It’s Woodfield shopping center that has the notoriety, but the mammoth enclosed shopping center is eclipsed in size by the strip malls that proliferate throughout Schaumburg and Hoffman Estates.
Hoffman Estates has 13 strip malls, totaling about 1.1 million square feet. Schaumburg has 66 strip malls, totaling about 4.9 million square feet. Woodfield, the only regional shopping center in the two villages, takes up about 2.7 million square feet.
Strip shopping centers, so-named for their typical long and narrow configurations, are the predominant format for shopping centers. According to figures compiled by the International Council of Shopping Centers in New York City, 95 percent of the country’s 43,600 shopping centers are strip centers.
People like strip centers because they are easy to use and meet immediate needs, said Jill Blodgett, executive director of the Hoffman Estates Chamber of Commerce.
“One of the things we bring to the table for Hoffman residents is convenience,” she said. “Strip centers provide the things we need every day–groceries, greeting cards, bowling alleys and certainly restaurants.”
In one form or another, shopping centers have existed for thousands of years as market squares, bazaars and seaport trading posts. The modern shopping center, built intentionally away from a downtown area, had its genesis in the 1920s. That’s when J.C. Nichols of Kansas City, Mo., developed Country Club Plaza, featuring unified architecture, paved and lighted parking lots and operated as a single unit. A decade later, Sears Roebuck & Co. and Montgomery Ward set up large, free-standing stores with on-site parking.
Since then, developers have experimented with a variety of formats, some of which are more successful than others.
“What happens in the retail development industry is sort of a retail Darwinism,” said Marya Morris, senior research associate with the American Planning Association in Chicago. “Developers try a format for a while and that dies off. Then they try something else.”
The enclosed malls of the 1960s were followed by large strip centers in the 1970s, she said. Then came the mini-malls of the 1980s and the big boxes–large, free-standing stores–of the 1990s.
“Now we’re seeing the big box and strip mall combined,” she said. “Next it will be interesting to see what the impact of e-commerce will be on site-based retailing. It’s a guessing game at this point.”
Woodfield, once touted as the world’s largest, opened in 1971.
Industry experts say that high visibility and population are key considerations when choosing a site for a strip center.
“We look for either a lot of rooftops or the potential for residential development,” said John Hagenow, project manager for Location Finders International in Chicago Heights.
The company, which develops and manages shopping centers primarily in the Chicago area, is building Hoffman Estates’ 14th strip center next to the Jewel Food Store at 1485 Palatine Rd. Still unnamed, the center will have two buildings totaling 40,000 square feet. The tenants, which include a card store, hair salon, nutrition store, video rental store and a pizza restaurant, will begin moving in by mid-summer.
Richard Unwin, Hoffman Estates director of community development, said further retail development is possible on the western side of the village but no definite plans have been made. He hopes any new shopping centers will continue to serve the everyday needs of the residents and the employees of the many nearby corporations.
“There isn’t anything we’re not particularly interested in, but I don’t think we’ll ever have anything as unique as Woodfield simply because it is such a draw,” he said.
Unwin said Hoffman Estates talked to IKEA, but the furniture store decided to set up in Schaumburg. “Their interest was to be where there were a lot of cars. We played up the angle that we have less traffic so it is easier for people to get in and out, but that’s not what they wanted.
“We know our strengths and weaknesses. Our strengths are tollway exposure, and that 40 percent of the village is forest preserve. We use that to attract the people who want to come here.”
In Schaumburg, the existence of Woodfield doesn’t preclude the need for strip centers, said the village’s community development planner, Paul Evans.
“They are different markets,” he said. “The Woodfield area is a regional market and is intended to attract business from the whole Chicago region. Then we have our corridors of neighborhood shopping centers, which have a different function.”
Due to land shortages, few new strip centers are likely to be built in Schaumburg.
