Draft:City Mall (Illinois)

The City Mall is a mall in Wheaton, Illinois. It is one of the largest malls in Illinois with 5 floors. Its anchors are Von Maur, Macy's, JCPenney, Primark, Kohl's, Nordstrom, and Barnes & Noble

History
Plans for the mall were announced in 1966 when the City of Chicago announced they would build a new mall in downtown Chicago called the “Superior Mall”, which would include Sears, Marshall Field's, Montgomery Ward, and Saks Fifth Avenue as anchors. Shortly after, Saks and Montgomery Ward decided not a participate in the project, causing JCPenney to get invited to the project

The name “Superior Mall” was later changed when Sears suggested the name “City Mall”. JCPenney suggested to move to Wheaton because they claim “Downtown Chicago is too busy and difficult”

Ground was broken in 1968 to build the City Mall

The mall finally opened in 1971 with 5 floors of retail, and with Sears, Marshall Field's, and JCPenney as anchors, each having 5 floors too. Bergner's also built and opened a 5-floor store in 1973. MainStreet also built and opened a 5-floor store in 1986. Bergner's and MainStreet got converted to Carson's and Kohl's respectively in 1989. Major changes happened in 1996 when Nordstrom built and opened a 5-floor store, completing the mall’s anchor lineup, and the 5th floor of the mall became the food court, leaving the mall with only 4 floors of retail. Renovations of the mall also occurred that same year, adding glass windows outside the mall, like a glass building

In 2000, the 4th floor of the mall became Barnes & Noble, leaving only 3 floors of retail in the mall, which is still available today. Marshall Field's got converted to Macy's in 2006

In 2018, Carson's closed down because parent company Bon-Ton filed for bankruptcy

In 2021, Sears closed down their store

In 2022, Von Maur and Primark announced that they will share the former Sears building, but they changed their minds and Von Maur would be replacing Sears and Primark replacing Carson's. They both opened in 2023