Throwback Thursday - Eastfield Mall

A couple of weeks ago Paul and I went to Eastfield Mall, to FYE, looking for used James Bond movies.  We never go there anymore, but Eastfield Mall used to be a big part of our lives.

It is located on Boston Rd in Springfield, not far from where Paul grew up.  Paul and I were just starting to "go out" when the mall opened.  It was the first enclosed mall in the area, and totally different from anything we had ever seen.  I remember Paul buying me a stuffed animal cat at one of the little kiosks in the middle of the mall.  I wish I hadn't thrown it out years ago.

Paul's mother, Priscilla, and I used to go there with the kids a lot when they were little.  She would always push the carriage; she said she liked to lean on it.

It was fun to go there this week.  Many of the stores have changed, but the layout is basically the same.  I'm glad to have these pictures, before something happens and the mall either gets torn down or turned into something else.

E

I fou

This is some of what I found on the Internet about Eastfield Mall.

"Built in 1967, Eastfield Mall was Greater Springfield's first enclosed mall, featuring local favorites Forbes & Wallace and Steiger's, along with Sears, as anchors. Back then, it competed with thriving downtowns for shoppers.

Eastfield Mall opened in 1967 with branches of two local department stores: Forbes & Wallace and Steiger's.^[1][2] The third anchor store, Sears remains to this day. Forbes closed in 1975 leaving the mall store vacant. It was sold (the anchor stores are wholly owned by their tenant or proxies) and JCPenney moved in. In 1994, Filene's, whose parent company May Department Stores had bought Steiger's moved into their old space.^[1] This store became Macy's in 2006 after May was purchased by Federated Department Stores (Macy's parent company at the time). The 16 screen movie theater was added in 2000 and was initially a Showcase Cinemas. Today the theater is owned by Cinemark.

The addition of a Steve & Barry's clothing store in 2006 put the mall at full occupancy for the first time since 1978. The store displaced nine smaller retail outlets, of which only two relocated within the mall.^[3] This store closed in 2008 following the chain's bankruptcy proceedings.^[4] In 2009, Hannoush Jewelers opened a showroom in the space vacated by Steve & Barry's.^[5] In 2004, the mall implemented a teen escort policy, stating that any customer under the age of 15 must be with an escort after 5:00 PM.^[6][7] The JCPenney store was later downgraded to an outlet store, and closed in 2012 when JCPenney eliminated its outlet store division.^[8]

Macy's announced that it would be closing the Eastfield Mall location in April 2016, which left Sears as the only anchor store."