Birchwood Mall is an enclosed shopping mall located in Fort Gratiot Township, outside the city of Port Huron, Michigan, United States. The Mall features more than 100 stores and a food court. The mall's anchor stores are CubeSmart, Dunham's Sports, JCPenney, and Target. Other major tenants include Planet Fitness and AMC Birchwood 10. There are 3 vacant anchor stores that were once Carson's, Macy's, and Sears. The mall is located on 24th Avenue (M-25), north of Interstate 69 (I-69) and I-94.
 Exterior of Birchwood Mall in 2018. | |
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| Location | Fort Gratiot Township, Michigan, United States |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 43°02′11″N 82°27′13″W / 43.0363°N 82.4535°W |
| Opening date | October 10, 1990 |
| Developer | General Growth Properties |
| Management | Kohan Retail Investment Group Summit Properties USA |
| Owner | Kohan Retail Investment Group Summit Properties USA |
| No. of stores and services | 45+ |
| No. of anchor tenants | 5 (4 open, 1 vacant) |
| Total retail floor area | 729,407 sq ft (67,764.1 m2) |
| No. of floors | 1 (staff mezzanine in Target) |
| Public transit access |  BWAT |
| Website | birchwoodmall |
History
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Birchwood Mall opened in April 1991, with Target, Sears, JCPenney, and Wisconsin-based department store chain Prange's as its anchor stores.[1] Upon opening, the mall attracted Canadian shoppers, who crossed over from Sarnia, Ontario on the Blue Water Bridge.[2]
The Prange's chain was acquired by Younkers in 1992, and all Prange's stores were re-branded. Three years later, Detroit-based Hudson's announced that it would add a store to the mall, and this store opened in 1997.[3] Old Navy was also added in the Younkers wing in the late 1990s, followed by Dunham's Sports. Chuck E. Cheese's was added in 2004 and closed in 2014.
On February 2, 1999, Lowe's Home Improvement opened next to the mall.[4]
In 2001, Hudson's changed its name to that of its Chicago-based sister nameplate Marshall Field's. On September 9, 2006, Marshall Field's was one of several nameplates to be converted to the Macy's name. Old Navy closed in late 2007. The space was later occupied by Rainbow Shops and is now Planet Fitness.
In January 2013, the Younkers store changed its name again, this time becoming Carson's.[5]
On January 13, 2016, it was announced that one of its anchor stores, Sears was planning to close its doors after being at the Birchwood Mall since its opening in April 1991. The store closed in March 2016. There are no current plans for that particular retail space.[6]
In March 2016 Carmike Cinemas announced closure of the movie theater for remodeling. The remodeling would last two weeks.[7] Upon first opening, the mall had neon lighting in some archways in the mall. Most of it was later removed or turned off.[8]
On July 8, 2016, a Five Below went in the former Chuck E. Cheese's.[9]
On January 3, 2018, it was announced that Macy's would also be closing as part of a plan to close 11 stores nationwide. The store closed in March 2018.[10]
On April 19, 2018, Carson's parent company Bon-Ton announced they were unable to find a buyer and was going out of business. The store closed on August 29, 2018. After the closure of Carson's, the mall only has 2 of its 5 anchor stores occupied, JCPenney and Target.[11] However, Dunham's Sports moved into the former Carson's space in September 2020.[12]
In February 2021, the mall was sold to the Kohan Retail Investment Group for $5.6 million.[13] Later in the year, a CubeSmart Self Storage opened in the former Macy's.
References
edit- ^ Henderson, Tom (1990-11-01). "Birchwood mall comes to Port Huron". Business Detroit. Retrieved 2007-11-27.
- ^ Connell, Mike (2007-10-25). "Plaza should last 30 years". The (Port Huron) Times-Herald. Archived from the original on 2012-07-20. Retrieved 2007-11-27.
- ^ "Hudson's to build new store in St. Clair County". PR Newswire. 1995-06-15. Archived from the original on 2011-05-16. Retrieved 2007-11-27.
- ^ "Lowe's Opens Huge Home Improvement Warehouse In Port Huron". The Times Herald.
- ^ "Younkers changing to Carson's". archive.vn. 2013-02-16. Archived from the original on 2013-02-16. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
- ^ "Sears closing in Fort Gratiot". thetimesherald.com. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
- ^ "Birchwood Cinemas and Krafft 8 get upgrades". thetimesherald.com. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
- ^ "John Fleming". facebook.com. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
- ^ Published 3:27 p.m. ET April 22, 2016 (2016-04-22). "Five Below opening in Birchwood Mall". Thetimesherald.com. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Johnstonbrian, Brian (2018-01-04). "Macy's store in Birchwood Mall to close | News". voicenews.com. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
- ^ "Carson's at Birchwood Mall could close this year". WPHM. 2018-04-18. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
- ^ Airgood, Bryce. "Dunham's Sports moving to former Carson's location in Birchwood Mall". Times Herald. Retrieved 2020-10-27.
- ^ Airgood, Bryce (February 24, 2021). "Fort Gratiot's Birchwood Mall sold for $5.6M". The Times Herald. Archived from the original on February 24, 2021. Retrieved 26 February 2021.