Retail trends come and go, but one shift that’s taken particularly deep root around my neck of the woods is the slow death of the local shopping mall. Super-regional destinations like Glenbrook, Castleton, and Southlake continue to survive, but smaller-city malls haven’t been so lucky. I’ve written about a few of those places over the years, but today I’ll turn my attention to Mounds Mall of Anderson.
Plans for Anderson’s “Mall Shopping Center” were announced on December 4, 1963, by Melvin Simon and Associates. The $3 million, 225,000-square-foot center would be the first air-conditioned and heated enclosed mall in Indiana1! Anchored by Montgomery Ward and H.P. Wasson, the project promised parking for 2,400 cars and a shopping experience designed for comfort in every season.
Simon made it clear that the shopping plaza, as announced, was only the beginning. “We’ve planned this as an expandable center,” the company explained. “Initially we will have 225,000 square feet, but we expect that we will go eventually to 360,000 square feet of retail and commercial space2.” From the start, Anderson’s mall was meant to grow.
Wasson’s and Ward’s opened in November 1964. Montgomery Ward was a behemoth for its era, with 85,000 square feet under its roof and 35,000 square feet devoted to sales3. It also featured an eight-bay automotive center and an area for outdoor and seasonal goods4. Ward’s was designed to provide everything under one roof on a scale Anderson hadn’t seen before.
That leap forward came at a downtown cost: Mounds Mall’s Monkey Ward spelled the end for Anderson’s original store on Meridian Street, which had served shoppers since 19315. “We have been greatly impressed with the continual growth and potential growth of Anderson and the surrounding area,” said Russell Bygel, Vice President of Ward’s, “and we particularly favored the location and design proposed for the center6.”
Wasson’s, meanwhile, had a history of knowing exactly when to make an innovative move. The company got its start in Indianapolis in 1883, but became the first of the city’s major retailers to break free from the downtown core when it opened a suburban store at Eastgate Shopping Center7. The company was ready to stretch even farther and opened its first store outside of Indianapolis in Kokomo in May 1964. Anderson came next…