The Liberty Tree Mall is a

shopping 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 refe ...

Danvers, Massachusetts Danvers is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, located on the Danvers River near the northeastern coast of Massachusetts. The suburb is a fairly short ride from Boston and is also in close proximity to the renowned beaches of Glo ...

, U.S., managed by the

Simon Property Group Simon Property Group, Inc. is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping malls, outlet centers, and community/ lifestyle centers. It is the largest owner of shopping malls in the United States and is headquartered in Ind ...

. It is anchored by

Kohl's Kohl's (stylized in all caps) is an American department store retail chain, operated by Kohl's Corporation. it is the largest department store chain in the United States, with 1,165 locations, operating stores in every U.S. state except Hawa ...

, Total Wine & More,

AMC Theatres AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. ( d/b/a AMC Theatres, originally an abbreviation for American Multi-Cinema; often referred to simply as AMC and known in some countries as AMC Cinemas or AMC Multi-Cinemas) is an American movie theater chain fo ...

Marshalls Marshalls is an American chain of off-price department stores owned by TJX Companies. Marshalls has over 1,000 American stores, including larger stores named Marshalls Mega Store, covering 42 states and Puerto Rico, and 61 stores in Canada. M ...

Old Navy Old Navy is an American clothing and accessories retailing company owned by multinational corporation Gap Inc. It has corporate operations in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The largest of the Old Navy stores are its ...

, and

Best Buy Best Buy Co. Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was rebra ...

, along with one vacant anchor left by A.C. Moore. Simon Property Group owns one third of the common area of the mall, between

and

; the right-hand area of the property from

to Staples is owned by

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 ...

; and the property from

Dick's Sporting Goods Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc. (stylized as "DICK'S Sporting Goods") is an American sporting goods retail company, based in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. The company was established by Richard "Dick" Stack in 1948, and has approximately 854 stores ...

is owned by New England Development, the mall's original developer.

History

Construction began in 1969, and the mall opened with a dedication ceremony on February 21, 1972. The mall was renovated and expanded first in 1980 and again in 1993. The mall is located less than a mile away from the Northshore Mall in Peabody, although both malls are primarily owned and managed by

. Since the 1980s, the Liberty Tree Mall has focused more on the discount end, whereas the Northshore Mall has focused on the mainstream/upscale end, thus enabling them to coexist semi-peacefully. Ann & Hope, one of the former

anchor store In retail, an "anchor tenant", sometimes called an "anchor store", "draw tenant", or "key tenant", is a considerably larger tenant in a shopping mall, often a department store or retail chain. They are typically located at the ends of malls ...

s of the mall, opened in 1969 before the mall was completed.

Lechmere Lechmere ( "leech-meer") was a Massachusetts-based chain of retail stores that closed in 1997. At the time of its closing, it had 27 stores, including 20 in New England. The chain offered electronics, appliances, and various household goods. It a ...

was the mall's other anchor, which opened with the rest of the mall in 1972. The name Liberty Tree derives from the local version of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

's Liberty Tree, which originally stood in downtown Boston. During the early years of the mall, a large metal tree stood at the center court to commemorate the Liberty Tree. The sculpture was a featured exhibit in the New England Pavilion at the 1964–65 New York World's Fair and was designed by Albert Surman, who died in 2010. The sculpture was removed in 1992 to make room for renovations to the mall and was later scrapped in 1993. In 1980, a food court was added that included restaurants such as The Roast House and The Fairgrounds. A

was added during the 1980s, and has been in the mall since then. Marshalls is the only remaining original anchor store.

Filene's Basement Filene's Basement, also called The Basement, was a Massachusetts-based chain of department stores which was owned by Retail Ventures, Inc. until April 2009 when it was sold to Syms. The oldest off-price retailer in the United States, Filene's B ...

, which subleased a portion of the Lechmere space in 1983, moved to the Northshore Mall in the 1990s.

Sports Authority Sports Authority, Inc. (formerly The Sports Authority) was an American sports retailer. At its peak, Sports Authority operated 463 stores in 45 States and Puerto Rico. The company's website was on the GSI Commerce platform and supported the ret ...

and

were added after the 1993 food court-hallway expansion.

closed in 2016, after the company filed for bankruptcy, and was replaced with SkyZone. Lechmere and Filene's Basement were anchor stores of the mall until 1997 when they were demolished and rebuilt into

, Staples,

Dollar Tree Dollar Tree, Inc. is an American multi-price-point chain of discount variety stores. Headquartered in Chesapeake, Virginia, it is a ''Fortune'' 500 company and operates 15,115 stores throughout the 48 contiguous U.S. states and Canada. Its sto ...

, and

in 1998–99. An f.y.e. replaced part of an area of smaller stores, converting them into a music store/video arcade (formerly Dream Machine), both of which have since closed. Another group of stores was converted to

Bed Bath & Beyond Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. is an American chain of domestic merchandise retail stores. The chain operates many stores in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. Bed Bath & Beyond was founded in 1971. It is counted among the Fortune 5 ...

. Ann & Hope closed their entire chain of stores in 2001, and this included the Liberty Tree Mall location. This location was later rebuilt into

Stop & Shop The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, known as Stop & Shop, is a regional chain of supermarkets located in the northeastern United States. From its beginnings in 1892 as a small grocery store, it has grown to include 406 stores chain-wide. Sto ...

and Pier 1 Imports were later built to the left of Kohl's. A

Loews Theatres Loews may refer to: * Loews Cineplex Entertainment, formerly Loews Incorporated, a defunct North American cinema chain which formerly owned Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer **'' United States v. Loew's Inc.'', a United States Supreme Court case involving Loews ...

20-screen multiplex was also added to the mall. In January 2008, Stop & Shop closed. The store was originally built in 2003. The former Stop & Shop space was converted for use by

Nordstrom Rack Nordstrom Rack is an American off-price department store chain founded in 1973. It is a sister brand to the luxury department store chain Nordstrom. As of 2021, Nordstrom Rack operates 352 stores in 41 U.S. states and three Canadian provinc ...

and Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse, which opened in November 2008. In 2009, the former f.y.e. was replaced by a

Steve & Barry's Steve & Barry's was an American retail clothing chain, featuring casual clothing, footwear and accessories. By mid-2008, the chain operated 276 stores in 39 states. The company was headquartered in Port Washington, New York. The company liquidat ...

, which stayed open until the company filed for bankruptcy. In early 2013, PPE Casino Resorts applied to the state gambling commission for a slots parlor in the rear area of the mall, where Marshalls and the food court are located now. The announcement led to some debate, with some concerned about the character of the mall and others optimistic about jobs and revenue a slots parlor could generate for the community. On November 25, 2019, it was announced that A.C. Moore would close all 145 locations, including the location at Liberty Tree Mall. In May 2020, Pier 1 Imports announced that it would be closing all locations and going out of business due to bankruptcy. On August 10, 2022, it was reported that the Liberty Tree Mall was up for sale, and had been listed since July of that year.

List of anchor stores

References

External links

* http://www.simon.com/mall/liberty-tree-mall {{Simon Property Group, northeast Shopping malls in Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Essex County, Massachusetts Tourist attractions in Essex County, Massachusetts Shopping malls established in 1972 Simon Property Group