Who Killed Malls? Eastland, Once Home to Michigan’s Biggest Retailer, Now Awaits the Wrecking Ball
Downtown shopping districts used to fear big-box retailers — now it’s the old malls that are dying
HARPER WOODS, Mich. — Eastland Shopping Center faces demolition in 2022. The once-mighty mall is slated to be replaced by a $94 million industrial warehouse complex.
One of Michigan’s first malls has been dying a slow death for more than 20 years, a giant symbol of Michigan’s role as the buckle of the Rust Belt.
Its vast parking lots are crumbling with bumpy, cratering potholes, torn-up asphalt, and aging infrastructure. The demolition alone will cost $6 million.
Harper Woods Mayor Valerie Kindle said last week, “We had to do what was best for our total community. As much as I will miss the mall — I really have great memories coming here with my grandmother, driving my mother and aunt, and eating at Hudson’s — we have to move forward.”
On Monday, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer toured flood-ravaged I-94, just two miles east of Eastland, blaming massive flooding of the East Side on “climate change” and a lack of investment in infrastructure across the state.
