Alas, America's second shopping mall was done in by newer enclosed centers in its vicinity. The complex bit the proverbial dust in the mid-1990s and was replaced by the open-air power center seen here.
Photo from http://www.ddr.com / Developers Diversified Realty, Incorporated
SHOPPERS' WORLD
Worcester and Cochituate Roads
Framingham, Massachusetts
The first mall-type retail facility in New England was developed by a joint venture of Boston's Suburban Centers Trust, Incorporated and New York City's Alstores Realty Corporation (a division of Allied Stores). Its trend-setting design was envisaged by five firms; New York City's Ketchum, Gina & Sharp, Boston's Frederick J. Adams, Boston's John T. Howard, Cambridge, Massachusetts' Anderson & Beckwith and Grand Rapids, Michigan's Kenneth C. Welch. The landscape architects on the project were Boston's Arthur & Sydney Shurcliff.
SHOPPERS' WORLD was built on a 70-acre tract, nestled between two major highways, that was located 18 miles southwest of downtown Boston. Construction got underway in April 1950, with an official grand opening being held on October 4, 1951. Massachusetts Governor Paul A. Dever (D) officiated at the dedication, which included an appearance by actress Anita Eckberg. Also speaking at the ceremony were Huston Rawls, President of Suburban Centers Trust, Incorporated, and Edward R. Milton, President of Jordan Marsh department stores.
Open-air in format, the 500,000 square foot SHOPPERS' WORLD was heralded as "a palace from another world". The 8.5 million dollar complex opened with forty stores, with this number eventually being expanded to fifty. There was free parking for 6,000 autos.
A spaceship-shaped Jordan Marsh was the first suburban branch of the Boston-based chain. This 3-level (175,000 square foot) store sat at the southern end of the complex and was 227 feet in diameter and 54 feet in height. Two 2-level mall wings extended north from Jordan Marsh. At the center of the center was a 100-foot-wide Central Green that was landscaped with flowers, shrubbery and trees. 15-foot-wide walkways surrounded the Green on three sides. On the fourth was a kiddie ride area.
One of the more interesting design features of SHOPPERS' WORLD was the absence of stairways or escalators between floors. Patrons entered from the parking lot and took ramps, going either up or down, to the get to the two retail levels.
The Midwest Drive-In Theatres Framingham Cinema in the Shoppers World showed its first feature on October 4, 1951. Other charter stores and services included a 1-level (18,000 square foot) Kennedy's of New England, 2-level (30,000 square foot) Gorin's ladies' wear, 1-level (20,000 square foot) Brockelman Brothers Fine Foods and a studio for radio station WKOX.
Although most original mall stores were profitable, the physical operation of the complex proved problematic. By 1953, the Suburban Centers Trust had filed for bankruptcy reorganization. The reasons for this included errors in estimating operating costs and the failure of the owner to sign a second anchor store. By 1955, Alstores Realty was in control of the mall.
The first SHOPPERS' WORLD expansion got underway in September 1958. The project would enlarge the existing "Jordan's" to 235,000 square feet and add a freestanding Jordan Marsh Car Care Center. The revamped store was dedicated on October 11, 1959. A second phase expansion added a 2-level (33,000 square foot) Stop & Shop supermarket to the north end of the West Wing. This store opened for business on October 5, 1961.
This renovation was followed by an enlargement of the existing cinema into a twin-screen venue. The General Cinema Corporation Cinema I & II made its debut on May 20, 1964. A 2-level (72,100 square foot) Jordan Marsh Great Basement Store was also built, which opened for business on July 29, 1967.
The final mall expansion, completed in 1974, brought the General Cinema Corporation Cinema IV. In 1982, the movie house at SHOPPERS' WORLD was reconfigured as a six-screen venue. Meanwhile, the Stop & Shop grocery was shuttered, with Toys "R" Us leasing the building in 1979. The mall proper now encompassed approximately 725,000 leasable square feet.
The completion of NATICK ["nay-tik"] MALL {.3 mile east, in Natick}, in 1966, did not immediately impact business at SHOPPERS' WORLD. However, as the years progressed, stores began relocating from SHOPPERS' WORLD to the newer, fully-enclosed NATICK MALL. A second competitor for SHOPPERS' WORLD was CHESTNUT HILL MALL (1974) {11 miles east, in Newton}.
Enclosed malls continued to proliferate in the MetroWest suburbs, which caused the open-air SHOPPERS' WORLD to decline. A plan had been formulated by November 1990, whereby SHOPPERS' WORLD would be redeveloped into an upscale, fully-enclosed shopping center. NATICK MALL would be rebuilt as an open-air power center.
Chicago-based Homart Development bought both properties in early 1992. They reversed the previous redevelopment plan, rebuilding the NATICK property as an upscale interior mall, which was officially dedicated in November 1994. SHOPPERS' WORLD would now be reconstructed as a power center.
Meanwhile, the General Cinema Corporation Framingham 14 was built on a pad lying between the NATICK MALL and SHOPPERS' WORLD sites. The megaplex showed its first features on December 16, 1994. Two additional screens were added in 1999, with the complex becoming an American Multi-Cinema venue in 2002.
The original SHOPPERS' WORLD mall had been demolished in December 1994. It was replaced by a 96 million dollar power center, also known as SHOPPERS WORLD (spelled sans-apostrophe). The first stores were open by August 1995, with the new shopping hub being officially dedicated in the following year.
Charter SHOPPERS WORLD tenants included a (45,000 square foot) Toys "R" Us, (40,000 square foot) Jordan Marsh Furniture Gallery and (39,800 square foot) T.J. Maxx. The center was acquired by Beachwood, Ohio-based Developers Diversified Realty, Incorporated in November 1995.
Sources:
The Boston Globe
Architectural Record / Volume 110, Number 5 / November 1951
Allied Stores Corporation Annual Reports 1951 and 1957
"Shoppers' World" / Framingham News / October, 1951
"Shopping Centers: Locating Controlled Regional Centers" Eugene J. Kelley -1956
preservenet.cornell.edu/publications/Longstreth Branch Store.doc
https://exhibitions.framinghamhistory.org
https://sca-roadside.org / "Regional Shopping Centers Have Made A Decisive Imprint On America's Landscape" / Kathleen Kelly Broomer / 1994
www.framinghamnatickretail.com / Justin Tardiff webmaster
http://framingham.wordpress.com
https://patch.com
https://www.framinghamhistory.org
www.cinematreasures.org
FAIR USE OF "THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL" MOVIE POSTER:
The poster illustrates a key moment in the SHOPPERS' WORLD mall's history that is described in the article. The image is of lower resolution than the original (copies made would be of inferior quality). The image is not replaceable with a free-use or public-domain image. The use of the image does not limit the copyright owners' rights to distribute the image, or motion picture, in any way. The image is being used for non-profit, informational purposes only and its use is not believed to detract from the original image or motion picture in any way.
FAIR USE OF "ASK ME GIRLS" AND SHOPPERS' WORLD IMAGES:
The photographs from The Boston Globe, Jordan Marsh-Arber French & Company and Architectural Record help illustrate a key moment in the mall's history that is described in the article. The images are not replaceable with free-use or public-domain images. The use of the images does not limit the copyright owners' rights to distribute the images in any way. The images are being used for non-profit, informational purposes only and their use is not believed to detract from the original images in any way.
