Abandoned storefronts in the Dixie Square Mall before demolition in 2012

Gone but Not Forgotten

Chicagoland's Dead Malls: Where We Used to Shop and What's There Now

Discover what happened to ten Chicagoland malls that closed between 1978 and 2026, and what's at those sites now.

By HellginOctober 9, 202612 min read

Maybe you waited out a Black Friday morning outside a Carson's, or spent a Saturday walking a mall's carpeted center court with nothing to buy. If you grew up here, at least one of those malls is probably gone now. Between 1978 and 2026, Chicagoland lost Dixie Square, Lakehurst, Evergreen Plaza, Randhurst, Lincoln Mall, Spring Hill, Stratford Square, Charlestowne, Lincolnwood Town Center and Ford City. River Oaks and Golf Mill are still open but struggling. Below is what happened to each one.

A mall in every direction

The enclosed mall arrived here on August 16, 1962, when Randhurst opened in Mount Prospect. It was the first one in the Chicago area. Evergreen Park already had Evergreen Plaza, an open-air center from 1952 that was enclosed later in the 1960s. After that the malls kept coming: Ford City in 1965, Dixie Square and River Oaks in 1966, Lakehurst in 1971, Lincoln Mall in 1973, Spring Hill in 1980, Stratford Square in 1981, Lincolnwood Town Center in 1990 and Charlestowne in 1991.

The closings started early, with Dixie Square in 1978, and they haven't stopped. Ford City closed under a court order this summer. The list runs roughly in the order the malls closed.

The list

Dixie Square Mall, Harvey

Dixie Square opened on Dixie Highway in 1966. Montgomery Ward and JCPenney were among its anchors. The mall closed in 1978, and JCPenney, its last big tenant, left in January 1979. That September the empty building got its moment of fame: it's the mall in the *Blues Brothers* chase, the scene where Jake and Elwood drive through the storefronts. After that the building sat abandoned for decades and became one of the best-known ruins in the region. Demolition finally began in early 2012, and the buildings were gone that year. Stores never came back to the site.

Lakehurst Mall, Waukegan

Lakehurst opened in 1971 with Carson Pirie Scott, Wieboldt's and JCPenney. Gurnee Mills opened up the road in 1991, and Hawthorn Center was in Vernon Hills. The Tribune later said those two left Lakehurst with neither the bargain shoppers nor the upscale ones. The enclosed mall closed on January 31, 2001. Carson's was the only store left, open in its own building. The mall came down around 2004, and the land was rebuilt as Fountain Square. A Walmart Supercenter opened there in summer 2006, and it's still at 3900 Fountain Square Place.

Randhurst, Mount Prospect

Randhurst was the area's first enclosed mall. It had three points at Rand and Elmhurst roads, with Carson Pirie Scott, Wieboldt's and The Fair, a Montgomery Ward nameplate, at the ends. Of the three, Montgomery Ward lasted longest. The old enclosed mall's last shopping day was September 30, 2008, and the village approved tearing it down that year. The open-air Randhurst Village opened on the site in 2011. It has done better than most: in September 2026 Rhino Investments Group bought the core of the center. Macy's, Home Depot and AMC are among its tenants, and the village put occupancy above 90 percent.

Evergreen Plaza, Evergreen Park

Arthur Rubloff's center at 95th and Western opened in 1952 as an open-air plaza and was enclosed in the 1960s. For generations of South Siders and southwest suburbanites, it was the place to shop. By its final years the mall was mostly empty, and the enclosed mall closed in 2013. Demolition of the old building began in October 2015. A smaller open-air center replaced it on the same site, with tenants that have included Whole Foods, Burlington, T.J. Maxx, DSW, Ulta and Planet Fitness. It sold for $67 million in 2021. On October 7, 2022, a Market by Macy's and a Macy's Backstage opened in the old Carson's building.

Lincoln Mall, Matteson

Lincoln Mall opened on August 9, 1973, with four anchors: Carson Pirie Scott, JCPenney, Montgomery Ward and Wieboldt's. Its decline was slow. In January 2015 a judge ordered the interior closed, and Carson's stayed open in its own building. Demolition of the mall started in 2017. Carson's closed in early March 2018, and its building came down in 2019. The village now markets the roughly 60 acres as Market Square Crossing, a mixed-use plan with shops, paths and possibly a town green. Nearby there's still a JCPenney at 4451 Promenade Way, which the company lists as Lincoln Marketplace.

Charlestowne Mall, St. Charles

Charlestowne opened at North Avenue and Dunham Road on the east side of St. Charles. Developer Wilmorite built it. Sears opened first, on April 2, 1991. Carson's was scheduled to follow that August and JCPenney in spring 1992, and Kohl's was also an anchor. Geneva Commons opened on Randall Road in 2002 and pulled shoppers west. The interior closed in 2017 and hasn't reopened. Von Maur and Classic Cinemas are still open, with outside entrances. The Krausz Companies own most of the property, the city doesn't, and no redevelopment plan has been approved.

Spring Hill Mall, West Dundee

Spring Hill opened in October 1980 with Sears and Marshall Field's. It sat mostly in West Dundee, with part of it in Carpentersville. The enclosed mall closed on March 22, 2024. West Dundee bought the property and had the mall demolished in 2025. The Cinemark theater is the only business still running on the land. This summer the village was still asking residents what they want built on the empty site, and it has said a full rebuild could take as long as 10 years.

The Spring Hill Mall directory in October 2023, five months before the mall closed, with the empty storefronts blacked out

The store list on the same Spring Hill directory, with the names of closed stores covered in black

Stratford Square Mall, Bloomingdale

Stratford Square opened on March 9, 1981, with a strong lineup of anchors: Marshall Field's, Carson Pirie Scott, Montgomery Ward and Wieboldt's. It closed on April 21, 2024, a month after Spring Hill. Bloomingdale bought the mall and tore down everything except a freestanding Kohl's. The village is rebuilding the land as The Grove at Bloomingdale. Construction on the Bloomingdale Yard sports complex is underway, and the village has said it expects that building to open in the first half of 2027.

Lincolnwood Town Center, Lincolnwood

Lincolnwood Town Center is one of the youngest malls on this list. It opened in 1990 at Touhy Avenue and McCormick Boulevard, on land that used to belong to Bell & Howell. Carson Pirie Scott and Madigan's were the original anchors. On April 21, 2026, the Village Board approved tearing it down in phases: first the old Harlem Furniture end, then the middle of the mall, then Kohl's. At the end of April, Kohl's future on the site was still undecided.

Ford City Mall, Chicago

Ford City, at 7601 S. Cicero Ave. on the Southwest Side, opened in 1965 and was one of the city's few big enclosed malls. In its final years, owner Namdar Realty Group was in court with the city over a broken fire-suppression system and water leaks. A judge ordered the indoor mall closed by noon on June 22, 2026, and the doors were locked that morning. JCPenney, the last anchor, closed with it. Namdar kept the north strip and the AMC theater. On September 23 the City Council approved Kurv Industrial's plan to tear down the mall and build four industrial buildings. Work is expected to start in early 2027 and finish in late 2028, and AMC and the other outlot businesses are expected to stay.

River Oaks Center, Calumet City (still open)

River Oaks opened in 1966 as an open-air mall with Marshall Field's, Sears and the Edward C. Minas Co. A $50 million project enclosed it, scheduled for completion in spring 1994. Sears left in June 2013, and Carson's closed the same year. As of May 2026 the mall was still open with Macy's and JCPenney, still owned by Namdar, and Calumet City was in court trying to take it through eminent domain. The Tribune reported that the city offered about $13.2 million and Namdar wanted about $40 million. The city already owns about 40 acres nearby, including the old Sears store.

Golf Mill Shopping Center, Niles (still open)

Golf Mill opened in 1960 at Golf Road and Milwaukee Avenue as an open-air center with Sears and a working waterwheel. It was enclosed later. Sears closed in December 2018. By 2024, JCPenney, Target and Ross were still open, but the inside halls were mostly lined with closed shops. In June 2024 the Niles Village Board approved a rebuild of about $440 million with owner Sterling Organization, called Golf Mill Town Center, backed by up to $96 million in village tax-increment financing. As of July 2026, demolition still hadn't started.

A note on Plaza del Lago in Wilmette: it sometimes shows up on lists like this one, but it doesn't belong. The 1920s center, first called Spanish Court, is open, and in 2025 its owner was adding new stores.

Why they died

Most of these malls declined in the same order: the anchors left first. Montgomery Ward, a Chicago company that anchored Dixie Square, Lincoln Mall, Randhurst and Stratford Square, said in late December 2000 that it would close all of its roughly 250 stores. Sears Holdings, based in Hoffman Estates, filed for bankruptcy on October 15, 2018, and announced 142 more Sears and Kmart closings. That same year Carson's parent, Bon-Ton, went into liquidation. In May 2018, Crain's reported a record amount of empty anchor space in the Chicago area and connected it to more people shopping online.

In other cases a newer mall was enough to finish one off. Gurnee Mills and Hawthorn Center did that to Lakehurst, and Geneva Commons pulled shoppers away from Charlestowne.

When private owners wouldn't rebuild, some towns bought the malls themselves. West Dundee did that with Spring Hill and Bloomingdale did it with Stratford Square. Several sites are still unfinished, so this story isn't over.

Which one do you miss?

Thanksgiving is coming, and for a lot of us the weekend after it used to mean a trip to one of these malls. Tell us which one was yours: the Wieboldt's you remember, the food court you ate at, the mall you'd walk on a cold Saturday. We'll keep this list updated as Golf Mill, River Oaks, Ford City and the empty lots in West Dundee and Bloomingdale change. More stories on these malls are coming, and each one will link back here.

Sources (73)

Photo: Abandoned Mall by Brett Levin Photography, BY 2.0.