The advent of the automobile in the early 1900s brought drastic changes to the United States retail industry. At the time, business was centralized in the downtown areas of America's cities and towns, with very few shopping options available in outlying areas.

This began to change in the period immediately before -and after- World War I. Cities began to extend outward. In the downtown area of a suburb of Chicago, a group of dilapidated buildings were razed and replaced by a "car-friendly" complex of retail structures. This heralded the start of a new age in commerce.

Market Square

MARKET SQUARE, in suburban Lake Forest, was completed in April 1917. It was the nation's first planned retail complex designed to accommodate shoppers arriving by automobile.
Photo from http://www.lflbhistory.org / Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Historical Society

The original plan for the center, which was designed by Howard Van Doren Shaw. It was built for 750 thousand (1917) dollars and housed twenty-four stores, twelve offices and twenty-eight apartment units. There was approximately 64,000 square feet of retail space.
Original drawing from www.idaillinois.org / Illinois Digital Architecture

In May 1928, Marshall Field & Company opened its first suburban branch in Lake Forest. The store moved into this MARKET SQUARE building in March 1931. It was enlarged, taking in all of the first floor and basement, in August 1931. In May 1941, the second floor (formerly a YWCA) was also acquired. All operations of Marshall Field's were rebranded by Macy's in September 2006. This MARKET SQUARE store was shuttered in January 2008.
Photo from Wikipedia / "Slo-Mo"

Country Club Plaza

The first structure built for Kansas City, Missouri's COUNTRY CLUB PLAZA was completed in March 1923. The complex is one of the first car culture shopping centers in the nation. 
Photo from State Historical Society of Missouri / J.C. Nichols Company Scrapbook

Click here for an in-depth COUNTRY CLUB PLAZA article...

http://shoppingmallmuseum.blogspot.com/search/label/Kansas%20City%27s%20Country%20Club%20Plaza

Connecticut Avenue Park & Shop

Washington, DC's CONNECTICUT AVENUE PARK & SHOP courted its first customers in December 1930. The shopping hub was one of the first in the nation to provide an off-street parking area.
Photo Library of Congress    

One Stop for Ten Shops! A newspaper ad from December 1930 beckons one and all to visit the shiny new PARK AND SHOP at Connecticut Avenue.  

The PARK & SHOP encompassed 59,000 square feet of selling space and originally housed ten stores and services. These included Peoples Hardware, Frazee-Potomac Laundry and A & P and Piggly Wiggly grocery stores. The strip complex was developed by Herbert Shannon and Morton Luchs and designed by Arthur Heaton.

Highland Park Shopping Village

In January 1931, the "Unit B" building at Greater Dallas' HIGHLAND PARK SHOPPING VILLAGE opened for business. Of all the early "car culture" shopping hubs thus mentioned, this was truly the most innovative. Its store blocks faced inward onto two parking areas, instead of fronting directly on a city street.
Photo from www.hpvillage.com

Click here for an in-depth HIGHLAND PARK VILLAGE article...

http://shoppingmallmuseum.blogspot.com/search/label/Dallas%27%20Highland%20Park%20Village

Greenbelt Center

The next advance in the evolution of the American shopping center took place between 1935 and 1939. Three New Deal-era "Greenbelt Towns" were built, which had car culture, suburban-style shopping complexes as their downtown areas. GREENBELT CENTER, in Greenbelt, Maryland, made its debut in December 1937.
Photo from Library of Congress / Arthur Rothstein

Click here for an in-depth GREENBELT CENTER article...

http://shoppingmallmuseum.blogspot.com/search/label/Maryland%27s%20Greenbelt%20Center

Greenhills Center

Next came Greater Cincinnati's GREENHILLS CENTER, whose stores began opening in July 1938.
Photo from Library of Congress / John Vachon

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http://shoppingmallmuseum.blogspot.com/search/label/Ohio%27s%20Greenhills%20Center

Greendale Village Center

Tenants in Greater Milwaukee's GREENDALE CENTER (a.k.a. GREENDALE VILLAGE CENTER) began business in September 1938.
Photo from Library of Congress / John Vachon

Click here for an in-depth GREENDALE (VILLAGE) CENTER article...

 https://shoppingmallmuseum.blogspot.com/search/label/Wisconsin%27s%20Greendale%20Center

Linda Vista Plaza

The Linda Vista development, north of San Diego, was built in the early 1940s to house defense plant workers. Its defacto downtown, LINDA VISTA PLAZA, is seen in the diagram above. Although hurriedly put together, the PLAZA advanced several concepts that would be used in America's first mall-type shopping centers.
Original drawing from http://history.sandiego.edu / "Evolution of the Shopping Center" / Steven E. Schoenher

A physical layout of the original LINDA VISTA PLAZA. Its first store, a Safeway grocery, opened in February 1943. The complex encompassed 82,000 square feet, with a retail roster of twelve stores and services. Its less-than-ample parking area accommodated 240 automobiles.
Original drawing from http://history.sandiego.edu  / "Evolution of the Shopping Center / Steven E. Schoenherr

LINDA VISTA PLAZA was situated around a landscaped courtyard, as seen in this 1945 photo. A movie theater was added to the complex in the early 1950s. By the early '70s, the center had declined into a dilapidated, graffiti-ridden eyesore. It was demolished in 1972 and replaced with a traditional strip shopping center.
Photo from Online Archive of California / Huntington Library Photo Archives / Maynard Parker

Atkinson Plaza

Midwest City, Oklahoma, another defense-related development, featured an ultra-modern strip shopping center as its commercial hub. Business began at ATKINSON PLAZA in May 1943.
Photo from White Chipmunk's Photostream / Atkinson Heritage Center

Click here for an in-depth ATKINSON PLAZA article...

http://shoppingmallmuseum.blogspot.com/search/label/Midwest%20City%20Oklahoma%27s%20Atkinson%20Plaza

Sources:

Library of Congress / Prints & Photographs Online Catalog /  http://www.loc.gov/pictures/
http://theclevelandarcade.com
http://www.historicmarketsquare.com
http://www.idaillinois.org / Illinois Digital Architecture / "The New Market Square at Lake Forest" / October 1917
http://www.easternct.edu
http://www.historicmarketsquare.com
http://www.ghostsofdc.org
http://www.lindavista.org
"Final Report Reconnaissance Level Architectural Survey of the Original Mile" - City of Midwest City / August 31, 1992
http://digital.library.okstate.edu
http://newsok.com