The moribund mall was demolished in 1998. A new Home Depot was built, with the redeveloped complex renamed WEST TOWN CENTER. Dillard's, left standing during all the demolition, had been built as a Shillito's. It had a brief stint as a McAlpin's before receiving its current nameplate. Since this photo was taken, the store has been converted to a Dillard's Clearance Center.
Photo from www.loopnet.com


WESTERN WOODS MALL
Glenway Avenue and Parkcrest Lane
Hamilton County and Cincinnati, Ohio

During the year 1966, two fully-enclosed shopping hubs were completed in Greater Cincinnati. KENWOOD MALL, formally opened in August, was established as the Queen City's first interior mall. WESTERN WOODS, completed in December, assumed the second-place position.

The single-level center was built on a 15-acre site. This was located 6.7 miles northwest of Downtown Cincinnati's Fountain Square. The land parcel, predominantly in an unincorporated section of Hamilton County known as Green Township, straddled the corporate limits of Cincinnati and Cheviot.

WESTERN WOODS MALL was developed by Stamford, Connecticut's Ralph Biernbaum and Cincinnati-based Federated Stores. The first-phase center was designed by Cincinnati's Baxter, Hodell, Donnelly & Preston. A 3-level (165,000 square foot), Cincinnati-based Shillito's ["shil-uh-towz"] opened for business on August 12, 1963.

A (20,000 square foot) Thriftway supermarket and (10,100 square foot) Gallaher Drug were also dedicated on August 12. Construction commenced, on a second stage mall, in February 1965. This was designed by New York City's Robert W. Kahn Associates and Krei, Zepf, Freitag & Associates, of Cincinnati.

At the official dedication, held on December 23, 1966, twenty stores made their debut. These included Stuarts Ready-to-Wear For Ladies,  Getz Jewelers, Baker's Qualicraft Shoes, Barricini Candy, Paul Harris apparel, Mary Lester Fabrics, Western Woods Barber Shop and a 1-level (51,000 square foot) W.T. Grant.

By early 1967, WESTERN WOODS MALL encompassed approximately 320,000 leasable square feet and housed twenty-three stores and services. The General Cinema Corporation Western Woods Cinema had been dedicated on December 23, 1966. This single-screen venue was part of the mall structure, but did not have a connection with the air-conditioned shopping concourse.

The Grants space was vacated as a result of the chain's bankruptcy, in 1976. The store re-opened, as a J.C. Penney Catalog Store, in July 1978. At the same time, the cinema structure was gutted and rebuilt as an expanded Thriftway Food & Drug. The old Thriftway space was sectioned into inline stores.

Major shopping centers in the WESTERN WOODS MALL trade area included SWIFTON CENTER (1956) {9 miles east, in Cincinnati}, TRI-COUNTY CENTER (1960) {12.9 miles northeast, in Springdale} and NORTHGATE MALL (1972) {6.6 miles northeast, in Hamilton County}.

A cycle of nameplate changes got underway at WESTERN WOODS MALL in June 1982. Shillito's was rebranded as Shillito / Rike's. In March 1986, the store was rebranded as a Lazarus. J.C. Penney pulled up stakes on July 31, 1986. The WESTERN WOODS store relocated out of the mall into a smaller operation in the vicinity of the shopping center.

The vacant Grants / Penney's space was expanded by 26,700 square feet. A 1-level (59,000 square foot), Framingham, Massachusetts-based Zayre opened on October 23, 1987. In October 1989, stores in the Zayre's chain were rebranded by Rocky Hill, Connecticut-based Ames.

The store operated under that nameplate until 1991, when Ames pulled out of the mall. The next tenant for the space, Framingham, Massachusetts-based HomeGoods, took up shop on November 17, 1992 and closed for good on October 13, 1997.

By this time, WESTERN WOODS MALL was well past its prime. Vacancy problems were exacerbated when Lazarus shuttered their anchor store in January 1997. In early 1998, a demalling plan was implemented by the owner of the property, the Pittsburgh-based J.J. Gumberg Company. The vacant Shillito's / Lazarus was left standing, along with the Thriftway Food & Drug.

McAlpin's relocated their WESTERN HILLS PLAZA store, re-opening in the old WESTERN WOODS Shillito's on July 29, 1998. A 1-level (112,000 square foot) Home Depot, built on the site of the demolished WESTERN WOODS MALL, opened for business on December 3, 1998. The shopping complex, dubbed WEST TOWN CENTER, housed only four stores and services. Its McAlpin's was rebranded as a Dillard's in 1999 and demoted to a Dillard's Clearance Center in 2013. 

Sources:

The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Cincinnati Post
preservenet.cornell.edu/publications/Longstreth Branch Store.doc
"A Phoenix at Western Woods" / www.cincypost.com / January 21, 1998 / Cliff Peale, staff reporter
http://www.cinematreasures.org
Hamilton County, Ohio property tax assessor website