Another One Gone! Once Thriving Michigan Mall Latest Closure Casualty

Brace yourselves for a bittersweet moment as Michigan gets ready to say goodbye to yet another iconic landmark of our retail history. As the state that was home to the first and largest regional mall in the nation, another Michigan mall has announced it is done.

Lakeside Mall, once bustling with life, laughter, and the clinking of shopping bags, is now set to close its doors for the final time. 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.

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The announcement was made last week and according to reports the mall will officially close for good on July 1st. The mall has been declining for quite a while, and occupancy is 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.

Currently owned by Out of the Box Ventures, a subsidiary of Miami-based investment firm Lionheart Capital, the plans call for all 1.5 million-square-foot enclosed mall to be demolished. 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.

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. 

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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.