From humble beginnings! In 1963, the fledgling shopping center spanned around 275,000 leasable square feet. It consisted of two open-air concourses on the north and south, with an enclosed section in the middle. The original mall did not have a bona fide anchor. However, there were junior-anchor-sized J.C. Penney and J.J. Newberry stores. 

GREAT LAKES MALL TENANTS 1963:

J.J. NEWBERRY (with restaurant and snack bar) / J.C. PENNEY / KROGER supermarket / FISHER FOODS supermarket / Associated Hardware / Bond Clothes / Diamond Brothers men's wear / D.O. Summer's / Doctor Hefenback / Elsie O'Brien Beauty Salon / Frank's Village Dairy / Firestone Tire & Appliance / First Federal Savings & Loan / Gray Drug (with luncheonette) / Kinney Shoes / Lake County National Bank (outparcel) / Mall Barber Shop / Nobil Shoes / Optometrist / Palumbo Bakery / Plaza Restaurant / Record Carnival / Red Robin / Richard's Jewelery / Schauer's Meats / Sherwin-Williams Paints / Signal Finance / The Curiosity Shoppe gifts / The Fun Shop Toy & Hobby / The Trio Shoppe ladies' wear / Watkins Furniture 

The GREAT LAKES Newberrys store was located along the covered mall concourse.

Photo from J.J. Newberry Company Annual Report 1961

"May's Great Lakes" was added in 1964. The store included the Circle of Beauty Salon, Mentor Room restaurant and freestanding May Company Tire Center. It is said that Edward DeBartolo sold May Company the land for the store for 1 dollar. 

The north shopping concourse was enclosed and climate-controlled as part of the May Company's construction. The south concourse would be roofed-in in 1970.

Photo from https://cityofmentor.com

By 1971 a tiny community-class complex had evolved into a superregional-size center! Penney's was enlarged into a full-line store in 1966. Higbee's joined the mall in 1969, with a south-end Sears having just opened for business at the time of this plan. GREAT LAKES MALL now encompassed around 1,114,600 leasable square feet.