Findlay Mall: Built for a Different Time
In 1962, the Fort Findlay Village Shopping Center opened with the promise of convenience—everything a shopper could need in one place.
Back then, malls weren’t just about retail; they were destinations. Families made a day of it, and teens spent weekends wandering between stores.
The shopping center was designed for that kind of foot traffic, and it is anchored by Britt’s, JCPenney, and Sears.
It began as an open-air plaza, built for a time when shopping meant strolling between storefronts.
But retail was changing. By the 1970s, walls and a roof sealed it in—warm in winter, cool in summer, built to keep shoppers inside longer.
More stores filled the halls, and parking lots stretched wider. The mall wasn’t just expanding—it was taking over.
The biggest transformation came in 1990. The owners poured millions into an expansion, stretching the mall from 334,000 square feet to over 525,000.
A brand-new JCPenney opened alongside a new Kmart, and Elder-Beerman joined the roster.
The food court expanded. A movie theater brought more weekend crowds.
Everything about the mall was built for the way people shopped at the time—long visits, browsing multiple stores, making an afternoon of it.
For years, it worked. During the holiday season, finding a parking spot was a battle.
In the late ’90s, kids still begged to be dropped off at the entrance so they could meet friends at the arcade or the bookstore.
Findlay Mall wasn’t just another shopping center—it was the place to be.
But time moved faster than the mall could. New shopping habits took over. And before long, the same stores that once brought in crowds started shutting their doors.
How Big Stores Disappeared
The first cracks showed in 2003. Kmart shut down, leaving behind an empty shell at one of the mall’s busiest entrances.
It wasn’t a good sign, but at the time, no one thought much of it. Best Buy and T.J. Maxx moved into the space the following year, and shoppers kept coming.
The losses started to pile up. In 2010, the movie theater closed, and four years later, Sears followed.
By the time JCPenney announced its closure in 2017, the pattern was clear—the biggest names were leaving one by one.
Elder-Beerman made it through another year before shutting down in August 2018.
Empty storefronts weren’t just bad for business; they changed the way the mall felt.
Fewer people walked the halls, and without anchor stores drawing crowds, smaller retailers struggled.
Some held on for a while, while others quietly faded out, their spaces covered by black curtains or temporary signs announcing clearance sales that never ended.
Stock + Field took over the old Sears space in 2017, but it didn’t last. The company went out of business in 2021, leaving another gaping hole in the mall’s layout.
Best Buy and Dunham’s Sports remained, but without major brands around them, they looked like outliers.
By the early 2020s, walking through Findlay Mall felt different. The background noise of people chatting, cash registers beeping, and kids running ahead of their parents—it was gone.
Instead, footsteps echoed off empty tile floors. Shoppers came with a purpose, knowing exactly which store they needed and leaving as soon as they were done.
The mall had become a place people used, not a place they lingered.
The Sale That Couldn’t Save It
By 2020, Findlay Mall was struggling to survive. Empty storefronts stretched across the walkways, and foot traffic had thinned to a trickle.
The ownership group was ready to cut its losses at the time. That September, Kohan Retail Investment Group bought the property for $4 million—a fraction of what the mall had once been worth.
Kohan had a reputation. It specialized in acquiring distressed malls, keeping them operational with minimal investment, and flipping them when the opportunity arose.
Some properties rebounded, and others deteriorated further. Findlay Mall fell into the second category.
At first, there were vague promises of revitalization. New tenants, fresh marketing, and a focus on attracting local businesses.
But in practice, little has changed. The mall’s upkeep declined. Maintenance slowed.
Shoppers who had once visited out of habit stopped coming altogether.
The anchor stores that remained—Best Buy and Dunham’s Sports—stood like relics of another time.
A handful of independent shops held on, but the crowds never came. Even the holidays—once a lifeline—passed without a surge.
Sales lagged. Rent stayed high. Stores emptied one by one, and their gates were pulled down for good.
By late 2024, the announcement came: the mall would close on January 31, 2025. No redevelopment plan was confirmed, but talks of a big-box retailer taking over the space circulated.
The closure wasn’t surprising, but it still felt abrupt for those who had worked and shopped there for years.
The Last Walk Through Findlay Mall
The glass doors don’t slide open anymore. A piece of paper, taped crookedly to the entrance, spells it out: Closed as of January 31, 2025.
The parking lot is emptier than it’s ever been, patches of cracked asphalt marking the spaces where customers once parked by the dozens.
A few cars linger, their drivers pausing to take pictures of what’s left.
The last days were quiet. No dramatic final sale, no farewell event—just an ordinary afternoon fading into the next until the doors locked for good.
A handful of employees walked the halls one final time, looking into darkened storefronts, their old break rooms, the places they’d spent years in.
Some had been there when Kmart still had customers when Sears was a guaranteed stop for appliances, and when the mall wasn’t just open but thriving.
It’s strange to watch a place die in slow motion. One day, it’s filled with shoppers hunting for holiday deals. The next, it’s nothing but echoes—a vacant space waiting for whatever comes next.
When the doors locked that night, Findlay Mall became another entry on a long list of shopping centers that couldn’t outlast changing times.
The signage was still up, but inside, the space was waiting for whatever came next.
Findlay Mall’s Next Life: A Demolition, a Mystery, and a Promise
At Findlay Mall in Findlay, Ohio, crews are preparing to tear down 188,000 sq ft of the property, making way for a 131,000 sq ft big-box store that still hasn’t been publicly named.
City officials say the announcement is coming but on the retailer’s timeline. Until then, the space sits in limbo, caught between what it was and what’s coming next.
Inside, the mall isn’t entirely dead. Runnings are still open, selling farm supplies, work gear, and pet food like nothing’s changed.
In the parking lot, a pop-up pet grooming station keeps running on weekends, trimming dog nails while the mall around it prepares for demolition.
Best Buy, Tokyo Steakhouse, Michael’s, and Dunham’s Sports are also holding on, continuing business as usual.
Shoppers still walk through, though fewer than ever. The hallways are quiet. Many stores are locked up for good, waiting for the inevitable.
City officials have called the redevelopment a “huge win” for Findlay, emphasizing that local businesses affected by the transition were being helped into new locations.
Some moved into existing retail spaces across town, while others weren’t sure where they’d land.
For now, the mall stands in a strange in-between, still open in places, yet already halfway gone.
