Belden Village Mall

**Belden Village Mall**, is a shopping mall in Jackson Township, Ohio. Its current anchor tenants are Dave & Buster's (in the upper level of the former Sears), Dillard's (formerly Higbee's), and Macy's (formerly O'Neil's, later May Company Ohio, then Kaufmann's).

## 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 (Closed 2020), 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 former truck bay was transformed in new storefronts and a Melt Bar & Grilled. In 2019, the food court received a one-day renovation, including new furniture and lighting.

In 2015, Sears Holdings spun off 235 of its properties, including the Sears at Belden Village Mall, into Seritage Growth Properties. Sears expects 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 & Buster's. Dave & Buster's opened on November 4, 2019. On October 23, 2019 it was announced that Sears would close its Belden Village location after a decision was not to renew their lease, Their last day of operation was January 12, 2020.  On March 10, 2020 it was reported that around 83,000 square feet (7,700 square meters) of the former Sears is being redeveloped for Dick's Sporting Goods and Golf Galaxy, along with the former Sears Auto Center planned to be demolished for a Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen.

In March 2020, it was reported that owner, Starwood Retail Partners, defaulted on a ₪910,000,000 (US$ 250,000,000) 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.