FRAMINGHAM MALL
Cochituate Road and Whittier Street
Framingham, Massachusetts

This Greater Boston mini-mall was developed by Framingham Arbor, Incorporated. The fully-enclosed complex was built on a 14.2-acre site, at the intersection of Cochituate [kah-chich-oo-it"] Road (State Route 30) and Whittier Street. The tentative name of the nineteen-store center was WHITTIER MALL. However, by the time of its February 1979 completion, the official name had morphed into FRAMINGHAM MALL.

Consisting of a single retail level, the venue encompassed approximately 162,400 leasable square feet. Its original anchors were a 1-level (63,400 square foot), Woburn, Massachusetts-based Lechmere ["leech-meer"] and 1-level (33,400 square foot), Burlington, Massachusetts-based Filene's Basement.

Charter inline stores included Fanny Farmer Candies, B. Dalton Bookseller, Dimensions In Fashions, Frederick's of Hollywood, Tobacco Shack, Popcorn Records, Baldwin Piano & Organ and a New England Telephone Phone Center Store.

Other community-class retail centers in the vicinity included ROUTE 30 MALL (1971) {.25 mile southwest, in Framingham} and NATICK TOWNE MALL (1979) {.82 mile east, in Natick}. FRAMINGHAM MALL did well until the redevelopment of the adjacent SHOPPERS' WORLD and NATICK MALL complexes, in the mid-1990s. 

The shuttering of the FRAMINGHAM MALL Lechmere, in November 1997, was the beginning of the end. To counter the mall's decline, a face lift renovation was done in 1998. This remodeling did not improve the fortunes of the mall.

The past its prime property was sold to Minnesota's Dayton Hudson Corporation in August 1999. The new owners razed the mall in mid-2000. A vacant Filene's Basement building was left standing. It was reconfigured as a Framingham-based HomeGoods, which opened on August 13, 2000.

The remainder of the site was taken by a 1-level (143,000 square foot) Target Greatland and three smaller inline stores. Target held its grand opening on October 14, 2001. The adjoining, 173,600 square foot shopping center was fully-leased by 2004.

Sources:

The Boston Globe
Framingham Natick Retail / Justin Tardiff webmaster
Town of Framingham, Massachusetts online database
"Home Goods", "Lechmere" and "Filene's Basement articles on Wikipedia