‘Like losing a friend’: Shoppers say goodbye to Stratford Square Mall on final day

The stores were dark and shuttered Sunday at Stratford Square Mall in Bloomingdale, but that didn’t matter to visitors who wandered the corridors and rode the escalators one last time before the long-struggling shopping center closed for good

Instead of leaving with shopping bags and packages, they arrived with memories of the 1.3 million-square-foot center’s better days.

Liz Jaffe of Schaumburg had been shopping at the mall since it opened in 1981. More recently, she’s been visiting to mall walk.

“The pandemic was kind of a fatal blow to a lot of these mid-sized centers,” she said.

Michelle Legge of Gilberts was there Sunday with her three daughters, who stopped to toss coins in the wishing well.

“I grew up here,” said Legge, who was raised in Carol Stream and whose mom worked at the mall’s Kohl’s store. She remembers the days when Stratford Square on a Sunday was crowded like Woodfield.

“Now, they’re all shopping on Amazon,” she said.

Carol McGoldrick, who now resides in Aurora but for many years lived in Carol Stream, stopped by Sunday with daughter Kelly McGoldrick and Boston terriers Larry and Delilah.

“It’s kind of like losing a friend,” said Kelly, who has fond memories of dining at Carlos Sweeney’s, buying her prom dress at JCPenney and purchasing clothing for her first real job at Kohl’s.

Jackie and Derick Loafmann of Woodridge brought twin 3-year-old daughters Quinn and Eliza, who spent time riding the escalators in the empty mall.

Jackie said she worked at the mall’s Montgomery Ward and San Francisco Music Box Company. She also remembers a family holiday tradition that involved eating at the Carlos Sweeney’s restaurant before heading home to decorate the tree.

Nowadays she does a lot of her shopping online.

“I haven’t been here in so long,” she said Sunday. “I’m part of the problem.”

Tired of the lack of activity at the mall in recent years, the village of Bloomingdale began buying its vacant anchor stores. Then, earlier this year, the village purchased the core of the mall in an $8.75 million deal.

Officials now hope to redevelop the 275-acre property with restaurants, entertainment venues, retail outlets, housing and pedestrian-friendly green spaces. The village is working with an architect to develop a plan and officials say they will incorporate community feedback in their decisions.