CherryVale Mall (originally The Mall at CherryVale) is a

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

Rockford, Illinois Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, Winnebago and Ogle County, Illinois, Ogle counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Located in far northern Illinois on the banks of the Rock River (Mississippi River tributary), Rock River, Rockfor ...

, along its border with Cherry Valley. Located at the intersection of US 20, Interstate 39, and Interstate 90, the two-story mall is the largest shopping mall in

northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois, with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by ...

outside of suburban Chicago. Along with being the largest mall in the region, CherryVale is notable for being the first mall in Rockford designed as a fully enclosed shopping center along with the opening of the first Marshall Field's department store in Illinois outside of the Chicago region. Developed by the Richard E. Jacobs Group, the mall is currently owned by

CBL & Associates Properties CBL Properties (previously CBL & Associates, Inc., then CBL & Associates Properties, Inc.) is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping centers and owns shopping malls, primarily in the Southeastern and Midwestern Unite ...

, who acquired it in 2001. The mall's anchor tenants are

JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC , Trade name, doing business as JCPenney (colloquially Penney's and abbreviated JCP) is an American department store chain store, chain with 649 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. It is managed as part of the Catalys ...

Macy's Macy's is an American department store chain founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. The first store was located in Manhattan on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, south of the present-day flagship store at Herald Square on West 34 ...

, Tilt Studio/Tilted 10, Home Trends Furniture & Mattress, and

Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. The company operates approximately 600 retail stores across the United States. Barnes & Noble operates mainly through its B ...

. There is a vacant anchor space last occupied by

Bergner's P.A. Bergner & Co. (also known as Bergner's) was an upscale Midwestern department store in the United States, that was established in 1889. The chain is now an online retailer operated by BrandX.com, Inc. The flagship store was located in Peori ...

History

The Mall at CherryVale opened in the fall of 1973 with a two-story Sears (opened September 26) and a 3-story Marshall Field's (opened October 1; one of the first stores outside the Chicago metropolitan area). Alongside Sears and Marshall Field's, the mall opened with 23 additional stores, including Lane Bryant, Kroch's & Brentano's Booksellers, Casual Corner, Chess King and Disc Records. Within a year of its opening, H.C. Prange opened as the mall's third anchor store, alongside Prange Way discount store. Located nearly 6 miles from the city center of Rockford, the 233-acre mall was located at the intersection of the US 20 bypass and the Northwest Tollway (Interstate 90); although not located near housing, the mall also intersected several major surface streets, connecting it to the eastern half of Rockford. Although not the first enclosed mall in the Rockford region (North Towne Mall and Colonial Village were constructed in 1956 and 1962, respectively), CherryVale was the first designed to be fully enclosed. In 1975, the mall opened the first of two theater complexes, with a free-standing 3-screen complex northeast of the mall (next to the

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...

parking lot). In 1983, a four-screen theater opened in the lower floor of the mall between Prange's and Prange Way. By the beginning of the 1980s, the mall officially took on the shorter name "CherryVale Mall". Following the growth of the mall, several businesses had begun to use the outlots surrounding the mall, including an automobile dealership, gas station, bank, jewelry shop, bowling alley, toy store, and

water park A water park (also waterpark, water world, or aquapark) is an amusement park that features water play areas such as swimming pools, water slides, splash pads, water playgrounds, and lazy rivers, as well as areas for floating, bathing, swimming ...

. In 1989, following the closure of the Prange Way sub-anchor store, the entire mall underwent its first major renovation. The Prange Way space on the lower floor was converted into a

food court A food court (in Asia-Pacific also called food hall or hawker centre) is generally an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food Vendor, vendors and provides a common area for self-serve di ...

with a

Sbarro Sbarro, LLC ( : stylized in all caps) is an American fast food restaurant that specializes in New York–style pizza sold by the slice and other Italian-American cuisine. In 2011, the company was ranked 15th in foreign sales among U.S.-based ...

and Quencher's Smoothies, as well as the addition of a main entrance on the north side of the upper floor. From 1992 to 1996, the mall would change one of its anchors, twice. In 1992, HC Prange was acquired by Iowa-based

Younkers Younkers Inc. () is an American online retailer and former department store chain founded as a family-run dry goods business in 1856 in Keokuk, Iowa. The retailer had evolved over more than 150 years to include a presence in locations throughout ...

, remaining a department store; at the end of 1996, following its acquisition, Younkers closed its Cherryvale store (replaced by a

, eventually closing both its other Rockford locations) After years of struggling against much larger multiplexes in the region, the mall would close both of its movie theaters, with the freestanding movie theater closed in 1999; the lower-level movie theater was closed in 2000. The lower-level movie theater was remodeled into retail space shortly after its closure, although the freestanding movie theater would remain vacant for nearly 15 years, before becoming remodeled. In 2001, the mall was acquired by its current owners,

. Shortly after the acquisition of the mall, Rockford and Cherry Valley underwent a street expansion project around the mall, connecting two major streets together. Shortly after, additional commercial development began, including a grocery store, several restaurants, and a convenience store. As the new owners, during 2004, CBL gave CherryVale Mall its second major renovation, including the most extensive changes to its exterior since 1973. To increase space in the center court of the mall, the two inclined moving walkways were removed in favor of a glass elevator. At the expense of removing the main entrance, CBL added

as a fourth anchor store on the top floor, expanding retail space to 806,900 square feet. The food court was also renovated, with the chairs and tables being replaced with new ones, new lighting, and new floor tiles. New pillars were also added. Unlike the previous pillars, these were square and made out of bricks. In September 2006, the

Marshall Field's Marshall Field & Company (colloquially Marshall Field's) was an American department store chain founded in 1852 by Potter Palmer. It was based in Chicago, Illinois and founded in the 19th century, it grew to become a large chain before Macy's, ...

location at the mall was rebranded to

(as part of the former company's acquisition by the latter). In December 2006,

Derrick Shareef Derrick Shareef, also known as Talib Abu Salam Ibn Shareef, is a convicted Islamic terrorist who was charged with trying to trade stereo speakers for handgrenades and a handgun as part of plan to terrorize shoppers at CherryVale Mall in Rockford ...

was arrested for one count of attempting to damage or destroy CherryVale Mall. Shareef attempted to sell

stereo speakers Stereophonic sound, commonly shortened to stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configurat ...

for

hand grenades A grenade is a small explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade g ...

and a

handgun A handgun is a firearm designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long gun, long barreled gun (i.e., carbine, rifle, shotgun, submachine gun, or machine gun) which typically is intended to be held by both hands and br ...

. He planned to detonate hand grenades throughout the mall and use the handgun to disrupt

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

shoppers. Shareef was a member of the

Nation of Islam The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930. A centralized and hierarchical organization, the NOI is committed to black nationalism and focuses its attention on the Afr ...

and had originally planned to attack a federal judge. In 2008, he was sentenced to 35 years in prison. He is currently incarcerated at

FCI Greenville The Federal Correctional Institution Greenville (FCI Greenville) is a medium-security United States federal prison for male offenders in Illinois, with an adjacent satellite prison camp for minimum-security female offenders. It is operated by t ...

. In 2007, CBL began expansion of a "lifestyle" component, intended to attract middle to upper-class shoppers. Featuring

as an anchor (replacing the long-defunct

Kroch's and Brentano's Kroch's and Brentano's was the largest Bookselling, bookstore in Chicago, and at one time it was the largest privately owned Chain store, bookstore chain in the United States. The store and the chain were formed in 1954 through the merger of the ...

as the largest bookstore in the mall), the 75,000 square foot addition was built in the parking lot sandwiched between

and Macy's. In 2015, the mall became part of the

Tesla Supercharger The Tesla Supercharger network is an electric vehicle fast charging network built and operated by American vehicle manufacturer Tesla, Inc. The Supercharger network was introduced on September 24, 2012, as the Tesla Tesla Model S, Model S en ...

network, adding 6 Superchargers to a lower-level parking lot. On April 18, 2018, it was announced that the

store would be closing as its parent company, The Bon-Ton Stores was going out of business. The store closed on August 29, 2018. The lower level of the store was replaced shortly after by a Choice Furniture store, while the upper level of the former

store remained vacant. On December 28, 2018, it was announced that Sears would be closing as part of a plan to close 80 stores nationwide. The store closed in March 2019. In May 2019, Nickels And Dimes Inc. of Celina, Texas announced that Tilt Studio and a new concept, Tilted 10 would open up in the former

space. The two-story arcade opened in the summer of 2020. In 2020, the Choice Furniture store closed, and was replaced by Galleria Furniture in 2021. Galleria Furniture ultimately ended up closing in 2024, and ended up being replaced by yet another furniture store, Home Trends Furniture & Mattress shortly after.

Stores

As of January 2018, CherryVale Mall has 140 stores on 850,253 square feet.

Current Anchor Stores

(2004–present) *

(2006–present) *

(2007–present) * Tilt Studio/Tilted 10 (2020–present) * Home Trends Furniture & Mattress (2024–present)

Former Anchor Stores

(1973–2019; closed down as part of 80 store closures nationwide, replaced by Tilt Studio/Tilted 10 in 2020) *

(1973–2006; rebranded to

) * H.C. Prange (1974–1992; acquired by

) * Prange Way (1974–1989; chain closed, location replaced by mall food court) *

(1992-1996; replaced by

) *

(1997–2018; lower level replaced by Choice Furniture) * Choice Furniture (2018–2020; replaced by Galleria Furniture) * Galleria Furniture (2021–2024; replaced by Home Trends Furniture & Mattress)

References

External links