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I remember hearing the thunderous booms of the blasting some summer afternoons as rock was blasted with explosives to make way for construction. What could possibly be so big that would be coming to my crappy little corner of the world near Akron, Ohio?
Rolling Acres opened August 6, 1975 with Sears and 21 other stores, as a perfect example of mid-70's mall design: Lots of orange tile, earth tones, chrome, and the like. At the center was the "Court of the twelve trees", with its unique stainless steel and orange-tile fountain surrounded by twelve indian laurel trees.
Mod white plastic "circle in square" planters were placed throughout the center in groupings with blond wood topped benches supported by yet more white plastic bases. Zoo animal parking zone indicator signs ("giraffe", "turtle" etc.) were another feature that made the center somewhat unique, at least through the eyes of an eleven year old. What fun, and how easy to remember one's parking spot in "kangaroo" or "elephant"!
The mall was absolutely filled with natural light, from giant skylights and those soaring ceilings throughout. This was refreshing, compared to the perenially dark, dim, and by now dated Summit Mall or Chapel Hill, and before the days of those continuous barrel-vaulted glass ceilings that would soon be in fashion.
I vaguely remember some kind of hokey tie-in to the "Egyptian sun God Ra" supposedly having something to do with inspiring the mall's logo of the sun embedded in these mod '70's earth-tone hills. (RA = Rolling Acres, get it?) Promotional materials at the time of the mall's opening described "Ra, the friendly giant of Rolling Acres", who along with Miss Ra would have a gift for all the small fry.
Ads describing the mall's future phases even promised a "yellow bubble elevator". Wow! To a poor 11-year old kid growing up in the depressed industrial town of Barberton, this was like a fantasy world, all new and sparkling and bright and light compared to an otherwise gray and declining area.
The state-of-the-art JCPenney opened sometime early in 1976, really giving the mall momentum .It became the place to go, and before long zoomed in popularity to become Akron's dominant center, crowded every weekend.
One of the other unique features of the mall were the three giant "sunken gardens", which, to a curious kid, were just that: Huge rectangular vertical depressions with '70's-looking striping painted on the walls, loose river stones on the floors, and various plants arranged throughout. It later became known that in the future, the walls would be removed from these, and they would become openings to the lower level with more stores and restaurants.
I well remember the smell of KarmelKorn permeating through the skylight court by JCPenney, hot dogs from Der Dog Haus, the candy counter at Sears, cafeterias in both JCPenney and later Montgomery Wards, York Steak House, Friendlys, Cut The Mustard, and later Samir's and The Terrace at O'Neil's.
Around 1977 came the "Court of Aquarius" with a giant aquarium in front of the new Montgomery Ward store. I was always struck by how hard the benches were there. They seemed to be plywood covered with low-pile commercial carpeting, surrounded by all sorts of lush plantings just a few steps down from the Aquarium. At the opening of this phase of the mall, an ad appeared in the Akron Beacon Journal with a large group employee photo, claiming that Rolling Acres was the first mall in the world to contain Sears, JCPenney, and Montgomery Ward. Directly across from the aquarium was "Pizza Star" which I remember for having wild black and white pop art graphic wallpaper, and FM rock radio playing as diners ate pizza on the molded red formica booths. Also located near here was the "Rivet" store, which was a jeans chain owned by the O'Neils / May department store chain, and positioned as an alternative to The Gap. Jeans stores were the order of the day amongst my high school peers, with The Gap, County Seat, Bottom Half, Jeans West, and Rivet all maintaining a presence at Rolling Acres.
Perhaps the biggest step in the evolution of the center was the 1978 opening of O'Neil's and the "Promenade Level", including the "Prom-N-Eat" food court, the first mall food court in Akron. Due to the sloping topography of the mall site, Rolling Acres is a single level on the northern end, and multi-level at the south. The new lower level consisted of lots of mirrored-glass surfaces in the escalator wells, on vertical supports, and the front of O'Neil's. What was to be the yellow bubble elevator was all chrome and glass by the time this phase of the center opened.
A central feature by the escalators in the court in front of JCP was a strange towering stainless-and-plexiglass fountain with little holes drilled into the bottom of plexiglass troughs for the water to cascade down to succeeding levels of clear plexiglass troughs, and eventually to the pool at the base. Coins used to get thrown into the plexiglass troughs, clogging up the holes. This created a maintenance task, causing the fountain to be under repair often, and eventually the whole thing was removed, only to be replaced by a bland fountain spout not unlike what you'd find in a garden pond kit today.
A three-screen cinema opened on the lower level near O'Neil's at this time, and a sign by the big windows on the upper level at the end of the concourse opposite JCP promised a "fifth great department store" coming soon to this part of the mall.
Sometime around 1985 it was announced that Montgomery Ward would be closing, but would be replaced by Higbee's, which eventually became Dillard's. Around this time, the giant aquarium was removed (probably another maintenance headache), and a remerchandising effort took place, especially in the concourse leading to the new Higbee's, consisting of several new stores like Limited Express, many of which were "bumped out" into the mall to be more visually arresting. Does anyone remember how Au Coton and even the trendy Italian chain Bennetton made appearances at Rolling Acres, however brief?
Much of the mall's 1970's essence and personality was lost at this time though, as the earth tones were tossed out in favor of a coat of what appeared to be pale pink. The sun god logo gave way to a blooming flower, and teal and purple appeared in the mall's graphic materials at this time as well. I guess the "Miami Vice" fashion of the day influenced those in charge of the makeover. The orange tiles in the main fountain stayed though; it would probably have been too expensive to replace them. Sadly, the zoo animal parking-lot indicator signs were replaced by generic A-Z letter designations. Prom-N-Eat gave way to Picnic Place with a vaguely Victorian tile and brass trim look that seemed out of place amidst all the '70's era architecture of the center. Cargo Express, which was kind of a low-end version of Crate & Barrel was very popular across from the food court at this time.
The late 80's and early 90's saw many changes in the American retail landscape. Many chains consolidated or went out of business. The huge, recently redone Merry-Go-Round store closed at this time as the chain liquidated. Chess King, County Seat, Petrie's and many other entire chains went out of business at this time, and this led to a lot of closings at Rolling Acres.
It seems hard to believe, but it was as recently as 1995 that Target opened in a new extension of the mall's lower level west of the food court. It seemed kind of odd at the time to have a discount store in the mall, but this somewhat fulfilled that "5th great department store" promise from long ago. There were a few other bright spots for the mall at this time, namely a short-lived Sbarro's in the former Friendly's location, Bath And Body Works, Victoria's Secret, and an expansive, glassy new Lane Bryant came in as well.
JCPenney eventually became the JCPenney catalog outlet store. This, and Target became my only motivation for ever going there.
Probably the beginning of the end for Rolling Acres was the multi-million dollar 1997 renovation of nearby Summit Mall. This mall, although much smaller than Rolling Acres, is in the booming Fairlawn / Montrose area, a much more desirable location demographically speaking than Rolling Acres which is surrounded by blue-collar Barberton, Norton, and low-rent neighborhoods of Akron. Summit was acquired by Simon, which removed the mall's ugly brown carpeting, put in an abundance of skylights, created a food court, and brought in upscale shops like Williams-Sonoma, Banana Republic, and Starbucks. The turnaround at Summit has been a smashing success, as witnessed by its near 100 percent occupancy and steady throngs of shoppers.
Rolling Acres' ownership changed twice since about 2000. The first sale saw the mall's original owners relinquish the property to the mortgage holder, Bankers Trust, who in turn took a hit north of 20 million dollars in selling to the current owners. Bankers Trust brought in a management company to reposition the property for sale, but this basically consisted of another new logo, slogan, and a coat of white paint outside the main entrance. The current owners have been content to let the property decline further as they seek to resell for a profit on their investment.
In February, 2006 Target relocated to a new store in a strip center seven miles west in Wadsworth. The inline stores are virtually all gone, and the mall has a deserted, eerily quiet vibe to it, with the cheesy canned music seeming louder than ever with the crowds long gone and fountains shut off. It gives me the creeps to walk through this empty place today, remembering what it once was.
Rolling Acres initially succeeded because it was the newest, biggest, and brightest place in town. And department stores with small shops were the only game in town. Apparel offerings at the discount stores were obviously second-rate at the time, nothing like the Targets and Old Navys of today. There was no TJ Maxx, no Outlet Centers, no Gabriel's or other off-price stores offering mainstream goods at lower prices. The mall was where everybody went. In retrospect, there was probably only room for one major center on the West side of Akron. Rolling Acres sits on a huge site compared to the land-locked Summit, and was at its peak while Summit was being neglected. Now with Summit apparently flourishing, Rolling Acres continues its long decline. Now that the Target traffic is gone, how long will the remaining anchors stay? With all Kaufmann's set to become Macy's, it would not be surprising to see Macy's pull the plug before putting the new name on that store. Dillard's is now a sparsely-stocked "Clearance Center", and the crowds are getting thin at Sears and the JCPenney Outlet.
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