A RE-IMAGINED SUBURBAN CITY CENTER: Redeveloping Greyfield Sites
Shopping Mall Development The Department Stores The department store is historically rooted in innovation and influence. Department stores first appeared in North America in the mid-19th Century, and the rise of the urban department store was an urban phenomenon. As cities began to expand, and roadways, streetcars, subways and a larger concentration of people began to congregate and reside within cities, retailers began locating business within these heavily populated areas. J.L. Hudson Company was once one of the largest department stores in the world, second to Macy’s. They had a commanding presence in the downtown core of Detroit in the early 60’s where residents who live in the downtown core and also in the surrounding suburbs would visit. This store had more than two million square feet, 32 levels, and 48 escalators inside to move the customers around the building with ease. Department stores acted as attractions for citizens and visitors to a city. These attractions had a similar cultural character as banks, railway stations, stadium, or exhibition halls. As stated by David Chaney, ‘the department store was a significant element in the emergence of a consumer culture, that is a set of institutionalized values and forms of relationships based upon the purchase and acquisition of commodities.’1
cities began to expand, so did the population. Moving out of the urban centre, residents in the core of a city moved to the periphery and the suburbs, sparking a new form of consumerism – a form made possible through the suburbanization of cities. Gruen began to realize the automobile and the dispersion of the suburban communities would change the way that department stores would be occupied. In 1947, Gruen had an opportunity to design and build a shopping center that catered to the people through the implementation of the
Although department stores were innovative and an ‘urban phenomenon’, when 1 Cheney, David. “The Department Store as Cultural Form” Theory Culture Society, 1,22. (1983) 22-31. p.25
20 | Shopping Mall Development
Figure 1.6: Hudsons department store, Detroit, Michigan
Department Stores
