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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 Kresge, 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.
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." [1]
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).
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. 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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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." [2]
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'." [3]
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. The water tower was taken down in early 2005, shortly after the razing of the Service Merchandise building itself in December 2004. [4]
References
- ^ "'Southgate' Name Favored in Poll." Wyandotte News-Herald, November 29, 1956.
- ^ The Detroit Free Press, May 2006. The article mistakenly said that the Wards building was "built in 1956."
- ^ Wyandotte News-Herald, September 26, 1957.
- ^ The Detroit News, January 12, 2005.