AURORA VILLAGE CENTER was originally open-air. It was built in three phases. The first (in black) encompassed stores on the west end. Phase 2 (light gray) took in the remainder  of the inline store section. The third -and final- phase (dark gray) added Frederick & Nelson. The mall now covered around 361,200 leasable square feet and housed over thirty stores and services. There was free parking for 3,000 autos. 

AURORA VILLAGE CENTER TENANTS 1963:

FREDERICK & NELSON (with beauty salon and Azalea Room restaurant) / J.C. PENNEY / F. W. WOOLWORTH 5 & 10 (with luncheonette) / LUCKY-BIG BEAR STORES supermarket / Andy's Village Inn / Bon Ton French Bakery / Buddy Squirrel's Nut Shops / Connie's Maternity Shop / Edward's Junior Boot Shop / Ernst Hardware / Gallenkamp Shoes / GI-EM Gift Shop / Herfy's Burgers / Joy Jacobs ladies' wear / Karmelkorn / Kinney Shoes / Klopenstein's men's wear / National Bank of Commerce / Nordstrom's Shoes / Pay 'n Save Drug (with luncheonette) / Singer Sewing Center / Turner Jewelers / Town Cleaners 

 

The basic footprint of AURORA VILLAGE CENTER was completed with the 150,000 square foot Frederick & Nelson. Dedicated in July 1963, the 3-story store featured The Azalea Room, an upscale restaurant. "Frederick's" would anchor the mall for over 27 years.
Drawing from Marshall Field & Company

An AURORA VILLAGE logo montage features trademarks of stores operating in the complex during the 1960s and '70s. One might notice the phone numbers on some of the ads. Way back in the rotary dial telephone era, LI 2-2882 was dialed 542-2882. If it was an operator-assisted call, one would have requested "LIncoln 2-2882."