Richmond Town Square Mall
The Richmond Town Square Mall opened on September 22, 1966, and was at its time the largest enclosed shopping mall in Ohio with over 90 different stores. This was of course 10 years prior to the opening of Randall Park Mall, which opened on August 11, 1976, and would become the largest mall in the United States before the Mall of America came into the picture.
The mall was originally known simply as Richmond Mall until a large $100 million dollar remodel and expansion project in 1998. After years of decline, and closure of anchor stores such as Macy’s, Sears, and others, the mall quickly fell further into a poor state.
Plans for demolition were initially set for 2020, but the mall continued in operation, though only a couple small shops remained inside, barely seeing more than a few guests per day if even that.
The mall was closed for good on May 6th, 2021, though walking through you would think it had been closed much longer. In a way you could say it has, as a large percentage of the stores have sat empty for years, many of them musty, dusty and beginning to decay.
Planet Fitness and Life Storage are the only 2 things still in operation, separate from the main mall area.
The current plan is to demolish the mall and build Belle Oaks Marketplace called Belle Oaks at Richmond where the mall currently stands.
DealPoint Merrill purchased the property and announced in 2018 that they would be spending $69 million to build apartments, a hotel and even a park on the north end to replace the former Sears building. In 2019, plans were revealed for the construction of luxury apartments. In June of 2021, the group held an event to guide people around and showcase their plans for Belle Oaks.
Plans for demolition were set a second time for the fall of 2021, but the building still stands. It’s not entirely clear when demolition will take place.
Full Photo Gallery Below:
