Oxmoor Center

Oxmoor Center is a Louisville, Kentucky shopping mall located at 7900 Shelbyville Road in eastern Louisville.

History

The 1970s

The Shillito's store, at the mall's east end, was three stories, and included a small restaurant on the third floor. The mall featured a Stewart's department store on its west end. A Yudofsky Furriers store was adjacent to Stewart's (the last store before Stewart's on the south side). The central atrium had a large circular fountain.

Oxmoor Center once had a Putters Park on the upper level, along with four cinema screens. Other upper level tenants included Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour, Something to Do (a games store now known as Something2Do, which remained in the mall until moving out in July 2014^[3]), Modelle's Custom Tailors (still operating at the lower level) and Athlete's Foot. Lower level tenants included Lerner's (women's clothing), a tobacco shop (with a wooden Indian statue, also still in business), a candle store, a small store selling imported gifts called Far East and Thom McAn Shoes. By the 1980s, there were six cinematic auditoriums in operation at Oxmoor Center. The original two larger auditoriums located on the ground floor level (in the northern half of today's Old Navy) had been joined by four smaller screens located on the second floor of the Oxmoor Mall.

Opened in February 1971 on the opposing side of the Watterson Expressway from Mall St. Matthews, the mall originally had Shillito's and Stewart's as its anchor stores. In July 1984 the mall opened a new wing over the Middle Fork of Beargrass Creek to include a Sears store that relocated from 4121 Shelbyville Road.

The land the mall was built on is a part of Oxmoor Farm and, due to the land being inherited as a trust which stipulated that it not be sold for a certain number of years, was leased to the mall. The deed restriction has since expired which led to the development of Oxmoor Woods subdivision, but the mall does not own the land it sits upon and remains a leaseholder.

1980s – present

Shillito's was rebranded as Shillito Rikes in June 1982, Lazarus in March 1986, Lazarus-Macy's in August 2003 and Macy's in March 2005. Stewart's would be rebannered six times between November 1985 and September 2003. The store operated as an L.S. Ayres, Ben Snyder's, Hess's, Jacobson's and Von Maur, its most recent conversion. The Famous Blue Boar Cafeteria, a 1971 charter tenant, closed in 1995 along with Rax.

In 1989, a food court was created on the mall's upper level. Then, in November 1998, a major reconstruction on the mall was completed. It included a new octagonal main entrance, vaulted ceilings, escalators and an updated north facade. In October 2001, Galyan's Trading Company opened a new, 2-level store that was built in the front parking area. It became a Dick's Sporting Goods location in October 2004 after Dick's purchased the Galyan's chain.

The mall currently has over 960,000 square feet (89,000 m²) and includes the anchor stores of Macy's, Sears, Von Maur, and Dick's Sporting Goods.^[1] The retail hub is currently owned by the Chicago company General Growth Properties.

In January 2013, the mall announced a major renovation in which the center mezzanine containing the food court and a few retailers would be torn down and replaced with a new center court. The renovation, which added new seating areas plus a play area near the Sears store, was completed in time for the 2013 Christmas shopping season.^[4]

Since the most recent renovation, the mall has added multiple stores, among them H&M, Anthropologie, and a few luxury retailers, including Michael Kors and Kate Spade. Because of the recent spike in luxury retailers, a Nordstrom was speculated, but a representative for the Seattle-based company denied the rumors.

Anchor stores

• Dick's Sporting Goods (80,000 sq ft.)
• Macy's (271,390 sq ft.)
• Sears (139,820 sq ft.)
• Von Maur (156,000 sq ft.)

References

Further reading

• David Dominé (2010-05-18). Insiders' Guide® to Louisville. Globe Pequot. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-7627-6339-9. Retrieved 2014-03-08. Considered by many to be the most prestigious of the local malls... 

External links

• Official Site

Malls in the Louisville metropolitan area
Enclosed regional malls	Green Tree Mall Jefferson Mall Mall St. Matthews Oxmoor Center
Enclosed local malls	Fourth Street Live! Mid-City Mall
Major shopping centers	Outlet Shoppes of the Bluegrass Paddock Shops
Defunct	Bashford Manor Mall River Falls Mall

Coordinates: 38°14′50″N 85°36′37″W / 38.24715°N 85.61032°W / 38.24715; -85.61032