Read time: 11 min.

I stopped by the shuttered Lafayette Square Mall in Indianapolis recently to take some photos and explore its last remaining store, Shoppers World. Then, as I was digging through the dusty directories of a fifteen-year-old laptop, I remembered that I’d been there when the mall was still sort of alive! Here are some before-and-after shots from 2018 and 2026.

Lafayette Square became Indianapolis’ first enclosed shopping mall when it opened in 1968. Pedants have pointed out that Eastgate Consumer Mall and Glendale Mall opened earlier, in 1957¹ and 1958². That’s true, but both started as open-air centers and weren’t enclosed until 1972³ and 1970⁴, respectively. So there you go, know-it-alls!

Built by Ohio’s Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation just two miles north of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Lafayette Square opened with ninety inline tenants, a General Cinema theater, and four anchors: J.C. Penney, G.C. Murphy, W.H. Block, and Kroger. Sears joined them a year later⁵.

Like most malls of its generation, though, Lafayette Square changed dramatically over the decades. Shifting retail habits, anchor closures, disinvestment, and a worsening reputation eventually earned it the nickname “Lafayette Scare⁶.” That lack of esteem wasn’t entirely invented: at least seven separate incidents involving gunfire can be documented on the property between 1999 and 2021, including two fatal shootings⁷. Other reports suggest the actual number was higher⁸. 

The mall was already well into its decline when I visited in 2018. Three years later, locally owned Sojos Capital acquired it and announced a $200 million redevelopment called “Window to the World.” The company gave the exterior a vibrant paint job and spent millions on the roof, HVAC systems, and interior⁹. Aside from Shoppers World, Lafayette Square closed in 2022 to accelerate the work but little visible progress followed¹⁰. In 2024, Sojos replaced its vision with a new concept, “The Square,” a mixed-use redevelopment that calls for demolishing most of the old mall¹¹.

I remain skeptical that much of the grand vision will materialize beyond the demolition. Ground was recently broken for a new apartment building on the north end of the property¹², but elsewhere, the most conspicuous growth since 2022 has been the weeds swallowing much of the parking lot. At least Lafayette Square got that colorful new paint for the time being.

From its opening in February, 1969¹³, Sears was Lafayette Square’s largest anchor. Employing 550 people when it came online, the 240,000-square-foot superstore included 102,000 feet of sales area¹⁴ with more than fifty departments¹⁵. Unfortunately, we all know what happened to Sears: the store employed only 110 workers by 2008, the year it and four of the company’s other stores were closed due to “underperformance¹⁶.”

At least on the outside, the old Sears was showing signs of being worse for wear and tear when I visited ten years after its closure. A pink and gray paintjob as part of the canceled “Window to the World” concept spruced it up nicely enough for the building to briefly serve as the temporary location of twenty-two tenant pop-up shops when Lafayette Square “temporarily” closed in 2022¹⁷. The shops are no longer open, but the old Sears is slated to remain standing as part of the mall’s redevelopment¹⁸.

This impossibly ugly 141,000-square-foot anchor north of Sears was home to Burlington Coat Factory during my 2018 visit. Added to the north side of Lafayette Square in 1974¹⁹, it was Lazarus until 1988, when the company purchased W.H. Block and moved to its space at the mall’s center court²⁰. At the same time, Lazarus sold three Indy-area stores, including Lafayette Square’s²¹, to Montgomery Ward. Ward’s closed in 1998 when the company filed for bankruptcy²². Burlington Coat Factory opened in the building’s first floor the following year²³.

Sojos Capital doesn’t appear to include the old Lazarus/Ward/Burlington in its plans for the Lafayette Square site²⁴, which is strange because its now home to the mall’s last remaining store- Shoppers World. The discounter opened in the mall’s old J.C. Penney in 2008²⁵, then moved to the empty Burlington space twelve years later²⁶. Visiting Shoppers World was the whole point of my recent trip to Lafayette Square, and it was a strange experience. I didn’t manage to take photos of the building from the same angle, but the entrances are similar.

Speaking of J.C. Penney, the 218,000-square-foot, two-level emporium opened with the mall in 1968²⁷. In addition to what you’d expect to find at one today, the Lafayette Square Penney’s also featured full lines of household appliances, consumer electronics, sporting goods, paint, hardware, stationery, cosmetics, furniture, gifts, books, toys, and even an 18-bay, 12,000-square-foot auto center²⁸. 

Unfortunately, J.C. Penney was one of twelve across the country to close at the end of 2003²⁹. Shoppers World moved in five years later, but the old anchor’s been vacant since 2020. Despite that, it appears as though some of the building -or at least the concourse that connects it to the rest of the mall- will remain standing after redevelopment³⁰– if that happens.

Lafayette Square’s center court anchor opened as W.H. Block, an Indianapolis-based department store, in 1968³¹. Lazarus bought the chain and moved there twenty years later³². In 2003, it was one of four outposts in Federated Department Stores’ Rich’s/Lazarus/Goldsmith’s division to shutter due to poor sales³³. New Life Worship Center moved into the space in 2004³³.

An indoor amusement park called Xscape opened in 2008³⁴, but the business was taken over by America’s Incredible Pizza Company³⁵ after a five-year-old was injured while riding a teacup ride³⁶. The old Block’s held onto its pizza arcade facade for years after it was shuttered, but finally received a bold update that defies the flora emerging from the parking lot.

Lafayette Square’s final extant anchor, originally L.S. Ayres, was built to replace Kroger in 1974. Designed in the new formalist style by Indianapolis architects Guepel-DeMars³⁷, the 148,000-square-foot³⁸, two-story store was the company’s twelfth³⁹. After several acquisitions in the seventies and eighties, Ayres’ penultimate owner, the May Company, was bought by Federated Department Stores in 2005. The L.S. Ayres brand disappeared in 2006⁴⁰. 

Unfortunately, Ayres didn’t last long as Macy’s at Lafayette Square. In 2009, it was one of eleven stores the company targeted for closure after a season of poor sales⁴¹. The building was used as a flu clinic later that year⁴², but has otherwise remained empty. Despite its pea-green makeover and striking architecture, the building isn’t one set to be saved when most of the mall is torn down. 

Lafayette Square’s landmark entrance columns that resembled a ring of upturned vacuum cleaners were removed in 1996 to make way for this whimsical, geometric tower. I like a good clock tower, but this won’t make it through the next phases of Sojos’ new concept. Instead, it’ll feature a “major art installation…added to the main entrance to commemorate the mall’s original six-pillar design⁴⁴.”

Again, that presumes that any work will continue at all. Sojos Capital’s listed address leads to an office inside the mall that, as best I can tell, used to be a hair salon across the hall from Sears. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course; developers don’t need a glass skyscraper somewhere. Still, after nearly four years of a mostly shuttered Lafayette Square, that setting makes the whole enterprise feel a little provisional.

As of now, Sojos’ grand renderings, ambitious master plans, and promises of a $200 million transformation are headquartered in what appears to be a repurposed inline storefront inside the very mall they’re supposed to demolish. That’s either admirably economical or appropriately hands-on! I’m inclined toward the former. Standing outside the otherwise dead Lafayette Square, it’s hard not to see the office as just another odd detail in a redevelopment that has spent far more time in renderings and announcements than in moving dirt and material.

I have no idea what Lafayette Square will look like the next time I visit. Maybe Sojos Capital will eventually pull off its ambitious redevelopment and these photos will document the awkward middle stage of a comeback. Perhaps another developer will take over with a different plan. Maybe the mall will continue sitting in its strange limbo, with Shoppers World holding down the fort while the rest of the property waits for something to happen.

On the bright side, whatever takes place, at least its current incarnation has a cool color scheme. The splashes of orange, yellow, blue, and green slapped across the old beige mall may or may not herald the promised “Window to the World,” or the arrival of “The Square,” but they certainly make Lafayette Square more photogenic while we wait to find out.

Sources Cited
1 Eastgate Grew From Careful Study of Regional Shopping Center Needs )1957, September 18). The Indianapolis News. p. 51. 
2 Shuey, M. (2026, April 30). Kite Realty eyes sale of Glendale Town Center. The Indiana Business Journal. Web. Retrieved August 27, 2026. 
3 Eastgate Days (1972, March 8). The Indianapolis Star. p. 11. 
4 (See footnote 2). 
5 Block’s (1969, April 2). The Indianapolis Star. p. 39. 
6 Cierzniak, L. (2025, December 14). The rise, fall and reinvention of defunct mall. The Indianapolis Star. p. A11. 
7 Wakefield, C. (2020, March 10). What Happened to the Lafayette Square Mall. Circle City Talk. Web. Retrieved August 27, 2026.
8 I have seven articles ranging from Justia to Indianapolis Business Journal to WRTV I could cite, but decided to issue a blanket citation here. 
9 Plans announced for former Lafayette Square Mall area (2024, January 25). WTHR [Indianapolis]. Web. Retrieved August 12, 2026. 
10 (See footnote 9). 
11 Gay, D. (2024, January 25). The Square: Sojos Capital released updated master plan for former Lafayette Square Mall neighborhood. FOX59 [Indianapolis]. Web. Retrieved August 28, 2026. 
12 Nye, R. (2026, August 5). Affordable housing apartment building under construction at the site of Lafayette Square Mall. WTHR [Indianapolis]. Web. Retrieved August 28, 2026. 
13 Corya, R. (1968, August 27). Lafayette Square Keeps Packing In The Shoppers. The Indianapolis News. p. 21. 
14 Sears Lafayette Square Store Opens Today (1969, February 26). The Indianapolis Star. p. 24. 
15 Sears’ Opening Gala Day For Lafayette Square (1969, February 25). The Indianapolis News. p. 18. 
16 Świątek, J. (2008, October 18). At Lafayette Square: Back to square one? The Indianapolis Star. p. C1. 
17 Former Lafayette Square Sears being repurposed into pop-up market (2022, November 22). WTHR [Indianapolis[. Web. Retrieved August 29, 2026. 
18 Gay, D. (2024, January 25). The Square: Sojos Capital releases updated master plan for former Lafayette Square Mall neighborhood. FOX59 [Indianapolis]. Web. Retrieved August 29, 2026.
19 Corya, R. (1974, June 26). Lafayette Square: Indiana’s Largest. The Indianapolis News. p. 75. 
20 Dinnen, S.P. (1988, January 18). Shifting Lazarus store no easy job. The Indianapolis Star. p. 27. 
21 (See footnote 20).
22 Andrews, G. (1998, January 21).Lord & Taylor in line to join Castleton mall  The Indianapolis Star. pp. 1-2. 
23 McLaren, G. (1999, May 8). Lafayette Square gets discounter as anchor. The Indianapolis News. p. 39. 
24 (See footnote 18).
25 (See footnote 16).
26 dompton (2020, December 30). Not often that you see a Burlington labelscar – Lafayette Square Mall, Indianapolis. R/retailporn. Reddit. Web. Retrieved August 9, 2026. 
27 Corya, R. (1968, March 1). The Other Side Of The Penney. The Indianapolis News. p. 30. 
28 Penney’s New Lafayette Square Unit Opens Today (1968, March 14). The Indianapolis Star. p. 42. 
29 Knight, D. (2004, January 5). ‘January follies’ are no fun for retailers. The Indianapolis Star. p. 17. 
30 (See footnote 11).
31 Westward Ho…to Block’s Lafayette Square (1968, August 1). The Indianapolis Star. p. 2. 
32 (See footnote 20).
33 Wall, J.K. (2003, January 17). Lafayette Square Lazarus to close. The Indianapolis Star. p. 22. 
33 New Life will keep its presence in Lafayette Square Mall (2006, September 2). The Indianapolis Star. p. B3. 
34 Things that go bump in the mall (2008, December 18). The Indianapolis Star. p. N1.
35 Russell, J. (2010, June 9). Troubled amusement center in talks to be sold. The Indianapolis Star. p. A6. 
36 O’Neal, K. (2010, March 30). Boy, 5, critical after falling from ride. The Indianapolis Star. p. A13.
37 Ayres 11th Store Has Full Range (1974, October 16). The Indianapolis News. p. 86.  
38 (See footnote 19).
39 (See footnote 37).
40 Bora, M.  (2006, February 8). Macy’s Cuts Out Ayres Culture (2006, February 8). The Indianapolis Star. p. C1. 
41 Less than a week left for Macy’s (2009, March 11). The Indianapolis Star. p. A8.
42 Rudavsky, S. (2009, November 5). Epic flu may be slowing. The Indianapolis Star. p. A17.
43 Mealtime Merry-Go-Round (1996, November 25). The Indianapolis Star. p. 40.  
44 (See footnote 18).