The Mall at Fairfield Commons, often referred to as the Fairfield Mall, 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 ...

Beavercreek, Ohio Beavercreek is a city in Greene County, Ohio, United States. The population was 46,549 at the 2020 census, making it the largest city in the county and the second-largest suburb of Dayton. The Beavercreek area was settled in the early 1800s. A ...

, United States, a suburb of

Dayton Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

. The mall was opened in 1993 and has two floors. The

anchor store In North American, Australian and New Zealand 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 ...

s are , Dick's House of Sport (a subsidiary of

Dick's Sporting Goods Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc. (stylized in all caps as DICK'S Sporting Goods) is an American chain of sporting goods stores founded in 1948 by Richard "Dick" Stack. It is the largest sporting goods retailer in the United States and is listed ...

), Round 1 Entertainment, and Morris Home Furniture. There are two vacant anchor stores, formerly occupied by

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 ...

and Dick's Sporting Goods. Located adjacent to Interstate 675, it is near a golf course,

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place just east of Dayton, Ohio, in Greene County, Ohio, Greene and Montgomery County, Ohio, Montgomery counties. It includes both Wright and Patte ...

Wright State University Wright State University is a public research university in Fairborn, Ohio, United States. Originally opened in 1964 as a branch campus of Miami University and Ohio State University, it became an independent institution in 1967 and was named in ...

and the

Nutter Center The Nutter Center is a multi-purpose arena located at Wright State University, in Fairborn, Ohio. It mainly serves as the home court of the Wright State Raiders men's and women's basketball teams. It is also regularly used as a music venue for ...

entertainment complex. The mall is located just south of the interstate on North Fairfield Road (Veterans Memorial Highway), a main thoroughfare through Beavercreek. It offers over 140 different shops,

department stores A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made ...

and

restaurants A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in app ...

, including 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 ...

. The Mall at Fairfield Commons is owned and operated by

Washington Prime Group Washington Prime Group Inc. is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping centers. The company is organized in Indiana with its headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. From January 2015 to September 2016, the company had the name WP ...

History

After a few days of soft openings with invited guests, the mall opened to the public on October 27, 1993 with a

Elder-Beerman The Elder-Beerman Stores Corp., commonly known as Elder-Beerman, was an American chain of department stores founded in 1883 and whose last stores closed in 2018. The chain, based primarily in the Midwestern United States, was composed of 31 sto ...

, a Parisian, a

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 ...

and a as anchors. The store in the mall replaced two other locations in the area: one in the Airway Shopping Center in then-Mad River Township (now Riverside) and a smaller store in

Xenia Xenia may refer to: People * Xenia (name), a feminine given name; includes a list of people with this name Places United States ''listed alphabetically by state'' * Xenia, Illinois, a village in Clay County ** Xenia Township, Clay County, Il ...

. The mall's basic layout is a straight

concourse A concourse is a place where pathways or roads meet, such as in a hotel, a convention center, a railway station, an airport terminal, a hall, or other space. The term is not limited to places where there are literally pathways or roadways or t ...

connected to a diagonal concourse connected to another straight concourse; placement within the layout allows it to have two sets of interior public entrances on both floors: one set opens to the end of one of the straight concourses, while the other set opens to the middle of the other straight concourse. This configuration is unlike some malls that require customers to move through an anchor store to reach other parts of the mall; customers do not have to move through to reach any other area of the mall. A

Lazarus Lazarus may refer to: People *Lazarus (name), a surname and a given name * Lazarus of Bethany, a Biblical figure described as being raised from the dead by Jesus * Lazarus, a Biblical figure from the parable of the Rich man and Lazarus * Lazar ...

(now Macy's) opened on September 23, 1994, with the official grand opening from September 30 to October 2; the store opened almost a year later than the other four anchors due to the 1992 emergence of Lazarus' parent company,

Federated Department Stores Macy's, Inc. (previously Federated Department Stores, Inc.) is an American holding company of department stores. Upon its establishment in 1929, Federated held ownership of the regional department store chains Abraham & Straus, Lazarus (departm ...

, from bankruptcy reorganization, and also due to Lazarus' earlier commitment to a competing mall project. An

store opened in 2004. Although two stories, the store's only interior public entrance was on the upper level, off the food court. In fall 2007,

The Bon-Ton Bonton Holdings Inc. operating as Bonton () was an American department store chain and group founded in 1898. It operated in Western New York, Pennsylvania, Western Maryland, and throughout the Midwestern United States. The former York, Pennsy ...

Stores, owner of Elder-Beerman, converted the existing Parisian store to an additional Elder-Beerman location, housing women’s clothing, cosmetics, shoes and accessories. The existing Elder-Beerman store was reconfigured to house its men's, children's and home departments on the upper level, and a new furniture gallery on the lower level. In April 2014, Elder-Beerman announced that it would consolidate its two mall locations back into its original location and eliminate the furniture gallery; the consolidation was complete on August 20, 2014. The vacated portion of the mall was demolished in early 2015; it was replaced between late 2015 and 2018 with six restaurants: two attached to the mall but with exterior-only public entrances, and four freestanding. An additional freestanding restaurant in the space is scheduled to open in fall 2018. Elder-Beerman closed on August 29, 2018, due to the bankruptcy of parent company The Bon-Ton. After a September 18, 2018 announcement that Sears would be closing as part of a plan to close 12 locations nationwide, the store closed on December 9, 2018. The lower level of the former Sears store opened as

Round One Entertainment , stylized as ROUND1, is a Japan-based amusement store chain. In Japan, the amusement centers offer bowling alleys, arcade games, karaoke, and billiards. Select larger locations also include SpoCha, which is an abbreviation for “Sports Challe ...

on November 23, 2019. In spite of the fact that there had yet been no announcement that the Sears store would either be vacated or reduced in size, on July 26, 2018, it was announced that

The RoomPlace The RoomPlace was an American furniture retailer headquartered in Lombard, Illinois. The company had 26 locations across the Midwest up until 2024. History The RoomPlace was founded back in 1912 by Sam Berman as a small furniture store in the W ...

would open a home furniture store in the mall.

Trade magazine A trade magazine, also called a trade journal or trade paper (colloquially or disparagingly a trade rag), is a magazine or newspaper whose target audience is people who work in a particular tradesman, trade or industry. The collective term ...

Furniture Today ''Furniture Today'' is a weekly American magazine about the furniture industry. It is part of the Gannett media holding company. History and profile ''Furniture Today'' was started in 1976. In March 2010 it was acquired by Sandow Media from Re ...

'' claimed that a store was then scheduled to open in fall 2019 in the upper level of the Sears space. The RoomPlace plans were confirmed on September 18, 2018, when the Sears closing was announced, and were reaffirmed as late as February 13, 2020. On February 25, 2020, it was announced that locally-based regional chain Morris Home Furniture would be opening instead in the upper level of the former Sears store, with The RoomPlace confirming two days later that it had shelved its plans to enter the Dayton market. The Morris showroom was tentatively scheduled to open in spring 2020; it opened on June 15. From June 20 to August 2022, Morris offered a pop-up clearance and closeout location in the former Elder-Beerman space. In February 2024, it was reported that Dick's Sporting Goods planned to open a Dick's House of Sport location in the former Elder-Beerman store. The facility was planned to allow patrons to practice and try out

gear A gear or gearwheel is a rotating machine part typically used to transmit rotational motion and/or torque by means of a series of teeth that engage with compatible teeth of another gear or other part. The teeth can be integral saliences or ...

, and to provide space for patrons to hold events. It was also planned to include a

climbing wall A climbing wall is an artificially constructed wall with manufactured grips (or "holds") for the hands and feet. Most walls are located indoors, and climbing on such walls is often termed indoor climbing. Some walls are brick or wooden constr ...

;

golf simulator Indoor golf is an umbrella term for all activities in golf which can be carried out indoors. Venues include indoor driving ranges, chipping areas, putting greens, machines and home golf simulators. Many of these indoor facilities are businesses ...

s; multi-sport cages for

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

and

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

; an outdoor track; and a outdoor turf field which could be used as a winter skating rink. The plans for the existing Dick's Sporting Goods store were not reported; signs on the existing store indicated that all operations would be moved into the House of Sport location. The store opened March 7, 2025. On January 9, 2025, it was announced that Macy's would be closing as part of a plan to close 66 stores nationwide. The store closed on March 23, 2025. On April 15, 2025, in the wake of corporate employee layoffs, the prior sale of assets in its portfolio, and its decision to sell the remainder of its portfolio, mall owner

announced that it planned to sell the mall. No positions at the mall itself are expected to be eliminated.

Non-retail uses

In December 2020, it was reported that Mosaic Church, an almost three-year-old congregation which had been holding services in area movie theaters and parking lots, would move to one floor, approximately , of the former Elder-Beerman space; the church opened on the upper level on January 10, 2021. As of December 2020, the mall's and University Baptist Church's websites suggested that the latter congregation would be opening a location in the lower level of the former Elder-Beerman space. On June 4, 2021, Beavercreek-headquartered developer Synergy & Mills Development announced that in partnership with the mall's owner, Washington Prime Group, it would convert the entire former Elder-Beerman building into office, laboratory, and

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...

space. The over $10 million project, which was to be called "The Meridian", would be built

on spec ''On Spec'' is a digest-sized, perfect-bound, Canadian quarterly magazine publishing stories and poetry in science fiction, fantasy, and allied genres broadly grouped under the "speculative fiction" umbrella. History and profile Based in Edmo ...

starting in late 2021. The developers expected the complex to be popular with

defense contractors Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

due to nearby Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, but would also market the space to prospective tenants in other industries. As of June 2021, it was unknown when Mosaic and University Baptist churches would be expected to leave their spaces. In February 2024, it was reported that this plan had not proceeded. From January 14 through February 27, 2022, "

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...

’s

Sistine Chapel The Sistine Chapel ( ; ; ) is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the pope's official residence in Vatican City. Originally known as the ''Cappella Magna'' ('Great Chapel'), it takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who had it built between 1473 and ...

: The Exhibition", a traveling art exhibit reproducing the

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

s on the

Sistine Chapel ceiling The Sistine Chapel ceiling (), painted in fresco by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, is a cornerstone work of High Renaissance Renaissance art, art. The Sistine Chapel is the large papal chapel built within the Vatican City, Vatican betwee ...

, appeared at the mall in the upper level of the former Elder-Beerman store.

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mall at Fairfield Commons, The Shopping malls in Ohio Shopping malls established in 1993 Economy of Dayton, Ohio Buildings and structures in Greene County, Ohio Washington Prime Group Tourist attractions in Greene County, Ohio Beavercreek, Ohio 1993 establishments in Ohio