Landover Mall

Landover Mall was an enclosed shopping mall located o the MD 202 and 495 loops in Prince George's County, MD. The mall was 1.3 million square feet. The mall opened in 1972 and was built and marketed by Sonny Abramson and Ted Lerner of Lerner Enterprises. The mall in it's lifetime would have 7 anchor stores, with 3 being local chains (Garfinckel's, Woodward & Lothrop, and The Hecht Co.) and 4 national chains (Sears, F.W. Woolworth, J.C. Penney, and a J.C. Penney outlet store) in it's life. The mall was the first in the area, and was incredibly popular for that reason. The logo of the mall would be a 3-circle loop, which was the road sign, and the fountain design. The logo was likely designed after the highway loop the mall was across from. It was also directly across from FedEx Field.
== History ==
In 1971, Landover Mall would begin construction, which was spearheaded by Ted Lerner and Sonny Abramson. They would control the building and management of the mall. In 1972, the mall would open to the public, where it exploded in popularity. The mall would open with Garfinckel's, Woodward & Lothrop, F.W Woolworth, and Sears as the main anchors. They would also have a Hot Shoppes restaurant, Cinnabon, and uniquely 2 Orange Julius stores. The main attraction inside the mall was a fountain that was designed to look like the logo, and a 4-screen movie theatre, which would close in 1991. The mall would be very successful, with many changes happening throughout the years.
The downfall would begin in 1990 when Garfinckel's would file for bankruptcy, and close every still open store. Garfinckel's would stay abandoned until the mall was closed and subsequently demolished. In 1995, Woodward & Lothrop would also close for good in November 1995. In July 1996, a J.C. Penney would open in the former space, making it the 3rd ever national anchor chain to open in the mall. J.C. Penney found business very slow, which would result in a conversion to a J.C. Penney Outlet. F.W Woolworth would close in 1997, along with all of their stores. It is unknown if F.W Woolworth was ever replaced. In January 2001, the J.C. Penney outlet store would close, with J.C. Penney spokesman Tim Lyons being quoted as saying “The store had not done particularly well for us, it really hadn’t been for some time.” J.C. Penney would never be replaced either.
In early 2002, The Hecht Co. would close and relocate their Landover Mall store to the Bowie Town Center in the nearby city of Bowie, MD. This was the final nail in the coffin for the mall, as the mall would liquidate all of it's items and close for good on May 19th, 2002, after 30 years of operation. The slow decline of customers and stores was the reason as to why. The mall would be vacant for 5 years, when it was demolished in January 2007.
Despite the mall being closed for good, Sears wasn't done with the property yet, as they were the only store in the mall to remain open after the closure. The Sears store was able to operate independently due to the fact they owned the land the Sears stood on. Eventually, the Sears land was sold back to Lerner, but they would remain open. The Landover Mall road sign would be whitewashed, but otherwise intact. In March 2014, Sears would close permanently due to a Sears closure wave that year. Sears was also subsequently demolished, which would then mean the mall was completely gone. The property was gated off and currently a scar of the mall is all that remains. The FBI has expressed interest in buying the empty lot for research purposes.
== Gallery ==
File:Landoverentrance2.jpg|The 2nd entrance to the building. Late 1970s.
File:Landovergarfinckels.jpg|The Garfinckel's anchor store in the 70s-80s.
File:Landoversears.jpg|The Sears store open after the mall's closure. 2004-2005?
File:Woodieslandover.jpg|Woodward & Lothrop signage intact on the vacant J.C. Penney space, 2003.
== Sources ==
J.C Penney announcing the closure of the Landover Mall location, December 4th, 2000.
Announcement of the mall's closure, May 18th, 2002.
Category:Malls in the United States
Category:Shopping Malls
Category:Malls in Maryland
Category:Sears-anchored Malls
Category:Demolished Malls
Category:Abandoned malls
Category:Defunct malls
Category:Malls that opened in 1972