CherryVale Mall arrives at the crossroads
Rockford's mall story started before CherryVale had a name. Meadow Mart opened as a strip center in 1954, and North Towne Center followed in 1956.
It was partially enclosed in 1961, and Colonial Village Center debuted in 1962 before its own partial enclosure in 1969.
By January 1972, work started on a 233-acre site where U.S. Route 20 meets Interstate 39 and Interstate 90, near Harrison Avenue and Perryville Road, in Cherry Valley. A fully enclosed, two-story mall rose there, developed by the Richard E Jacobs Group.
Sears opened its first store on September 26, 1973, in a two-level, 121,900-square-foot store.
On October 1, 1973, "The Mall at CherryVale" opened, anchored by a three-level, 115,000-square-foot Marshall Field's, the first Marshall Field's department store in Illinois outside the Chicago region.
On November 1, 1973, twenty inline stores joined the mix, and the original mall totaled about 713,900 leasable square feet.
Charter stores included Lane Bryant, Brentano's & Kroch's Booksellers, Casual Corner, Chess King, and Disc Records.
At the official dedication, Colleen Metternich, "Miss Illinois 1973," released 1,000 balloons while East High School and Harlem High School bands played, and U.S. Representative John B Anderson attended.
Third anchor, screens, and early buzz
On August 2, 1974, H.C. Prange opened a two-level, 129,000-square-foot department store.
It came with a two-section Prange Way discount mart, also opened in 1974. Entertainment followed soon, and it came in the form of movie screens.
A freestanding Plitt Theatres CherryVale 1-2-3 went up by the northeast parking area, and its first feature played on August 29, 1975.
Inside the mall itself, the Plitt CherryVale Mall 4 opened on February 11, 1983.
By the beginning of the 1980s, the property shortened its name to "CherryVale Mall." Between 1976 and 1982, WYBR FM 104.9 ran live broadcasts from the lower level, set at the end of rainbow arches, with a route marked so patrons could follow a "yellow brick road" to the setup.
Kids also watched Santa Claus arrive for the Christmas season during the mid-1970s in a helicopter that landed in the parking lot.
The mall also became a campaign stop. President Gerald Ford spoke there on March 11, 1976, drawing more than 3,000 people.
He mentioned Representative John B Anderson, Governor Richard B Ogilvie, and district director David L Martinson in his opening remarks.
The food court era begins after Prange Way
Prange Way I and II closed in December 1988, and the empty discount store space meant the mall had to choose between leaving an unused area or changing it to fit how people were using malls at that time.
The renovation refreshed the early 1970s look and aimed at shoppers who wanted a place to stop and sit.
A nine-bay Pavilion Food Court went into the vacant Prange Way II area. The lower-level Prange Way space became a food court that included Sbarro and Quencher's Smoothies.
The project also changed how people entered the building. A main entrance was added on the north side of the upper floor, giving the mall a new front door and spreading foot traffic toward the food court area.
The new north entrance and food court quickly became the mall's everyday meeting spot. The work set a pattern that later rebuilds would follow.
Nameplates change as theaters go quiet
On September 4, 1992, 25 H.C. Prange locations, including CherryVale, switched to the Des Moines-based Younkers name.
The store stayed a department store during the switch.
The Bergner's nameplate, based in Peoria, was installed in June 1996. By the end of 1996, after the acquisition that reshaped the chain, Younkers closed its CherryVale store.
Bergner's took over the space, later outlasting other local locations as the mall's main department store on that wing.
After years of struggling against much larger multiplexes in the region, the mall closed both of its movie theaters.
The freestanding theater closed in 1999. The mall's lower-level theater closed in early 2000, and the space was remodeled into retail not long afterward.
The freestanding building then sat vacant for nearly 15 years before it was remodeled.
CBL arrives, roads widen, and 2004 hits
In January 2001, Chattanooga-based CBL & Associates acquired CherryVale Mall, with CBL & Associates Management, Inc. as manager.
Rockford and Cherry Valley then carried out a street expansion project around the mall that connected two major streets.
The road work helped bring more development nearby, including a grocery store, several restaurants, and a convenience store.
From March through November 2004, the mall installed new lighting and ceilings, plus new elevators and escalators. Ann Taylor Loft, Hollister Company, Charlotte Russe, and Dress Barn joined the lineup.
A one-level, 93,000-square-foot JCPenney opened on August 1, 2004, at the north entrance, and the gross leasable area climbed to about 777,000 square feet.
To create more space in the center court, the mall removed two inclined moving walkways and replaced them with a glass elevator.
The food court received new chairs, tables, lighting, and floor tiles, and square brick pillars replaced the earlier columns.
Macy's sign, then a plot in December
On September 9, 2006, Marshall Field's became Macy's, bringing a new sign to a store that had been there since the mall's first season.
That same year, Derrick Shareef was arrested and federally charged with attempting to damage or destroy CherryVale Mall (among other charges).
He tried to trade stereo speakers for hand grenades and a handgun, and he planned to detonate hand grenades in the mall while using the handgun to disrupt Christmas shoppers.
Shareef initially spoke about attacking government targets, such as the DeKalb courthouse and killing a judge, before the plan shifted to targeting the mall.
The arrest landed in the middle of the holiday season, when the mall was packed with shoppers. In 2008, he received a 35-year prison sentence and later served it at FCI Greenville.
The District adds polish, then anchors fall
CherryVale's next big change came in 2007, when a new section took shape in the southwest parking area.
The project created a 75,000-square-foot "lifestyle component" called The District at CherryVale between Bergner's and Macy's.
An official dedication was held in November 2007, and the mall's leasable area reached about 849,300 square feet with 134 store spaces.
The tenant list included Coldwater Creek, Barnes & Noble, Jos. A. Bank, Chico's, Talbots, and Granite City Food & Brewery.
Barnes & Noble also became a key draw, taking the place of the long-gone Kroch's and Brentano's as the mall's biggest bookstore.
In 2015, CherryVale joined the Tesla Supercharger network with six Superchargers in a lower-level parking lot.
On April 18, 2018, Bergner's announced it would close as The Bon-Ton Stores went out of business, and the store shut down on August 29, 2018, after 22 years as an anchor.
The lower level soon became Choice Furniture, while the upper level stayed vacant. Sears followed that exit soon after.
After a December 28, 2018 announcement tied to a nationwide closure plan, the 45-year-old Sears store closed in March 2019.
From Sears to Tilt: new entertainment, new furniture tenants, and bankruptcy era
In May 2019, Nickels And Dimes Inc. of Celina, Texas, announced plans for Tilt Studio and a new concept called Tilted 10 in the former Sears.
The two-story site was reworked into a family entertainment center, with Tilted 10 on the lower floor and Tilt Studio on the upper floor.
A soft launch took place on June 20, 2020, and the arcade opened in the summer of 2020.
Choice Furniture operated on the lower level of the former Bergner's building from 2018 to 2020, then closed in 2020.
Galleria Furniture replaced it in 2021, and after Galleria closed in 2024, Home Trends Furniture & Mattress moved in shortly afterward on the lower level.
The upper level of the former Bergner's space remained vacant.
CBL Properties filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on November 1, 2020, but the mall continued operating. The building stayed open through the changes.
Lockdowns and violence test the place
CherryVale's recent past has included normal shopping days along with times when the building was closed for safety.
Police searched for seven men after a shooting at the mall on September 30, 2016, and the property stayed on lockdown for several hours.
Rockford Police arrested a suspect on October 11, 2016.
A shots-fired incident on February 14, 2021, kept attention on security, and an additional incident occurred on April 15, 2021.
On April 2, 2022, a fatal shooting killed 25 y.o. man from Rockford.
The next day, April 5, 2022, the mall was treated as a crime scene while police continued their investigation, and a warrant was issued for a murder suspect.
On November 17, 2022, another lockdown turned out to be a planned but unannounced police drill.
In December 2023, police found a dead man in a parked car at the mall. A separate report described a child injured on an escalator when a backpack choked him.
Through it all, the property kept operating as the region's main enclosed mall, drawing everyday crowds back into the same corridors.
Anniversary, roadworks, and today's lineup
CherryVale Mall celebrated its 50th anniversary on October 14, 2023. El Vallarta moved into the former Granite City space in 2023 as the third independently owned restaurant at the complex and the only stand-alone one.
In 2024, Buckle moved from inside the mall to Forest Plaza, and the mall promoted new openings and arrivals for summer 2024.
In 2025, an Illinois Department of Transportation open house at 4 p.m. on February 18 previewed a project to change the cloverleaf traffic pattern at I-39 and Harrison Avenue near the mall.
Police Week ended with demonstrations on May 17, 2025, that included K-9s and a bomb robot.
A time capsule linked to the 1975 theater site was unearthed on July 9, 2025.
It also hosted a Pop Culture Celebration on February 22-23, 2025, Easter Bunny visits starting March 26, 2025, and Santa's arrival on November 14, 2025.
Today, CherryVale totals about 850,000 square feet on 233 acres. Current anchors include JCPenney, Macy's, Barnes & Noble, Tilt Studio, Tilted 10, and Home Trends Furniture & Mattress.
CherryVale Mall still seems like the place people in Rockford go when they want to shop.
It is not dead, and it does not feel abandoned, because there are shoppers in the halls and plenty of stores still doing business. But it is also not hard to see the age.
Some parts of the mall look worn out, and a few spots seem only partly finished. The atmosphere changes depending on where you are.
On a good day, it feels comfortable, easy to walk, and is a good place to run errands or pass the time. On a bad day, it feels a little worn and uneven, like it is getting by instead of getting better.
