For a certain stretch of my life, the Concord Mall felt like a constant. It was one of those places so woven into the background of growing up that you never imagine it could disappear. The mall rose from open fields outside Elkhart, evolved with the region and the retail world around it, and eventually became something else without entirely letting go of what it had been. Here’s some of its story.
My dad lived in Elkhart for most of my childhood, and I lived with him my sophomore year of high school. When I was growing up, the Michiana region was home to four shopping malls. Elkhart’s Pierre Moran Mall opened first in 1971, followed by Concord Mall in 1972, just to the southeast.
South Bend added the Scottsdale Mall in 1973, and the largest, University Park in Mishawaka, rounded out the group in 1979. There was also the decrepit North Village Mall in South Bend, I guess, but Concord Mall was my go-to. It was just down the road from my dad’s house and a stone’s throw from my high school.
Instead of being built in Elkhart or nearby Goshen, Concord Mall actually took shape in the small community of Dunlap1 between the two. Dunlap’s a busy mix of homes and commerce along US-33 today, but it was still largely open land in 1970. That year, plans for the sprawling new mall were formally unveiled at a luncheon for community leaders at the Hotel Elkhart2.
The mall project was spearheaded by Robert Fryling and Associates of Grand Rapids and was later joined by the Concordia Development Group. Its vision extended well beyond a simple shopping center: in addition to the mall, plans also called for a 200-unit apartment complex and an enormous recreational building. Grand Rapids architects Steenwyk & Thrall were tapped to design the complex, which would be ringed by 35 acres of parking to accommodate 4,000 cars3.
The mall itself was an ambitious undertaking as well. It would feature a 93,000-square-foot Montgomery Ward superstore, with more than fifty planned retail and service businesses branching out4! The vision became reality on August 9, 1972, when Concord Mall opened its doors for the first time. Miss Indiana, Rebecca Sue Graham, marked opening day with an acrobatic performance5.
Alongside Montgomery Ward, Concord Mall boasted a multimillion-dollar outpost of South Bend’s homegrown Robertson’s Department Store- a 100,000-square-foot, two-story showpiece. With three stairways, an elevator, and an escalator, the store also featured Restaurants at Robertson’s alongside a beauty shop6.
Aside from Concord Mall’s original anchors, the 500,000-square-foot center7 debuted with a bustling lineup of smaller shops on opening day. Shoppers could browse places like Calandra’s Hallmark, Claire’s Boutiques, Drake’s Department Store, Fox Jewelry Company, Grinnell’s Music Store, Hickory Farms, Hopman Jewelers, Kinney Shoe Corporation, Louie’s Tux Shop, The Milady Shop, Newman’s Women’s Apparel, Osco Drug, Sound Masters, and The Village Scene8, among others.
For its first six years, Concord Mall thrived just as its developers had hoped. In 1976, that success was underscored by a major expansion on the building’s west side with the addition of J.C. Penney. The 140,000-square-foot store opened as the fifty-eighth Penney’s location in Indiana, and it brought 250 new jobs to the area9. Its addition further cemented the mall’s role as a regional shopping hub.
Another big shift arrived in 1985. That year, Robertson’s revealed plans to leave the mall altogether, opting instead for a smaller location elsewhere in Elkhart10. Shortly afterwards, Terre Haute–based Meis announced that it would take over the vacated space11. Meis promised a modern lineup of goods that included an electronics department with IBM and Apple computers, a full-service family shoe department, and a broad selection of clothing for every age12.
In 1989, Meis’ owners sold the ten-store chain to Elder-Beerman13. Even under new ownership, the rebranded store held onto their identity by offering merchandise that matched the quality and price point of upscale rivals like L.S. Ayres and Hudson’s. “We will try to compete at both ends,” said Elder-Beerman chairman Max Gutmann. “That direction won’t change14.”
Five years later, though, Concord Mall was struggling with vacancy rates approaching twenty percent. That year, Baird & Warner took over management of the property for its new owners, Mountain AMD. Unfortunately, competition was closing in from every direction: big-box retailers were either already open or being built within a few miles of the mall15. Places like Walmart, Meijer, and Target fundamentally reshaped the area’s retail landscape.
Milady’s, Sycamore, and Chess King all left Concord Mall in 199516, but the place was surprisingly healthy otherwise. In 1997, Concord was 91 percent occupied -just above the national average- which made it an attractive investment. That spring, King of Prussia–based Kravco stepped in and purchased the mall from Mountain AMD17 in a bet that Concord Mall still had plenty of life left in it.
Unfortunately, that renewed sense of life proved short-lived. By early 1998, Concord Mall was once again struggling, with a dozen or more storefronts sitting dark and empty. Still, it wasn’t all bad: GadZooks, a preteen apparel shop, arrived first. Then came Sam Goody and its sister store, Suncoast Motion Picture Company. Northern Reflections opened later that year, while Kay-Bee Toys and Majestic Diamond Center relocated into larger spaces18. Not every change was positive, though: Osco Drug, part of the mall since opening day19, left its longtime home for a nearby strip anchored by Martin’s Supermarket20.
An enormous shift was looming. After disappointing Christmas sales in the year 2000, Montgomery Ward quickly announced it would shut down operations entirely21. Thankfully, Hobby Lobby moved in and took over 62,000 square feet of the former Ward’s space in 2002. About 30,000 square feet remained available22, and most of it was filled the following year when regional electronics retailer ABC Warehouse moved in to all but Ward’s old auto center23. Pippin Dental & Braces eventually filled that space as well.
Triyar Cannon Group purchased Concord Mall in 2003 and aggressively pushed to fill vacant storefronts. The strategy paid off: the following year, it reported a striking 97 percent occupancy rate, with sales averaging $252 per square foot- about ten dollars higher than the national mall average. Twelve stores logged double-digit sales gains, while another ten posted strong single-digit increases25.
2005 brought another boost to Concord’s standing: officials announced that much of the long-struggling Pierre Moran Mall, just northwest of Concord, would be demolished to reestablish it as a power center26. The move wound up eliminating a competitor, even if it was a sinking one, and signaled yet another shift in Elkhart’s retail landscape.
That’s more or less the Concord Mall I grew up knowing. My dad bought a washer and dryer at ABC Warehouse. My stepmom gravitated toward Elder-Beerman. For me, the mall’s heartbeat lived elsewhere: I bought my first CDs at Sam Goody and my first DVD at Suncoast. I even liked Foot Locker!
Some of my favorite memories, though, came after hours. My family spent a few late nights camped out at Waldenbooks, eagerly anticipating the release of the next Harry Potter book. Other establishments I recall were the Nostalgia Store, Lisa’s International, Family Fashion and More, and the Cookie Basket. I remember when mall officials finally reworked the old Osco Drug space into a food court called The Grove in 200827. It only housed a Subway as far as I knew, but even that felt like a small sign of improvement.
What never seemed to change was the mall’s interior- at least, that’s how it felt at the time. The hallways still wore their original tiled floors. Many storefronts like GNC and Jo-Ann Fabrics kept their wooden façades, and the center of the mall featured a decidedly retro sunken area, once home to a fountain, with planters beneath a massive octagonal dome and skylight.
Concord wasn’t dingy or neglected the way Pierre Moran Mall felt, and it hadn’t been scrubbed into bland modernity like my other hometown mall in Muncie. Instead, it felt comfortably frozen in time: no matter which wing you ventured to, it was clean, intact, and unapologetically old-school.
Unfortunately, Concord Mall’s sense of permanence began to slip away not long after my last visit, when I was nineteen or twenty and had already moved back home. Change came in stages: Elder-Beerman was rebranded as Carson’s in 2011, then its parent company, The Bon-Ton, announced the store’s closure in 201828.
My last visit to Concord Mall came on Sunday, December 4, 2022. I pulled in mid-morning, and I couldn’t tell if the place was open at all! In hindsight, I should have walked up and tried the doors. I wish I’d gone inside, since JCPenney announced that it would close barely a month after I visited29.
The departure of JCPenney left Hobby Lobby as Concord Mall’s last remaining anchor, but that arrangement proved short-lived. Not long after, officials announced plans to close -and demolish- the mall to clear the way for future redevelopment30. By that point, the interior corridors were hanging on by a thread with only a few tenants still operating inside, including Champs Sports, Dr. Tavel, and longtime local favorite Enzo Pizza. Meanwhile, a small handful of businesses -Hobby Lobby, ABC Warehouse, and Pippin Dental & Braces-continued to operate from exterior entrances.
Industrial Commercial Properties of Cleveland, Ohio, ultimately acquired the mall in October 2023. Soon after, work started to convert the complex to the Concord Business Center. ICP gutted the building down to the studs and ceilings, tore down the JCPenney concourse, removed a second story, and reconfigured much of the structure into a blank slate for redevelopment31.
I haven’t been back since the old Concord Mall completed its transformation into a business park, but the complex was 90% occupied by last November32! That’s a remarkable turnaround for a property that once seemed to be on borrowed time! Alongside familiar retail holdovers Hobby Lobby, ABC Warehouse, and Pippin Dental, the redeveloped site has attracted a diverse mix of new tenants.
Sierra Forest Products now occupies the former Robertson’s/Meis/Elder-Beerman/Carson’s space, LEER Group has taken over the old JCPenney, and Mox Warehouse and Logistics operates out of what was once the mall’s central concourse. It’s a striking example of how a dead mall can be repurposed into something productive again without entirely erasing its past.
Concord Mall isn’t what it once was, but maybe that’s the point. For a while, it felt like a place that would always be there, unchanged. Like so many malls of its era, Concord was built to feel permanent, even inevitable. Its end as a traditional mall wasn’t sudden or dramatic, but came in increments until one day it simply wasn’t what it used to be.
Still, though, its story didn’t stop with locked doors or a wrecking ball. Instead, Concord adapted. The building shed its retail skin and found a second life- not as a shrine to nostalgia, but as a working place again. Sierra distributes lumber, laminate, and veneer products; Mox provides logistics services; and LEER Group manufactures fiberglass and aluminum truck caps and tonneau covers.
Places that help shape us don’t always survive in their original form, but that doesn’t mean they vanish entirely. Concord Mall still exists in the landscape as the bones of a new form of economy. It’s proof that even after the crowds disperse and the skylights go dark, a place can still matter.
Sources Cited
1 Elkhart County (n.d.). Jim Forte Postal History. Web. Retrieved December 16, 2025.
2 Gregg, R. (1970, February 25). Dunlap to get huge shopping mall . The South Bend Tribune. p. 5.
3 (See footnote 2).
4 (See footnote 2).
5 Miss Indiana to Be at Mall Opening (1972, August 8). The South Bend Tribune. p. 22.
6 Robertson’s Ventures Outside South Bend *(1972, August 8). The South Bend Tribune. p. 24.
7 Gregg, R. (1970, February 25). Robertson’s Plans Concord Mall Store. The South Bend Tribune. p. 2.
8 We’re Coming to Concord Mall (1972, August 8). The South Bend Tribune. p. 29.
9 New Penney’s store opens (1976, July 8). The South Bend Tribune. p. 9.
10 250 jobs (1976, May 28). The South Bend Tribune. p. 10.
11 Brokaw, R. (1985, April 26). Robertson’s Concord site goes to Meis. The South Bend Tribune. P. 29.
12 (See footnote 11).
13 Brown Group Sells Department Stores (1989, April 29). The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. p. 13.
14 Kurowski, J. (1989, May 5). New owners of Meis to keep upscale quality and pricing. The South Bend Tribune. p. 14.
15 Kurowski, J. (1994, November 23). Turnaround pledged for Concord Mall. The South Bend Tribune. p. 22.
16 Doddson, P. (1995, December 31). Store losings no threat to malls. The South Bend Tribune. p. 32.
17 Kurowski, J. (1997, April 15). Pennsylvania developer Kravco buys Concord Mall in Elkhart. The South Bend Tribune. p. 28.
18 Kurowski, J. (1998, April 10). Concord Mall anticipates upswing. The South Bend Tribune. p. 30.
19 Osco Plan Store in Concord Mall (1972, July 2). The South Bend Tribune. p. 41.
20 (See footnote 15).
21 Prescott, H. (2001, January 5). Somber mood dominates news for retailers. The South Bend Tribune. p. 16.
22 Prescott, H. (2002, April 17). Concord Mall gains new anchor. The South Bend tribune. p. 16.
23 Prescott, H. (2003, March 7). Remaining space at Concord Mall just the right fit for store. The South Bend Tribune. p. B10.
24 Prescott, H. (2005, July 17). New era at Concord Mall. The South Bend Tribune. p. B1.
25 (See footnote 24).
26 Prescott, H. (2005, July 17). Pierre Moran will be torn down in fall, owners say. The South Bend Tribune. p. B1.
27 Prescott, H. (2008, March 30). Time of change, challenges. The South Bend Tribune. p. E8.
28 Carson’s stores closing in Elkhart and Benton Harbor (2018, January 31). WSBT 22 [South Bend]. Web. Retrieved December 24, 2025.
29 Albert, S. (2023, January 13). JCPenney at Concord Mall closing in spring. WNDU [South Bend]. Web. Retrieved December 25, 2025.
30 Baxter, T. (2023, October 18). Concord Mall businesses prepare for final days. WSBT 22 [South Bend]. Web. Retrieved December 24, 2025.
31 Construction of Elkhart’s old Concord Mall nearing completion after two years. WSBT [South Bend]. Web. Retrieved December 25, 2025.
32 SIdenbender, C. (2025, November 22). Former mall gets new life as business park. Yahoo Finance. Web. Retrieved December 25, 2026.
Fascinating history. When I passed here on my Lincoln Highway trip last year I thought, “This must be Concord Mall, just because of its sheer size and its mall-like shape — but it doesn’t look like it’s a mall anymore.” Now I know!
Meis was Terre Haute’s premier department store and it sold to E-B while I lived in TH. Where Robertson’s closing in South Bend prompted wailing and gnashing of teeth, Meis’s closing in TH seemed not to generate more than a few ripples. I liked E-B’s goods better anyway.
I’d never given Meis much thought, but it’s popped up in all the area malls I’ve written about lately- Concord, Mounds, and Five Points in Marion. For some reason, they never made it to Muncie.
Interesting memories about the contrast between Meis’ closure vs. Robertson’s. I wonder why that was.
I know who owned the land up to the 1956
. My great grandparents owned it since the Civil War. They lived on the land till my great grandmother passed.. Henry Himebaugh was the owner. There is also a street across the tracks named Himebaugh.
Very interesting! Thanks for the info!