Franklin Park Mall is a super-regional

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 ...

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the western end of Lake Erie along the Maumee River. Toledo is the List of cities in Ohio, fourth-most populous city in Ohio and List of United Sta ...

. It is anchored by

Dillard's Dillard's, Inc. is an American department store chain with approximately 267 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 company a ...

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 ...

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 ...

, and DSW. 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

Forever 21 F21 OpCo LLC, trade name, doing business as Forever 21, was a multinational fast-fashion retailer. It was originally founded as Fashion 21 in Highland Park, Los Angeles, Highland Park, Los Angeles in 1984.Forever 21History & Facts, n.d. Retrieved ...

, both of which closed in early 2025.

History

Developed by

The Rouse Company The Rouse Company was a publicly traded shopping mall and community developer from 1956 until 2004, when GGP Inc., General Growth Properties (GGP) purchased the company. It was founded by Hunter Moss and James Rouse, James W. Rouse in 1939. Begin ...

, the mall opened on July 22, 1971, occupying the former site of the Franklin Airport. The mall was built using the Syncon

modular building A modular building is a prefabricated building that consists of repeated sections called modules. Modularity involves constructing sections away from the building site, then delivering them to the intended site. Installation of the prefabricate ...

subsystems for an estimated savings of $500,000. When the mall opened, its original anchor stores were

Hudson's The J. L. Hudson Company (commonly known simply as Hudson's) was an upscale retail department store chain based in Detroit, Michigan. Hudson's flagship store, on Woodward Avenue in Downtown Detroit (demolished October 24, 1998), was the talles ...

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

, and local department store Lamson Brothers. The mall comprised about 75 stores in of floor space, with the J. C. Penney anchor being one of the largest in the chain at the time. Mall concourses featured sunken courts before the entrance to each department store,

skylight A skylight (sometimes called a rooflight) is a light-permitting structure or window, usually made of transparent or translucent glass, that forms all or part of the roof space of a building for daylighting and ventilation purposes. History O ...

s, and a mobile constructed by

Alexander Calder Alexander "Sandy" Calder (; July 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976) was an American sculptor known both for his innovative mobile (sculpture), mobiles (kinetic sculptures powered by motors or air currents) that embrace chance in their aesthetic, hi ...

in front of the Hudson's entrance. In 1974, Lamson Brothers went bankrupt and the store was replaced by

Jacobson's Jacobson's was an American regional upscale department store chain. Based in Jackson, Michigan, the chain operated primarily in Michigan and Florida, but also had stores in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Kansas. Jacobson's focused on apparel, fine j ...

Jackson, Michigan Jackson is a city in Jackson County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The population was 31,309 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located along Interstate 94 in Michigan, Interstate 94 and U.S. Route 127 in Michigan, U.S ...

. This store was the fourteenth in the Jacobson's chain. In 1993, Rouse significantly remodeled the mall and added a new wing anchored by the

Lion Store Lion Store (founded in 1857 as Frederick Eaton & Co. and incorporated in 1890 as The Lion Dry Goods Co.) was a Toledo, Ohio department store chain. Mercantile Stores operated the chain from 1914 until its 1998 acquisition by Dillard's, which reti ...

. In 1998 the Lion Store was renamed Dillard's, while in 2001, Hudson's was renamed

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, ...

The Westfield Group Westfield Group was an Australian shopping centre company that existed from 1960 to 2014, when it split into two independent companies: Scentre Group, which owns and operates the Australian and New Zealand Westfield shopping centre portfolio ...

acquired the shopping center in early 2002, and renamed it "Westfield Shoppingtown Franklin Park", dropping the "Shoppingtown" name in June 2005. Jacobson's went bankrupt and closed its location in early 2002, days before Westfield announced the takeover. The former Lamson Brothers/Jacobson's was demolished in 2004 and in its place a new wing, the centerpiece of a massive $100 million renovation, opened in 2005. It was at this time that a new

National Amusements National Amusements, Inc. is an American privately owned movie theater operator and mass media holding company incorporated in Maryland and based in Norwood, Massachusetts. The company owned 69 theaters and 667 screens throughout the United Stat ...

multiplex theater and Dick's Sporting Goods were built, as well as a new Food Court and

Borders A border is a geographical boundary. Border, borders, The Border or The Borders may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Border'' (1997 film), an Indian Hindi-language war film * ''Border'' (2018 Swedish film), ...

books. Marshall Field's became

in 2006. In 2008 Westfield held a press conference at Franklin Park to announce were shoe retailer DSW Warehouse, clothing store Old Navy, and an Ulta cosmetic salon. The stores opened as part of the addition. After Borders ceased operations in 2011, its space became

, which relocated from a smaller store within the mall. In fall 2013, the mall was sold to Starwood Capital Group with 6 other Westfield properties. As a result, it reverted to Franklin Park Mall. In December 2020, the mall was sold to Pacific Capital Retail Partners along with 6 other Starwood properties. In January 2025, Macy's announced that its store at Franklin Park Mall would close in the first quarter of 2025. It closed in March 2025. The location where the Macy's is has been listed on a real estate website, and it is unclear what will happen with the location going forward. In March 2025, Forever 21 announced it would file for bankruptcy protection and close all its locations, including its store at Franklin Park Mall, by May 1. The store at Franklin Park closed on March 30, 2025.

References

External links

Official Website
{{Shopping malls in Ohio Shopping malls in the Toledo, Ohio metro area Tourist attractions in Toledo, Ohio Buildings and structures in Toledo, Ohio Shopping malls established in 1971 1971 establishments in Ohio Pacific Retail Capital Partners