Woodfield Mall is an enclosed super-regional shopping mall located in the northwest Chicago suburb of Schaumburg, Illinois, United States, at the intersection of Golf Road and Interstate 290.

 

Woodfield Mall is the largest shopping center in the state of Illinois and 10th largest in United States. The mall is located approximately 27 miles from the Chicago Loop and attracts more than 27 million visitors each year.

 

Location

The mall is located about 15 miles (24 km) NW of O'Hare Airport and about 28 miles (45 km) from Downtown Chicago. It is adjacent to I-290 (codesignated as Illinois Route 53 at this point), which runs north-south alongside the eastern edge of the complex. The Northwest Tollway (Interstate 90) runs roughly east-west nearby to the north, intersecting I-290/IL 53 northeast of the mall, but Tollway traffic must exit to I-290 or to other more distant local road exits to access the area.

 

Pace Bus, the Suburban Bus service, has a complete bus center with several routes. It is also the hub for Route #282 Schaumburg-Wrigley Field Express to Wrigley Field, Route #237 Schaumburg-Soldier Field Express to Soldier Field, Route #284 Six Flags Great America Express to Six Flags Great America.

 

The Woodfield Trolley (owned and operated by Pace) has service to the convention center from Woodfield, with trolleys running every 30 minutes, Friday thru Sunday. The trolley runs in a loop including Woodfield Mall, The Streets of Woodfield, and IKEA.

 

History

Woodfield opened on September 9, 1971 with 59 stores, growing to 189 stores with 1.9 million retail square feet by 1973, the largest mall in the United States at that time. It's the 9th largest mall in America to this date. It is currently the largest mall in the Chicago area, with over 285 stores and restaurants.Woodfield is part of a group of three malls located in Schaumburg, IL, along with Woodfield Village Green, and the Streets of Woodfield. Woodfield is a major tourist destination in the state of Illinois In the year 2000, Chicago's visitors voted Woodfield Mall as their favorite suburban attraction.

 

Woodfield is named for former Sears board chairman General Robert E. Wood and Marshall Field and Company founder Marshall Field. It debuted on September 9, 1971, on 191 acres (0.77 km2) of prairie land, previously occupied by farms, cows, and a village tavern.[8] Singer Carol Lawrence, actor Vincent Price, and two marching bands entertained at the debut. At the time of its opening, it claimed to be the world's largest shopping center.[2] By the end of September 1971, another 28 stores and restaurants had opened and that first business year finished with 138 specialty retailers. Many of those retailers—Johnston & Murphy, The Limited, Stride Rite, Fredericks of Hollywood, and Lerner New York (now known as New York & Company or NY&C) are still at Woodfield today. Waldenbooks, another store that opened alongside the mall itself, closed in 2007 as the parent company, Borders Group, operates a Borders Books & Music store nearby at Woodfield Village Green.

 

Originally 1,900,000 square feet (180,000 m2) of retail space, Woodfield today is 2.7 million feet of retail space. In 1973, Lord & Taylor opened and brought along 50 additional new retailers and a whole new wing. In celebration of its 20th anniversary in 1991, Woodfield added 23 more stores and then in 1996, Woodfield grew again with a $110 million wing. This new wing included a three-level Nordstrom, a larger replacement Lord & Taylor, and 50 new specialty stores. Of these new stores, nearly 40 debuted flagship concepts and designs, with about 27 of them the largest in their chains.

 

While all of this expansion continued at Woodfield, the surrounding village of Schaumburg grew as well. In 1970, the population was 19,000; in 1980, it mushroomed to 55,000; and, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, Schaumburg had over 75,000 people in 2000. Schaumburg Mayor Al Larson observed that, "Woodfield established a focal point for development throughout all of the northwest suburbs. Without Woodfield, we wouldn't have office towers in Itasca or corporate development in Hoffman Estates."

 

The GLA of the mall today is 2,700,000 square feet (250,000 m2), making it the fifth largest shopping mall in the U.S. and ninth largest in terms of shopping area. The mall is a highly visited tourist destination in the Chicago metropolitan area, with about 27 million annual visitors. The center features nearly 300 stores and is anchored by J.C. Penney, Lord & Taylor, Macy's (formerly Marshall Field's), Nordstrom and the country's largest Sears store at 416,000 square feet (38,600 m2). Woodfield is often used as a test market for retailers; a recent example was the 2004 opening (and nationwide debut) of RUEHL 925 by clothier Abercrombie & Fitch. In 2006, the Marshall Field's store was rebranded Macy's.

 

The Schaumburg Convention Center was completed in 2006. It is located across I-90 from Woodfield, next to Motorola's corporate campus. The 100,000 sq ft (10,000 m2). Convention Center has an adjoining 500 room Renaissance Hotel with 48,000 sq ft (4,500 m2) meeting center including a 28,000 sq ft (2,600 m2) ballroom.

Metra has plans to build an inter-suburban rail service tentatively referred to as the STAR line, with a stop at IKEA.