Glenbrook Square

Since the mall's opening in 1966, Glenbrook has been expanded and/or renovated five times. These expansions and renovations occurred in 1976, 1981, 1990, 1994, and 1998; with the 1976, 1981, and 1998 renovations also being major expansions. Glenbrook Square annually receives over 15 million visitors,[1] and is the only enclosed super-regional mall in northeast Indiana. Based on leasable square feet, Glenbrook Square is also one of the three largest malls in the state of Indiana along with Castleton Square in Indianapolis and Southlake Mall in Merrillville. [2] In total, Glenbrook Square has a gross leasable area of 1,210,000 square feet (112,000 m²).[3]

Glenbrook Square features spaces for five anchors, currently occupied by Barnes & Noble, JCPenney, and Macy's, with one currently unused space under redevelopment and a second lot under redevelopment. L.S. Ayres (now Macy's) is Glenbrook Square's original anchor, in continuous operation since the mall's opening. Sears also opened simultaneously with the mall; this store closed in 2018. An A&P grocery store was also an original tenant. This store closed when A&P left Fort Wayne in the 1970s, and Barnes & Noble now occupies this area. The building for JCPenney was added in the 1976 expansion, another building (now unused) was added in the 1981 expansion, and the Barnes & Noble store was converted in 2007 from several smaller stores. In addition to three anchors, Glenbrook Square contains 152 stores and kiosks. A food court can be found, along with casual dining restaurants P.F. Chang's, Red Robin, Granite City Food & Brewery, TGI Fridays, and BJ's Brewhouse.

Hudson's, and later Marshall Field's, once operated a store in the 1981 anchor space. In 2004 Marshall Field's was bought by May Co., which also owned the L.S. Ayres anchor. They closed the Marshall Field's anchor in 2005, and on December 12, 2007 the company (which by then had merged with Federated Department Stores and been renamed Macy's, Inc.) sold the vacant store back to GGP for $1 million. Between GGP's acquisition of the space from Macy's and the search for a new anchor, the former Marshall Field's space was used in several ways. These included temporary retailers such as Glowgolf, a fashion show sponsored by local Christian radio station WLAB Star 88.3,[4] and a Habitat for Humanity gift-wrapping station and display of Department 56 houses that operated during several holiday seasons.[5]

On December 12, 2012, GGP announced that Carson's would anchor the long-vacant space starting in the fall of 2013.[6] Carson's began construction in January 2013 and opened to the public on September 10 at 9:00AM of that year after over $1.6 million in renovations to the space.[7] The holiday Habitat for Humanity display continued for one more season at a new location in the mall in the Carson's wing.

A water main break occurred at Glenbrook Square on October 31, 2013 during overnight hours.[8] 50 stores were damaged in the incident,[9] but all five anchor stores were unaffected. Most affected stores were repaired and reopened within weeks, and all damaged stores except one reopened by Black Friday 2013.[10]

In 2015, Sears Holdings spun off 235 of its properties, including the Sears at Glenbrook Square, into Seritage Growth Properties.[11]

In April 2018, it was announced that the Carson's store would be closing due their parent company, The Bon-Ton Stores, going out of business. The store was closed on August 31, 2018.[3]

On August 22, 2018, Sears announced that the store would also be closing as part of a plan to close 46 stores nationwide. The store was scheduled to close in November 2018 after 52 years in business.[12] At the same time as the store closings, Brookfield and Seritage Growth Properties put plans in place to renovate the former Carson's and Sears spaces, respectively.

On February 6, 2019, it was announced that the shuttered Sears at Glenbrook Square Mall will be torn down under a plan to erect a new retail building in its place and a free-standing Portillo's eatery nearby. The Allen County Plan Commission received an application from New York-based Seritage SRC Finance LLC to develop the Shoppes at Glenbrook where Sears operated for five decades. The plan called for the Sears store and auto shop to be demolished, and a new retail building to be built, attached to the Glenbrook Square building. Announced tenants for this new wing include Dave & Buster's, HomeGoods, and Portillo's. Additional tenants will be announced later. Demolition of the former Sears was completed in summer 2019 and the new tenants will open in 2020. Unfortunately with the Covid-19 Pandemic, construction has been halted since March 2020 with this edit on November 27, 2020. Local residents hope that 2021 will bring them the openings they've been waiting for.

On August 8, 2019, Japanese firm Round One Entertainment announced that they would be opening in the former Carson's in 2021 as part of a larger expansion plan in the United States. Round1 will feature bowling, karaoke, arcade games, and food.[13] Despite similar products, Round1 is a family-oriented concept whereas Dave & Buster's is focused on adults.

• Glenbrook Square
• Visit Fort Wayne