Growing up on the west side of Columbus, I was no stranger to Westland Mall. I got my ears pierced there (for the first time, what can I say? I was an irresponsible child) and I celebrated a birthday or two at Chi-Chi’s.
But it’s fallen far from its heyday.
The mall originally opened in February 1969 as an open-air shopping center and featured the first suburban operation for The Lazarus chain. In the late 70s, the mall was even home to the groundbreaking teenage variety show, America Goes Bananaz on QUBE, the predecessor to Nickelodeon.
By the late 1990s, most of the stores that had drawn crowds had left Westland Mall, some headed to Tuttle Mall in Dublin, which opened in 1997.
Now, the mall is a shadow of what it used to be. Youtube channel The Chronicles Of Quacioua, who’s always up to exploring abandoned shopping centers, explored the mall and its empty halls.
In April 2019, LGR Weston bought the final portion of the 88-acre mall site. With their sister company, Plaza Properties, LGR hopes to transform the abandoned mall into a mixed-use development.
No official plans have been released.
