Lincolnwood Town Center, Lincolnwood

A Late Enclosed Mall At The City Edge

Lincolnwood Town Center opened in March 1990 at Touhy Avenue and McCormick Boulevard, a borderland location where Lincolnwood, Skokie, and Chicago's North Side shopping geographies overlap. That position helped the mall serve suburban residents and city shoppers at once.

The mall's original story also reaches back to Bell & Howell. The property had been associated with the projector and equipment company before it became retail land, which makes the parcel a useful example of corporate land turning into suburban consumer space.

From Decline To Phased Demolition

By April 2026, the Village of Lincolnwood had approved a pre-development agreement that treats the mall as a redevelopment site rather than as a salvageable retail center. Current reporting describes demolition in phases, beginning with the southern section and moving toward the remaining mall structure.

The plan is important because the village is not presenting demolition as an isolated act. It is being tied to a hoped-for replacement program that includes a large retail store, an auto dealership, and smaller commercial space.

Why The Mall Still Belongs In The Record

Lincolnwood Town Center is young enough that many people remember it as an ordinary part of childhood, shopping, and food-court life. That ordinariness is exactly why it belongs in the research library. The mall shows how everyday late twentieth-century places become historically legible only when the end arrives.

Its demolition also helps compare Chicago-area retail outcomes. Some malls are being reworked, some are being thinned, and some are being cleared. Lincolnwood gives the library a clear case where municipal redevelopment logic has overtaken enclosed-mall continuity.