Mall St. Matthews

History

Developed by the Rouse Company and opened in 1962 and originally named The Mall, it was the first enclosed suburban shopping mall in the state of Kentucky. Located next to the Watterson Expressway, the mall had A & P, Kaufman-Straus, and Rose's as its anchor stores. The J.C. Penny's department was added in a later mall expansion in the 1960s. The mall's features included a children's play area (including some turtle characters to climb on) near Rose's (which is now a food court), an oversize chess set near Kaufman-Straus, and numerous fountains. The name of the mall was changed to The Mall in St. Matthews as other malls were built, but the mall gradually declined with stores moving to newer malls. In the late 1980s the mall name was simplified to Mall St. Matthews and remodeled to include a food court in the early 1990s, The Limited/Express, a wing dedicated to Limited Brands was added, and expanded the former Kaufman-Straus store (which had become both a Stewart Dry Goods and L. S. Ayres before closing) to accommodate a Bacon's department store which relocated from its freestanding location at 3937 Shelbyville Road. As more retail stores wanted to move to the mall after these changes, a new wing was built which resulted in the re-routing of Sherburn Lane to the west of the new wing.

The mall expanded again in 1995 with a new wing and the addition of Dillard's, and in 1997 Lord & Taylor followed suit. In 1998 the Bacon's chain was merged into Dillard's, and the former Bacon's location became the Dillard's Men's, Children's & Home store. In 2000 Nordstrom tentatively agreed to build a store, but withdrew in 2001 before a concrete agreement was reached with Rouse. Lord & Taylor closed their store in early 2004, a portion being occupied by regional junior department store Dawahares until early 2007. The mall took out 2 fountains in 2007, one in the food court area and the other in front of Kay Jewelers and Starbucks. Floor tiles replaced the fountains along with new tables and seating.

The mall currently has over 1,100,000 square feet (100,000 m²) and includes the anchor stores of JCPenney and separate Dillard's locations for Women (in the 1995 Dillard's building) and Men's, Children's & Home (in the former Lord & Taylor building). The Dillard's Men's & Home store relocated to the former Lord & Taylor building in late 2007, and Dillard's then turned over the former Bacon's store to the mall owner, potentially for redevelopment.

On February 21, 2012, Forever 21 moved into the vacated Dillard's/Bacon's store.

The mall is currently owned by the Chicago company General Growth Properties (GGP), which also owns Oxmoor Center on the other side of the Watterson Expressway. Its major stores include a Dillard's store divided into two sub-stores, JCPenney, and Forever 21. A 10-screen Cinemark multiplex that opened in May 2013 is physically attached to the mall, but is separately owned and has no access to the rest of the mall.

On December 26, 2015 a disturbance occurred at the mall involving as many as 2,000 people - mostly teenagers - fighting each other and shoving or pushing mall customers, forcing the mall to be closed early. Following this incident, GGP announced a new policy affecting teenagers at both Mall St. Matthews and Oxmoor Center. Under the new policy, all mall visitors between ages 10 and 17 must be accompanied by an individual at least 21 years old after 4 pm on Fridays and Saturdays. Mall security personnel enforce this policy throughout the building and parking lots, except in the interior of the Cinemark theater.