Southgate Shopping Center: Difference between revisions

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{{short description|Shopping center in Michigan, United States}}

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{{about|the shopping center in [[Southgate, Michigan|Southgate]], [[Michigan]]|the shopping centre in [[England]]|SouthGate, Bath|the shopping centre in [[Edmonton]], [[Alberta]]|Southgate Centre|the shopping centre in [[Johannesburg]]|Southgate Shopping Centre|the shopping centre in [[Australia]]|Southgate Shopping Centre (Australia)}}

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{{More citations needed|date=January 2020}}

'''Southgate Shopping Center''' is a [[strip mall]] located at the corner of Eureka and Trenton Roads in [[Southgate, Michigan]]. For most of its 50 years, the center had as its anchor [[Montgomery Ward]], with other notable shops being [[S.S. Kresge Corporation|Kresge]], [[F.W. Woolworth Company|Woolworth]], Winkelman's, and Federal (later [[Service Merchandise]]). Currently its anchor store is [[Farmer Jack]]; the strip also includes an [[Old Country Buffet]], Fashion Bug, Fantastic Sam's, a [[dollar store]], GNC and (in a separate building at the Eureka entrance) CVS Pharmacy.

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{{Use American English|date=February 2025}}

[[Image:Southgate-sign.jpg|thumb|280px|right|Southgate Shopping Center sign (Eureka entrance) in August 2006]]

{{Infobox shopping mall

| name = Southgate Shopping Center

| image = Southgate-sign.jpg

| image_width = 280px

| caption = Southgate Shopping Center sign (Eureka Road entrance) in August 2006

| ___location = [[Southgate, Michigan]]

| address = Eureka and Trenton Roads

| coordinates = {{Coord|42.1977|-83.1908|type:landmark_region:US-MI|display=title,inline}}

| opening_date = September 1957

| developer =

| manager =

| owner =

| architect = [[Charles N. Agree]]

| number_of_stores = 30+ at peak

| number_of_anchors = 3

| floor_area =

| floors = 1

| parking =

| publictransit = {{{publictransit|{{bus icon}} [[Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation|SMART]] 125, 160, 830}}}

| website =

}}

'''Southgate Shopping Center''' is a shopping center located at the southeast corner of Eureka and Trenton Roads in [[Southgate, Michigan]]. Completed by 1958, it was one of the first major strip malls in the southern [[Detroit]] suburbs until the nearby [[Southland Center (Michigan)|Southland Center]] opened in 1970. At its peak, the center housed over thirty stores.

<br>

==History==

The Southgate shopping center had been proposed before there even was a city of Southgate, Michigan. At the time, the area now known as Southgate was the remaining portion of [[Ecorse Township]], parts of which had previously broken away to form their own villages. In 1956, Township supervisor Thomas Anderson said that the city's new name Southgate was "chosen because of the shopping center then under consideration." <ref>"'Southgate' Name Favored in Poll." Wyandotte News-Herald, November 29, 1956.</ref>

===Construction and opening===

The shopping center had its official grand opening on Wednesday, October 16, 1957, with a great amount of celebration: a ribbon-cutting ceremony with Township supervisor (and later Southgate's first mayor) Thomas Anderson; music by a German polka band; and radio remotes from the parking lot (such as Robin Seymour of WKMH).

[[File:SouthgateShoppingCentertowardsWards.jpg|thumb|Looking towards the Montgomery Ward site from a sidewalk adjacent to the Eureka Road-facing storefronts in January 2015. The Montgomery Ward site is now occupied by Market Center Park.]]

As early as 1952, the Realty Mortgage and Investment Corporation of Detroit announced that a multimillion-dollar ''Southgate Center'' would be built at Eureka and Trenton Roads, and that "space has already been let to many Michigan chain stores, including Kinsel Drugs, [[Federal's]], Wrigley Stores, S. S. Kresge and others," with construction scheduled to begin in the fall of 1952.<ref>"Ecorse Twp. To Be Site of 'Southgate'" Wyandotte Tribune, September 4, 1952.</ref> Southgate's sister center, Eastgate Center (located at [[Mile Road System (Detroit)|10½ Mile]] and [[M-3 (Michigan highway)|Gratiot]] in [[Roseville, Michigan|Roseville]]) was announced at the same time, with both to have Federal and Kresge as anchors.<ref>[[The News-Herald (Southgate, Michigan)|Wyandotte News-Herald]], September 2, 1952.</ref>

Five years later, Southgate Shopping Center was erected in what was then the lone remaining section of [[Ecorse Township, Michigan|Ecorse Township]]. The {{convert|40|acre|m2|adj=on}} center was designed by architect [[Charles N. Agree]] in an L-shape: where one row of stores, near the Eureka entrance, faces Trenton Road and the other row, near the Trenton Road entrance, faces Eureka. There were large signs bearing the name "Southgate" at both entrances (the current [[neon sign]] off of Eureka Road was erected in the late 1970s). The mall's trademark was a {{convert|135|ft|m|abbr=on}}. water tower, located next to the future Federal's store, close to Trenton Road.

Coincidentally, the remainder of Ecorse Township was annexed in 1958 and became the city of Southgate; the name so chosen "because of the shopping center then under consideration," according to Ecorse Township Supervisor Thomas Anderson.<ref>"'Southgate' Name Favored in Poll." Wyandotte News-Herald, November 29, 1956.</ref>

===First businesses===

Wrigley's supermarket was the first tenant, opening for business in September, 1957. Federal's department store opened the following month in a separate {{convert|80000|sqft|m2|abbr=on}} building next to the center.<ref>The Southgate Sentinel, October 10, 1957.</ref> The official grand-opening for the center was held October 16, 1957, featuring a ribbon-cutting ceremony with Supervisor (and later Southgate's first mayor) Anderson, music by a [[Germans|German]] [[polka]] band, and radio remotes from the parking lot (including Robin Seymour of [[WDTW (AM)|WKMH]], later host of the ''Swingin' Time'' program on [[CBET-DT|CKLW-TV]] and eventually [[WMYD|WXON-TV]]).

Two [[five and dime]] stores, [[F. W. Woolworth Company|Woolworth's]] and [[S.S. Kresge Corporation|Kresge's]] (billed as the chain's "691st store")<ref>The Southgate Sentinel, October 3, 1957.</ref> opened their doors in late 1957 along with various other businesses, including Winkleman's, a local well-known clothier.

The two wings of the L-shaped structure were joined in 1958 with the construction of the mall's anchor tenant, [[Montgomery Ward]], which opened its doors in February, 1959. Easily the largest business in the center at {{convert|133000|sqft|m2|abbr=on}}, a separate auto shop along Eureka Road was also built that year.<ref>"Ward's Building Ready Soon." The Southgate Sentinel, October 16, 1958.</ref>

===Southgate Shopping Center in later years===

[[File:SouthgateShoppingCenterEurekaside.jpg|thumb|The section housing the Trenton Road-facing storefronts in 2015. The Montgomery Ward site is on the right.]]

[[File:SouthgateShoppingCenteremptystoreinterior.jpg|thumb|right|Interior of an empty storefront, which was previously a dollar store and before that a [[Harmony House (music retailer)|Harmony House]], in 2015. This storefront is now occupied by the PASC Art Studio.]]

Many of the smaller, mom-and-pop oriented shops began to vacate in the early 1980s due to changing economic conditions. Kresge's closed its dime store in 1982, as its subsidiary, [[Kmart (United States)|Kmart]], was located just east of the center (in a separate building that today houses a [[Dunham's Sports]]). Tri-State Furniture opened in that space later that year, and was eventually subdivided in 1990 into [[Old Country Buffet]], which later closed on January 18, 2012, and replaced later that year by All-American Buffet, itself closing at the start of 2018; and [[Fashion Bug]], which closed in 2011; both spaces were eventually recombined with the 2020 opening of the World of Games entertainment center and bar.

The first physical change to the mall occurred in 1992, when seven storefronts were razed to make room for a [[Farmer Jack]] grocery store, adjacent to Service Merchandise. Other separate buildings housing locations for [[Applebee's]] and [[Taco Bell]] were constructed that same year lining Eureka Road (another separate building east of the Ward's Auto Center had been built in 1989, during a remodeling of the mall).

By the end of the 1990s, the economic climate and the condition of nearby neighborhoods was changing once again, as big-box retailers began overtaking the business of older, established malls, combined with the beginning of the expansion of the [[decline of Detroit]] through Lincoln Park into Southgate. Woolworth closed its Southgate store in January 1994, and [[Discovery Zone]] opened in its place later that year, occupying the space until being replaced by Sears Hardware by 1997. Construction of the [[MJR Theatres|MJR]] Southgate Digital Cinema 20 [[Multiplex (movie theater)|megaplex]] theater began in late 1997 and officially showed [[1998 in film|its first movies]] on November 6, 1998. Another small portion of the strip building at the Eureka Road entrance would be demolished in 1997 to permit the construction of an [[Arbor Drugs]] pharmacy, which was still under construction when [[CVS Corporation]] announced that it would be buying Arbor out on February 9, 1998, resulting in the store opening in April 1999 as a CVS ___location.

The center's big blow came during Christmas of 2000, as Montgomery Ward liquidated its assets and closed their store in early 2001 (the building has since been razed). Service Merchandise also began downsizing its operations considerably, eventually taking only half the space in its building. It closed its catalog showroom business by 2003 (later to re-emerge as an online retailer, similar to Montgomery Ward) and razed the building in 2004 and the water tower in 2005. Sears Hardware closed in July 2006. The Farmer Jack store was shuttered (along with the rest of the chain) a year later, in July 2007, leaving the mall without an anchor tenant.

Additional outlot buildings were still being constructed, though. In 2006, a [[Chili's]] restaurant was built near the Trenton Road entrance. Construction began in mid-2007 to move the Trenton Road entrance south about {{convert|50|ft|m}} to allow for the building of an Old Chicago restaurant, which opened later that year. The area formerly occupied by Service Merchandise would eventually become the ___location of a branch of [[Ecorse, Michigan|Ecorse]]-based [[credit union]] Downriver Community Federal Credit Union, breaking ground in June 2019 and opening in June 2020, replacing a smaller branch in [[Wyandotte, Michigan|Wyandotte]].<ref>[http://www.landmarkcres.com/prop_details.cfm?id=256 Landmark Commercial Real Estate] This website has a Site Plan for the development of the former Service Merchandise area.</ref><ref>[http://www.thenewsherald.com/news/downriver-community-federal-credit-union-breaks-ground-on-new-hq/article_89a5f94c-9140-11e9-b764-5fb54fc5a9e4.html http://www.thenewsherald.com/news/downriver-community-federal-credit-union-breaks-ground-on-new-hq/article_89a5f94c-9140-11e9-b764-5fb54fc5a9e4.html]</ref> Old Chicago closed in March 2024,<ref>[https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/dining/2024/03/01/old-chicago-pizza-southgate-close/72809750007/ https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/dining/2024/03/01/old-chicago-pizza-southgate-close/72809750007/]</ref> and will be replaced by [[HopCat]] in the summer of 2025.<ref>[https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/dining/2025/02/20/hopcat-open-new-___location-southgate/79319552007/ https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/dining/2025/02/20/hopcat-open-new-___location-southgate/79319552007/]</ref>

The very first store to open within the center was Wrigley's, located at 13555 Eureka, moving from its previous ___location at 2245 Eureka in [[Wyandotte, Michigan|Wyandotte]]. The store opened with great fanfare on Tuesday September 24, 1957, three weeks before the center's grand opening. By 1965, the store had become a Packer Foods; in the 1970s, a Great Scott! grocery store; and by the 1990s, an F&M superstore. In 2006, the address belongs to Aaron's, an electronics store.

==Re-development==

Next to Wrigley's, there was a Woolworth's store at 13591 Eureka in 1957. The store was a fixture of the center for many decades but was shuttered by 1990. In recent years, a Sears Hardware had been located at Woolworth's old address, but it closed its doors in 2006. Original tenant Kresge's (13751 Eureka) lasted until the early 1980s, when the [[Sears Holdings|Kmart]] chain consolidated all its operations under one name and closed the store (Kmart had a store barely two blocks away). A Tri-State Furniture outlet appeared; replaced in the early 1990s with [[Old Country Buffet]].

In 2006, with the Wards building still vacant, mall owner Michael Sisskind stated he was "working to put together a flexible plan for the building, or perhaps tear it down to attract new retailers."<ref>[[The Detroit Free Press]], May 9, 2006. The article mistakenly said that the Wards building was "built in 1956."</ref>

Stores in the Southgate Shopping Center in 1957 included anchors Federal's department store, Wrigley's, Woolworth's, and Kresge, as well as smaller stores like shoe stores (Holiday Flagg, Kinney Shoes, A. S. Beck, and Thom McAn), women's apparel (Three Sisters, Winkelman's, Vanity Fair, Hartman's), Cunningham Drugs, National Finance, Good Housekeeping, United Shirt Distributors, Danby's Men's Wear, Children Outfitters, and Queen Quality Laundry and Dry Cleaner. By 1959, the following stores had been added: Al's Record Shop, Suzy Hats, Irving's Fabrics, Cameras and Gifts, and Monroe Optical.

In August 2007, the [[The News-Herald (Southgate, Michigan)|News-Herald]] reported that the center was a candidate to house a [[Walmart|Walmart Supercenter]], which would be the 50th supercenter in Michigan, but only the third in [[Metro Detroit]].<ref>The Sunday News-Herald, August 12, 2007</ref> Sisskind, however, expressed doubts that Wal-Mart would build on the property. The supercenter would likely have taken over the Wards plot, with additional sections of the center being torn down, as was the case with the construction of Farmer Jack.

The center's lineup in the 1970s included such stores as The Branch, Fotomat kiosk, Harmony House, Henry's Meat House, Howard's Books, LaPrima Music, Lawrence Office Supply (a Hallmark Card outlet), Pearle Vision, The Pet Gallery, Vic Tanny's, and Youth Center Outfitters.

Citing the fact that the Walmart Supercenter concept was new to Metro Detroit (at that time, two existing stores in Taylor and Woodhaven were being expanded into supercenters), Sisskind explained:

==Appearance==

The 40-acre center was designed by architect [[Charles N. Agree]] in an L-shape, where one row of stores, near the Eureka entrance, faces Trenton Road and the other row, near the Trenton Road entrance, faces Eureka. There are large signs bearing the name "Southgate" at both entrances.

{{cquote|''I don't think there's going to be any Walmart... That doesn't mean if talks picked up months from now and I was unsuccessful in renting out the space, that it couldn't happen then... I just want to rent out my center. And it appears that Wal-Mart is not my answer, at least not right now."''}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thenewsherald.com/stories/081207/loc_20070812002.shtml |title=Wal-Mart eyeing two sites 08/12/07 |website=www.thenewsherald.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927212514/http://www.thenewsherald.com/stories/081207/loc_20070812002.shtml |archive-date=2007-09-27}}</ref>

Originally, the center had a tan-brick exterior. By the early 1970s, the center was repainted in a lime green color. An early 1980s touch-up brought a gold & brown scheme to the center. Finally, in the early 1990s, the mall's exterior was partially refurbished and repainted to its current gray color with red & white canopies above the storefronts. The Service Merchandise building, sitting on a parcel belonging to different owners, maintained its own facade design independent of the center, as does the current [[Farmer Jack]] superstore there today.

Walmart ended up erecting a new superstore in Southgate at the intersection of Eureka Road and Dix-Toledo Road (on the site of the Michigan [[Drive-in theater|Drive-In]] and later the [[Child World|Children's Palace]]/[[Best Buy]] and [[Builder's Square]]/[[Home Quarters]]-anchored Southtowne Crossing Shopping Center), opening it on September 14, 2011.

The addition of [[Farmer Jack]] in the early 1990s was the biggest change to the actual mall up to that time. Seven storefronts on the west (Trenton Rd.) wing of the mall were demolished, including Winkleman's, Three Sisters, Hartman's, Kinney Shoes and Sanders Candy store. In the late 1990s, MJR Theaters opened a 20-screen movie theater immediately behind the center which brought more people to the area, but not necessarily to the mall itself.

In a State Of The City address on January 25, 2012, Southgate Mayor Joseph Kuspa stated the Wards building would be demolished in Spring, 2012, to make way for multi-functional public space.<ref>The Sunday News-Herald, January 29, 2012.</ref> This was a result of a survey conducted by [[New York City|New York]]-based ''Project For Public Spaces''. Demolition was expected to commence in May, 2012, and the land turned over to the city in the summer.<ref>The Sunday News-Herald, January 29, 2012</ref>

In 1957, the parking lot could hold over 4000 cars. Eventually much of the outer edges of that space was turned over to building new stores. Currently this includes a Borders Express (formerly Waldenbooks), Jenny Craig's, Applebee's, [[Taco Bell]], [[Buffalo Wild Wings]], [[Chili's]], and [[Panera Bread]] among others.

==Water tower==

In 2006, a Chilis restaurant was built, with plans for at least three other businesses (including an Old Chicago and a bank) to take over the space formerly occupied by the Service Merchandise building.

A water tower was constructed shortly before the center was opened, located behind Federal's near the Trenton Road entrance. During construction it was noted that the "water tower, which will service the stores in Southgate, is {{convert|135|ft|m}} high and has a total capacity of 100,000 gallons. By opening day, which is October 16, the tower will be painted white and will be adorned with a huge 'S'."<ref>Wyandotte News-Herald, September 26, 1957.</ref>

With many of the smaller stores going out of business by the mid-1980s, vacant storefronts began to pile up, with some existing stores (Hallmark in particular) simply acquiring those storefronts to expand their businesses. (The Hallmark store closed in early 2007.) With the closing of Montgomery Ward and the demolition of Service Merchandise, the mall itself currently functions at less than 60% capacity.

When Service Merchandise took over the building in 1978 after the Federal's chain liquidated, the tower was repainted with the store's original "S-M" logo. The mall had its fire-suppression system upgraded in the 1980s, thereby forgoing the need for the tower, which later became an eyesore. It was restored and repainted in 2001 thanks to the letter-writing efforts of an elementary school girl, but was razed only four years later to help facilitate future construction on the Service Merchandise land.

==Montgomery Ward==

The 133,000-square foot [[Montgomery Ward]] building which stands at the meeting point of the two sides, in the L-shape, had not been built when the shopping center opened. The Ward's building was constructed in 1958 and Ward's opened for business on Thursday, Feb. 12, 1959. Another addition to the center was Ward's automotive center located at the Eureka entrance. Around 2000, the Ward's building closed and remains vacant. The building's owner Mickey Sisskind "said he is working to put together a flexible plan for the building, or perhaps tear it down to attract new retailers." <ref>[[The Detroit Free Press]], May 2006. The article mistakenly said that the Wards building was "built in 1956."</ref>

==Southgate Shopping Center today==

==Water Tower==

A water tower was constructed shortly before the center was opened, located behind the large Federal Department Store (later Service Merchandise) building near the Trenton Road entrance. During construction it was noted that the "water tower, which will service the stores in Southgate, is 135 feet high and has a total capacity of 100,000 gallons. By opening day, which is October 16, the tower will be painted white and will be adorned with a huge 'S'." <ref>Wyandotte News-Herald, September 26, 1957.</ref>

<p>

When Service Merchandise took over the building in 1978 after the Federal's chain liquidated, the tower was repainted with the store's original "SM" logo. Over time, the tower began to rust and became an eyesore due to neglect. This changed in late 2000, when a young girl wrote to the Southgate City Council addressing the issue. Impressed, city leaders arranged to partner with Service Merchandise to have the tower repainted with a "Welcome To Southgate" message above the newly-designed store logo. It was noted at the time that the tower itself no longer provided the water for the shopping center's fire suppression system.

Though most recent construction has occurred outside of the original mall (MJR, Downriver Community Federal Credit Union, [[HopCat]], [[Chili's]], [[Buffalo Wild Wings]], [[Applebee's]], and [[Taco Bell]]), stores that remain inside the strip itself include [[skateboard]]/[[comic shop]] Anime to Skateboards, Downriver Gymnastics, Innovative Training Solutions, fashion retailer Style U Boutique, the Smoothie Stop cafe, used electronics store PayMore, [[Planet Fitness]], the Metro Ju Jitsu martial arts school and its affiliated Metro After School educational facility, [[Bath & Body Works]], Mira Hair Salon, World of Games, STEP Thrift Store, and the PASC Art Studio. The Montgomery Ward site became Market Center Park, which opened in 2016. [[Panera Bread]], which was located adjacent to Buffalo Wild Wings in the former Ward's Auto Center, moved to a former Rio Bravo restaurant further west on Eureka in [[Taylor, Michigan|Taylor]] on November 2, 2014, the former ___location now houses Angelina's Mexican Restaurant.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thenewsherald.com/articles/2014/11/11/news/doc54612bc75e21e046714901.txt |title=Panera Bread moves out of Southgate, into Taylor - thenewsherald.com |website=www.thenewsherald.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303222357/http://www.thenewsherald.com/articles/2014/11/11/news/doc54612bc75e21e046714901.txt |archive-date=2016-03-03}}</ref> Ukazoo Books, which opened in a space formerly occupied by the defunct [[Borders (retailer)|Borders Express]] in 2011, closed in December 2013 and was replaced in the fall of 2016 by Oak Street Health, an independent primary care clinic. [[CVS Pharmacy]] closed in July 2022 as part of a plan by that company to close 900 stores over a three-year period.

The water tower was taken down in early 2005, shortly after the razing of the Service Merchandise building itself in December 2004. <ref>[[The Detroit News]], January 12, 2005.</ref>

==References==

{{reflist}}

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{{Southgate, Michigan}}

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{{Detroit malls}}

{{Shopping malls in Michigan}}

[[Category:Shopping malls in Wayne County, Michigan]]

[[Category:Detroit,Shopping Michiganmalls established in 1957]]

[[Category:19571958 establishments in Michigan]]

[[Category:Charles N. Agree buildings]]

[[Category:Southgate, Michigan]]