Woodfield Mall

**Woodfield Mall** is a shopping mall located in the northwest Chicago suburb of Schaumburg, Illinois, United States, at the intersection of Golf Road and Interstate 290.

Woodfield Mall is the largest shopping mall in the state of Illinois, the second largest being Oakbrook Center in Oak Brook. It is also one of the largest shopping malls in the United States. The mall is located approximately 27 miles from the Chicago Loop and attracts more than 27 million visitors each year. The mall features 234 stores and the anchor stores are JCPenney, Nordstrom, Lord & Taylor (closing 2020), the country's largest Sears at 416,000 square feet (38,600 m2), Pac-Man Entertainment, and Macy's. In 2015, a portion of the second level for Sears was subleased to Pac-Man Entertainment, a Pac Man-themed restaurant. It also has 7 other restaurants which are Red Robin, Uncle Julio's, P.F. Chang's China Bistro, Panda Express, The Cheesecake Factory, Kinfork BBQ, and Texas de Brazil.

The mall was originally developed by Taubman Centers, which later sold the mall to CalPERS, Miller Capital Advisory, and GM Pension Trusts. Taubman continued to manage the mall until December 31, 2012, when GM Pension Trusts sold its stake in the mall to Simon Property Group, which took over management effective January 1, 2013.

## History

Construction began on Woodfield Mall in July 1969 and the mall opened on September 9, 1971, with 59 stores, growing to 189 stores with 1.9 million retail square feet by 1973, along with a large 135-foot-tall water tower to supply water to the mall and the nearby village. It was the largest mall in the United States at the time of its opening. It is the 12th-largest mall in the U.S. to this date. It is currently the largest mall in the Chicago metropolitan area, with 234 stores and restaurants. Woodfield is part of a group of three malls located in Schaumburg, Illinois, along with Woodfield Village Green, and The Streets of Woodfield. Woodfield is a major tourist destination in the state of Illinois. In 2000, Chicago's visitors voted Woodfield Mall as their favorite suburban attraction.

Woodfield Mall is named after former Sears board chairman General Robert E. Wood and Marshall Field and Company founder Marshall Field. It debuted on September 9, 1971, on 191 acres (0.77 km2) of prairie land, previously occupied by farms, cows, and a village tavern. Singer Carol Lawrence, actor Vincent Price, and two marching bands entertained at the debut. At the time of its opening, it claimed to be the world's largest shopping center. By the end of September 1971, another 28 stores and restaurants had opened and that first business year finished with 138 specialty retailers.

Originally 1,900,000 square feet (180,000 m2) of retail space, the GLA of the mall today is 2,150,557 square feet (199,793.3 m2). This makes it the fifth largest shopping mall in the U.S., ninth largest in terms of shopping area. The mall contains a total of 234 stores.

In 1973, a new Lord & Taylor wing was constructed, along with 50 additional new retailers.

Sbarro opened in 1984 and A&W opened in 1985. The 5-plex opened for business on July 30, 1971. The mall also had a pair of free-standing twin cinemas, Woodfield Theatres 1 & 2 and Woodfield Theatres 3 & 4, at the perimeter of the mall near Golf Road. The 1 & 2 was opened with 2 G-rated films, including a Disney movie, and the 3 & 4 later opened; both were closed and demolished in the 1990s, replaced by additional retail. The Woodfield Mall Cinemas 5-plex closed in 2000, and was last operated by Cineplex Odeon Corporation. After it closed, the space was turned into a theme restaurant called Mars 2112, which was very short-lived. The former theater area was converted into an Improv Comedy Club in 2006, the first location in Illinois. The Loews Theatres at the Streets of Woodfield, an outdoor shopping center next to Woodfield Mall, made its debut as a 20-screener on December 10, 1999. The Streets of Woodfield was built between 1999 and 2000, replacing another indoor mall, One Schaumburg Place, which opened in 1991. The Streets of Woodfield featured Carson's, Dick's Sporting Goods (formerly Galyan's), and GameWorks. The freestanding Loews Theatres complex was eventually rebranded by the AMC Theatres chain in 2016. Carson's at The Streets of Woodfield closed in 2018. A&W closed in 2019.

In 1994, Panera Bread and Hooters opened northwest of the mall. In celebration of its 20th anniversary in 1991, Woodfield added 23 more stores, including The Disney Store, and then in 1995, Woodfield grew again with a $110 million wing that included 50 new specialty stores. Rainforest Cafe was added to the mall in October of that same year. In 1996, the mall received a three-level Nordstrom and a larger replacement Lord & Taylor. Of these new-for-1995 stores, nearly 40 were flagship concepts and designs, with about 27 of them the largest in their chains. In 1997, Joe's Crab Shack opened on the northeast edge of the mall, but it was one of 41 locations in the chain to close in 2017. IKEA opened a three-story location across from Woodfield Mall on November 18, 1998.

While all of this expansion continued at Woodfield Mall, the surrounding village of Schaumburg grew as well. In 1970, the population was 19,000; in 1980, it mushroomed to 55,000; and, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, Schaumburg had over 75,000 people in 2000. Schaumburg Mayor Al Larson observed that, "Woodfield established a focal point for development throughout all of the northwest suburbs. Without Woodfield, we wouldn't have office towers in Itasca or corporate development in Hoffman Estates."[*citation needed*]

In 1995, Woodfield Associates commissioned a brand new $128,000 paint job for the mall water tower. Woodfield paid an additional $97,000 for the exterior painting. Both the interiors and exteriors of the water tower were completely repainted. The tower was completely drained of water before the new paint job could be applied. Afterwards, the interior and exterior of the tower were thoroughly cleaned and rust spots were treated properly. The painting of the interior began after the cleaning and treatment, followed by the painting of the exterior. For the exterior, Woodfield chose a base layer of light gray, along with four continuous, teal "W"s ( for Woodfield ) around the bowl of the tower. The entire painting process took around 350 gallons of paint.

In 2004, the fountains, the waterfall and the aquariums were removed from the mall. The Woodfield "Fish Music" however, was only the beginning for Suzanne Ciani. As a subtle pleasure, the underwater sounds of Ms. Ciani's music played in a continuous loop for visitors who explored the tunnel and the aquariums. Her contribution was nothing less than first class.[*opinion*]

In 2005, only ten years after the water tower received a new look, it was again repainted and has not been repainted since. The current scheme includes small, black text reading "Woodfield Mall" with large white clouds in the background, along with a representation of Schaumburg's skyscrapers in blue right below the text. Blue sky can be seen above the clouds, covering the very top of the bowl.

The mall is a highly visited tourist destination in the Chicago metropolitan area, with about 27 million annual visitors. Woodfield is often used as a test market for retailers; an example was the 2004 opening (and nationwide debut) of Ruehl No.925 by clothier Abercrombie & Fitch. Ruehl No.925 has since been discontinued.

### Additional store openings

In 1999, DSW and Linens 'n Things opened outside the mall east of Sears and Marshall Field's. Linens 'n Things would officially close in 2008 and Ashley Furniture opened in its spot on March 26, 2010.

In 2001, Red Robin opened in the Lord & Taylor wing and The Cheesecake Factory opened in the JCPenney wing. That same year, Olive Garden opened on the Northeast Corner outside the mall.

On August 24, 2001, an Apple Store opened in the Lord & Taylor Wing.

On September 18, 2002, Hot Topic opened on the 2nd Floor in the JCPenney wing, six days after Orland Square Mall in Orland Park opened.

In September 2006, the Marshall Field's location at the mall was renamed Macy's after the acquisition of Marshall Field's.

On June 29, 2012, Woodfield renovated their McDonald's, which opened in 2000. Also, that same year, Pink by Victoria's Secret opened to the public. On October 1, 2012, LongHorn Steakhouse opened on the northeast corner outside of the mall.

In 2013, a Forever 21  and a two-story H&M opened in the Sears Wing. A Microsoft Store also opened in the Lord & Taylor Wing that same year.

In July 2014, lululemon and Arhaus opened in the Lord & Taylor and Nordstrom Wings. In November of that same year, Columbia Sportswear opened near Lord & Taylor. Columbia Sportswear closed in 2019.

In 2015, a portion of the second level of Sears was subleased to Level 257, a Pac Man-themed restaurant featuring a bowling alley, an arcade and pinball machines. Along with a major renovation, Zara, Timberland, Kids Foot Locker and rue21 opened. Kinfork BBQ opened in December between Nordstrom and JCPenney; it closed in 2019.

In 2016, Uncle Julio's officially opened in the JCPenney wing, replacing Ruby Tuesday, which closed in 2012.

In 2017, Victoria's Secret was substantially remodeled.

In 2018, a large food court, known as the "Dining Pavilion", opened on the second floor in the east court opposite of the main mall entrance. It features Chipotle Mexican Grill, Blaze Pizza, and more. It replaced two level 2 stores: F.Y.E. (For Your Entertainment), which moved to a smaller location on the lower level near Dunkin' Donuts, and A'GACI ladies' wear. A year before the opening of the Dining Pavilion, a 4th elevator was added. A'GACI ladies' wear has since closed.

In June 2018, Blocks To Bricks, which is a hybrid between a store and museum dedicated to Legos and other construction toys, opened to customers.

On October 26, 2018, Uniqlo, which is a Japanese clothing chain, opened in the JCPenney wing. Also, a salon was added in the Sears wing near Jimmy John's.

In November 2018, it was announced that the mall would be open 29 hours straight.

On December 19, 2019, it was announced that the Rainforest Cafe in Woodfield Mall is scheduled to close on January 1, 2020 due to the expiration of its lease. It will be replaced by the Peppa Pig World of Play amusement center.

On August 20, 2020, it was announced that Lord & Taylor would be closing as part of a plan to close all 38 stores nationwide.

### Performances

In 1987, Tiffany Darwish performed for 3 consecutive days.

In 2013, Weezer played at Woodfield Mall at the grand opening of the Microsoft Store.

## Renovations

In the 1990s, Woodfield closed the "underground" food court in the main courtyard of the mall. At first it closed off the opening to the lower eating area and stairway. The removal left a large open area that for a few years the tile outlining the former opening to the food court below was visible. This floor outline was eliminated in renovating the courtyard.

In January 2015, Woodfield planned and announced a $13.8 million renovation. The makeover consisted of an updated grand court, including the removal of the brick fixtures and leveling out many multi-leveled sections of floor. The renovation also includes new flooring for both lower and upper levels, replacing two existing elevators, and adding one new elevator. The renovation was predicted to be finished by the end of the year.

In 2017, Woodfield planned and announced a $14 million renovation to introduce a new food court in the Sears wing. The food court introduced a seating area containing 820 seats for quality fast-casual dining restaurants such as Chipotle, Charley's Philly Steak, Blaze Fast Fire'd Pizza, and more.

## Car incident

On September 20, 2019, at around 2:30 PM CDT, a man drove a mid-2000s black Chevrolet TrailBlazer LT through an entrance door of Sears and began driving through the store and into the main concourse of the mall, crashing into kiosks, Clarks, International Diamond Company, and multiple other stores, seemingly targeting Forever 21 and other adjacent stores. The driver was taken into custody by responding police near the center of the mall's first level without further incident. The identity of the suspect was not immediately released. No injuries were reported, but the mall was temporarily on lockdown due to the incident as well as concurrent, but unfounded, reports of an active shooter. The mall was evacuated about one hour after the incident.

The man, later identified as Javier Garcia of Palatine, Illinois, was charged with terrorism as a result of the incident; he appeared in court on September 29, 2019, and was denied bond. He appeared in court again on October 1, 2019, and is due back in court on January 27, 2020. Garcia's family spoke out arguing that Javier is not a terrorist and that he has schizophrenia, though a police investigation shows evidence that Garcia's attack was premeditated, with investigators releasing – in part – that Garcia "searched 'Woodfield mall,' the aerial view of the mall and mall premises 124 times between 9/19/19 at 14:38 and 9/20/19 at 12:55." Garcia has since also been charged with an unrelated arson case from September 8, 2019, in his hometown of Palatine.