KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — Anyone who has spent a significant amount of time living in the Kalamazoo area knows that there were a lot of malls around town decades ago. At one point, there were five indoor malls in the metro area, not including the outdoor walking mall in downtown Kalamazoo.
Maple Hill Mall in Kalamazoo, Michigan (date unknown) – Unknown credit from Lablescar website
They included Crossroads Mall and Southland Mall in Portage, as well as Eastowne Mall on the city’s east side, and West Main Mall and Maple Hill Mall, directly across the road from each other on the city’s west side. It was a shopper’s dream. But we all know the era of shopping malls has ground to a halt in recent years and currently only one of those indoor malls remains as it was constructed. That being Crossroads Mall in Portage, which is itself struggling now.
The empty Steketee’s store inside Maple Hill Mall (date unknown) – Unknown credit from Lablescar website
I discovered a website while trying to remember the names of some of the arcades that were at Kalamazoo area malls and it appears to be defunct since about 2013. An article on the website labelscar.com, which identifies itself as “The Retail History Blog”, has several photos of the now demolished and replaced Maple Hill Mall that was located near the corner of West Main and Drake Rd. from 1971 to 2004. It was built just two years after the opening of West Main Mall across the road in 1969. The location now houses the Maple Hill Pavillion with several businesses, including a Target store that was once part of the former indoor mall.
According to the article, published in August of 2006, Maple Hill Mall opened in 1971 with three anchor stores: Wurzburg’s, Montgomery Ward, and Steketee’s. In the 1980s, a Meijer Square location took up a spot near where Target currently is. Considered by many to ultimately be a failure, at one time it was actually among the highest-selling Meijer store per square foot, at 91,000. It was always intended to become a full-size Meijer by either building onto the existing one or buying land near that location. But as it was, Meijer used the mall location to feature discount department store items only with no groceries. A new, complete Meijer store was built along M-43 near 9th St. in the mid-1990s.
Maple Hill Mall was the dominant indoor shopping outlet in the Kalamazoo area through the early 1980s, despite the much larger Crossroads Mall opening in Portage in 1981. Both malls shared several stores during that decade and into the early 1990s.
Information desk inside Maple Hill Mall in Kalamazoo (date unknown) – Unknown credit from Lablescar website
By the mid-90s, Maple Hill Mall began to decline and by the year 2000, most of the mall was becoming vacant, despite several efforts to revive activity inside with newer stores and eateries. Hobby Lobby opened in half of the former Montgomery Ward in early 2004, then Value City Furniture opened in the other half shortly afterward. After that, demolition began. After demolition was complete, a new strip mall called Maple Hill Pavilion was built connecting the remaining spaces.
The former Hot Sam Pretzels shop at Maple Hill Mall (date unknown) – Unknown credit from Angelfire website
The discovery of this website was a fun trip down memory lane, but I would love to identify the person who took the photos, to give them proper credit for them in this article. Upon a search for contact information at labelscar.com, I found another article on angelfire.com called Forgotten Michigan, from 2007. But the author and photographer, who appear to be the same person, are not identified anywhere in the contents. So if you are out there, and happen to find this article, please reach out to me at brandon.james@mwcradio.com. I’d also love to see any other pictures you might have of the old Maple Hill Mall too!
And I’d also love to hear from anyone who has memories to share from going to Maple Hill Mall when it was in full swing. What were some of your favorite shops there? Leave a comment below or on our Facebook page under this story.
Happy shopping!
I had the great privilege of driving in the mall, in preparation of local dealers car show. Our dealership was located
on the far end of the mall from the vehicle entrance, so we got to drive the full length of the mall. Fortunately nobody ever had an accident with any of the store fronts. My wife even helped move the cars and we frequently joke about driving in the mall.
Thanks for sharing your story Russell! That is pretty cool!