Westfield SouthPark, formerly SouthPark Center, is an enclosed shopping mall

Shopping mall

A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...

 located in Strongsville, Ohio

Strongsville, Ohio

As of the census of 2000, there were 43,858 people, 16,209 households, and 12,383 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,779.6 people per square mile . There were 16,863 housing units at an average density of 684.2 per square mile...

. Its anchor store

Anchor store

In retail, an anchor store, draw tenant, anchor tenant, or key tenant is one of the larger stores in a shopping mall, usually a department store or a major retail chain....

s are Dillard's

Dillard's

Dillard's, Inc. is a department store chain in the United States, with 330 stores in 29 states. Headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, Dillard's locations are concentrated in Texas and Florida; with a major presence in other states including Arizona, Iowa, Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Missouri,...

, Macy's

Macy's

Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...

, JCPenney, Sears

Sears, Roebuck and Company

Sears, officially named Sears, Roebuck and Co., is an American chain of department stores which was founded by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck in the late 19th century...

.

History

As early as the 1960s, the intersection of Royalton Road (SR 82) and Howe Road in the rapidly expanding suburb was coveted for commercial use. A secret plan by former Cleveland Browns

Cleveland Browns

The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 owner Art Modell

Art Modell

Arthur B. Modell is an American businessman, entrepreneur and former National Football League team owner. He owned the Cleveland Browns franchise from 1961–1995 and the Baltimore Ravens franchise from 1996–2004. Modell is the grandson of the late Morris Modell who founded the northeast...

 to build a new stadium at the site was exposed by the media in the 1980s and subsequently scrapped. The land was eventually sold to the Richard E. Jacobs Group, which later unveiled its first plans for a major mall. The Higbee Company and May Company Ohio

May Company Ohio

The May Company Ohio is a defunct chain of department stores that was based in Cleveland, Ohio, United States.-History:In 1899, David May, the founder of May Department Stores, acquired E. R. Hull & Dutton Co. of Cleveland on Ontario Street, renaming it May Company, Cleveland...

, Cleveland's two major department store

Department store

A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...

 companies, announced that they would join as anchors.

After another decade, numerous legal battles, and name changes for Higbee's and May Company Ohio, ground was finally broken for the new $200 million SouthPark Center in 1993. Opening in October 1996, the mall's anchor tenants included Dillard's

Dillard's

Dillard's, Inc. is a department store chain in the United States, with 330 stores in 29 states. Headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, Dillard's locations are concentrated in Texas and Florida; with a major presence in other states including Arizona, Iowa, Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Missouri,...

, Kaufmann's

Kaufmann's

Kaufmann's was a department store that originated in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was owned in the early 20th century by Edgar J. Kaufmann, patron of 'Fallingwater' and the Kaufmann's Desert House. In the post-war years the store became a regional chain in the eastern United States, and was last...

, J.C. Penney

J.C. Penney

J. C. Penney Company, Inc. is a chain of American mid-range department stores based in Plano, Texas, a suburb north of Dallas. The company operates 1,107 department stores in all 50 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. JCPenney also operates catalog sales merchant offices nationwide in many...

 and Sears. Kohl's

Kohl's

Kohl's Corporation is an American department store chain headquartered in the Milwaukee suburb of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, operating , 1,089 stores in 49 states. In 1998, it entered the S&P 500 list, and is also listed in the Fortune 500...

 was also an anchor, though on the outlying perimeter road surrounding the mall. With its upstairs food court and grand "Porte Cochere" main entrance, SouthPark has proven popular among many Strongsville residents (especially teenagers and young adults) as well as those from neighboring cities. SouthPark's success drew sales away from other regional malls and Downtown Cleveland

Downtown Cleveland

Downtown Cleveland is the central business district of the City of Cleveland and Northeast Ohio. Reinvestment in the area in the mid-1990s spurred a rebirth that continues to this day, with over $2 billion in residential and commercial developments slated for the area over the next few years...

.

Westfield Group acquired the shopping center in early 2002 from the Jacobs Group, and renamed it "Westfield Shoppingtown SouthPark", dropping the "Shoppingtown" name in June 2005. In 2006 it commenced a massive $150 million expansion and reconfiguration of the center, thus adding 25 more stores and a Cinemark movie theater.