This Was The First Enclosed Mall in Grand Rapids

Not Woodland Mall, and not Eastbrook Mall, now CenterPoint. It was Rogers Plaza! The first enclosed mall in Grand Rapids, and all of West Michigan, for that matter.

Built in 1960, on 28th Street in Wyoming, it opened in 1961 and the mall originally included S. S. Kresge and W. T. Grant variety stores, Kroger and A&P supermarkets, Cunningham Drug, and Montgomery Ward.

Reading a post on the local website GR Retro, brought back memories of my moving to Grand Rapids in 1969, just after Woodland Mall opened, along with Eastbrook, across the street. They were the real anchors of the Southeast side, and Rogers Plaza, along with Rogers Department store, which was across the street from the Plaza, were the retail anchors of Wyoming on the Southwest side.

In the 70's, Turn Style discount store moved into Rogers Plaza, but, by the 1990s, the mall was having difficulty attracting business, and slowly went down hill. By the 2000s Ward's had closed, as had many other stores.

Today, it's known as the Rogers Plaza Town Center with The City of Wyoming and the Southwest retail community are re-inventing themselves.