It’s the Final Days of One of Michigan’s Greatest Iconic Malls

The end of an era is near. Lakeside Mall will officially close its doors forever on July 1st, adding another shopping mall to the list of casualties of the brick-and-mortar days gone by. Once bustling with life, laughter, and the clinking of shopping bags, Lakeside Mall is now set to close its doors for the final time.

At the beginning of May, we told you the announcement had been made to close the mall. The mall had declined for a while, and occupancy was down. The rise in online shopping has certainly not helped retailers either. Society has embraced the quick shop and drop ease that online retail therapy offers.

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The Sterling Heights mall opened in 1976 and was once known for its luxury retailers and trendy stores. Lakeside Mall was a sister mall to Fairlane Town Center in Dearborn that opened in 1976, offering shoppers over 1 million square feet of shopping, dining, and other appealing activities.

Although there's still a little time left, much of the mall's stores and vendors are already gone. A social media post even showed that the fountain had already been turned off. According to reports, the following stores are the only ones still open to shoppers;

• Claire's
• Detroit City Sports
• Express
• Gameon
• Hot Topic
• J.C. Penney
• Macy's
• Mr. Sam's Tailor
• Torrid

According to the Detroit Free Press, the existing Macy's and J.C. Penney will stay open and help anchor the new development on the site. As for now, Sears and Lord & Taylor stores also will remain standing.

So what's next for the property? Current plans call for a $1 billion-plus redevelopment plan for the 110-acre site: Groundbreaking is planned for 2025 on  Lakeside Town Center, a "town-square-type project with apartments, new retail, restaurants, offices, a hotel, and public recreation space", according to reports. The groundbreaking is expected by late 2025 will the development being done in phases.

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The closure is just another casualty of the once thriving "brick and mortar" shopping mall experience that so many of us grew up with. The doors to the first and largest mall in America, Northland Mall in Southfield, closed its doors at Northland Center on May 22, 2015.  It then stood abandoned and decaying.

Lakeside Mall will now join other once-busy shopping locations such as Northland Mall, Summit Place Mall, Eastland Mall, and Hampton Square Mall that are now just memories.