Mounds Mall

Mounds Mall

An entrance to Mounds Mall, one month before the mall's closure in 2018.
Location	Anderson, Indiana, United States
Opening date	1964 (Montgomery Ward and Wasson's) 1965 (Entire Mall Complex) [1]
Closing date	April 1, 2018
Developer	Melvin Simon & Associates
No. of stores and services	approx. 30
No. of anchor tenants	4
Total retail floor area	300,000 sq ft (28,000 m^2)[2]
No. of floors	1
Public transit access	CATS

Mounds Mall is a defunct enclosed shopping mall located in the city of Anderson, Indiana, United States. Opened in stages between 1964 and 1965, it was one of the first enclosed malls developed by Melvin Simon & Associates, now known as Simon Property Group.^[3] The mall's original anchor stores were H. P. Wasson and Company, Montgomery Ward, and J. C. Penney; over time, the Wasson store became Meis, Elder-Beerman, and Carson's, while Montgomery Ward became Sears and J. C. Penney was torn down and rebuilt as a movie theater. After a period of decline, Mounds Mall closed to the public in April 2018. The movie theater closed a year later, leaving no businesses in the building.

History

Mounds Mall was developed by Melvin Simon & Associates (now Simon Property Group), opening in 1965 as the second mall in Indiana (Evansville's fully enclosed Washington Square began business in October 1963).^{[2] [4]}

The mall officially opened in April 1965, although anchor stores Montgomery Ward and H. P. Wasson and Company had opened the previous November. Original tenants included Zales, Kroger, Woolworth, and Jo-Ann Fabrics.^[5]

Interior of Mounds Mall in March 2018.

Montgomery Ward closed and became Sears in 1983.^[6] Also in the 1980s, the Wasson’s store closed. Meis opened a store around a year later, Meis was rebranded into Elder-Beerman in 1983, and finally Carson's in 2011.^[7] In 2012, the Sears closed as a result of low sales of the 2011 holiday season. On January 31, 2018, The Bon-Ton announced that Carson's would be closing as part of a plan to close 42 stores nationwide. The store closed on April 29, 2018.^[8] Shortly later, it was announced that the whole mall would close along with the Carson's. The mall closed on April 1, 2018. The attached movie theater closed before 2019. By 2021, the whole property had been boarded up.

References

1. "Simon Property Group, Inc. History". Funding Universe. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
2. McNamara, Neal (2007-12-09). "8:07 p.m.: A+ Series — Mounds Mall still courting shoppers". The Herald Bulletin. Retrieved 2008-01-07.
3. "Simon Property Group, Inc. History". Funding Universe. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
4. "Simon Property Group, Inc. History". Funding Universe. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
5. "Mounds mall nearly leased, opening set". Anderson Herald. January 9, 1965. p. 2. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
6. "'We hate to see it go'".
7. "Jim Bailey: Mounds Mall changed Anderson's shopping patterns".
8. "Carson's in Mounds Mall closing its doors".

• Anderson: A Pictorial History by Esther Dittlinger
• Indianapolis: Hoosiers' Circle City by George W. Geib, copyright 1981. page 208

External links

• Official website

40°05′47″N 85°39′20″W