties, including the Sears at Belden Village Mall, into Seritage Growth Properties (the property was later sold to Fidelis). In 2017, Sears commenced on a plan to downsize its store to 74,600 square feet (6,930 square meters) on the first floor and have part of the second floor to become Dave & Busters. On October 23, 2019 it was announced that Sears would close its Belden Village location after a decision was made not to renew their lease, their last day of operation was January 12, 2020. In March 2020, It was reported that around 83,000 square feet of the former Sears is being redeveloped for Dick's Sporting Goods and Golf Galaxy, along with the former Sears Auto Center being demolished for a new Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen and plans for a Firebirds Wood Fired Grill near Dick's Sporting Goods/Golf Galaxy. Unfortunately, both restaurants backed out of plans by 2022. The Dick's Sporting Goods, a relocation of a store located in the nearby Belden Park Crossings, opened on October 14th, 2020. A third portion of the former Sears, 12,000 square feet to the west of Golf Galaxy, became Boot Barn in late 2022. A fourth portion, underneath Dave & Busters, now houses a KPot restaurant, opened in early 2024.
In March 2020, it was reported that owner, Starwood Retail Partners, defaulted on ₪900 million (approximately $250 million) in Israeli bond loans and was forced to restructure and divest their "Starwood West" package of malls, including Belden Village. The top bidder on the package was a joint venture of Golden East Investors and Pacific Retail Capital Partners. The venture, as agreed to by Starwood's senior trustees, is designed to resolve debts and stabilize assets, ending in a potential sale to Pacific Retail or a similar company. Pacific Retail subsequently took over management from Jones Lang LaSalle (who Starwood had placed over the mall when their financial troubles began) in December 2020. In June 2022, Macy's opened a Backstage store in their existing space, the store is located on half of the second floor. In summer 2022, Pacific Retail hosted a contest called "Taste for the Space". Pacific Retail has used this contest format at a number of their properties, which involves a group of local chefs and restauranters who prepare a dish for the public to vote on, with the winner receiving a space to open their restaurant.
=== Current===
Dillard's (Opened 1970, as Higbee's)
Macy's (Opened 1970, as O'Neil's, later May Company Ohio, Kaufmann's) (Includes Macy's Backstage, opened June 2022)
Dave & Buster's (Opened 2019, half the second floor of former Sears)
Dick's Sporting Goods/Golf Galaxy (Opened 2020)
===Former===
Sears (1970-2020, Downsized for Dave & Buster's, further subdivided into Dick's Sporting Goods/Golf Galaxy, Boot Barn, KPot, and more smaller shops TBA)
==See also==
*The North Canton Strip
==Gallery==
=== Videos===
File:Belden Village Mall Still Alive And Well! Jackson Township|Mall Tour
File:Montgomery Vector Hydraulic Elevator @ Macy's Belden Village Mall Canton Ohio|The Macy's Elevator
File:Come See The Curtained Side Of Sears Belden Village Mall|Sears Renovation
File:Former 1990's Schindler MT Hydraulic Elevator @ Sears Belden Village Mall Canton Ohio|The Sears Elevator
File:INNOVATED Haughton Traction Elevator @ Dillards (Former Higbee's) Belden Village Mall Canton Ohio|The Dillard's Elevator
Category:Malls in Ohio
Category:Malls in the United States
Category:Shopping Malls
Category:Single-Level Malls
Category:Malls with Multi-Level Stores
Category:Starwood Capital Group Malls
Category:Former Westfield Malls
Category:Malls that opened in 1970
Category:Dave & Buster's-anchored Properties
Category:Macy's-anchored Malls
Category:Former Higbee's-anchored Malls
Category:Dillard's-anchored Malls
Category:Former Kaufmann's-anchored Malls
Category:Dick's-anchored Malls
Category:Golf Galaxy-anchored Properties
Category:Former Sears-anchored Malls
Category:Seritage Locations
Category:Pacific Retail Capital Partners Malls
Category:Former May Company-anchored Malls