Bashford Manor Mall, named for the surrounding neighborhood of Bashford Manor, was a

enclosed mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to ref ...

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana borde ...

which opened in 1973 and once had about 85 stores, including Ayr-Way, Bacon's, and Ben Snyder's.

History

The mall first opened in 1973, with its main anchors being Bacon's, Ayr-Way, and Ben Snyder's. Over time, these anchors changed. Ayr-Way stores were acquired and rebranded by the Dayton-Hudson Corporation (now

Target Corporation Target Corporation (doing business as Target and stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American big box department store chain headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the seventh largest retailer in the United States, and a compo ...

) in 1981. Ben Snyder's became

Hess's Hess's was a department store chain based in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The company started in 1897 with one store, originally known as Hess Brothers, and grew to nearly 80 stores by its peak in the late 1980s. The chain's stores were closed or sol ...

in February 1987, which in turn became a Home Store for Bacon's in 1995. Both Bacon's stores were acquired and rebranded by

Dillard's Dillard's, Inc. is an upscale American department store chain with approximately 282 stores in 29 states and headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Currently, the largest number of stores are located in Texas with 57 and Florida with 42. The ...

in 1998 before closing in February 2003. In the 1970s, the mall included a TV Den area with several televisions and seating for guests. The mall did not have a food court, but included several restaurants such as a Chi Chi's and

Arby's Arby's is an American fast food sandwich restaurant chain with more than 3,300 restaurants system wide and third in terms of revenue. In October 2017, ''Food & Wine'' called Arby's "America's second largest sandwich chain (after Subway)". Arby ...

. From 1997 thru 1999, McDonald's All American and local high school basketball superstar David McGovern worked part-time at the Lids hat store in Bashford Manor Mall.

Decline and closure

In 1999, the mall had been purchased by Rubloff Developments of Detroit, who began to renovate it in 2001 with a complete renovation expected finished by the 2001 Christmas shopping season. Work only slowly progressed, with Target leaving the mall to relocate to a standalone store a block west. A

Burlington Coat Factory Burlington, formerly known as Burlington Coat Factory, is an American national off-price department store retailer, and a division of Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corporation with more than 1,000 stores in 40 states and Puerto Rico, with i ...

was originally expected to replace the former Target at the mall, but the deal eventually fell through. Many mall tenants began to close or move their stores out of the mall due to the lack of customers. Only one tenant—a dry cleaner—remained by mid 2003. The mall officially closed permanently in mid 2003. The Demolition commenced a Bashford Manor Mall in late 2003. An abandoned

store, not owned by the mall, remained standing. The Dillard's store was finally razed in 2008, with a Burlington Coat Factory store being built on part of its footprint. It opened for business in March 2009. The former mall and its environs have been the site of a successful revitalization effort. The

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, fi ...

store relocated a block west in October 2002, with a strip of stores being added.

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

and

Lowe's Lowe's Companies, Inc. (), often shortened to Lowe's, is an American retail company specializing in home improvement. Headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina, the company operates a chain of retail stores in the United States and Canada. A ...

were built on the previous footprint of the mall and were completed in 2005 and 2006, respectively. In addition, all of Bashford Manor Lane was widened to three lanes with trees and other landscaping added. The mall was briefly mentioned in national news stories when 12-year-old

Ann Gotlib Ann Gotlib (born May 5, 1971) was a Soviet immigrant to the United States who disappeared at the age of 12 from the premises of a Louisville, Kentucky mall on June 1, 1983. The case to find her abductor was covered heavily by the Louisville news m ...

disappeared from the mall on June 1, 1983. Her body was never found but a break in the case in 2008 led investigators to felon Gregory L. Oakley Jr., who died six years earlier after being released from prison.

References

{{coord, 38, 12, 00, N, 85, 39, 59, W, type:landmark_region:US-KY, display=title Shopping malls in Kentucky Demolished shopping malls in the United States Shopping malls established in 1973 Companies disestablished in 2003 Buildings and structures demolished in 2003 1973 establishments in Kentucky 2003 disestablishments in Kentucky Demolished buildings and structures in Kentucky

History

Decline and closure

See also

References