Opening soon, Mall of India will be Naperville's first indoor mall
Naperville's first indoor shopping mall is coming soon.
Mall of India at 776 S. Route 59 aims to be a convenient destination offering groceries, kids activities, a food court and a wide range of shops. Some of the first businesses are set to open by the end of the month, with more to follow in August and September, co-owner Vinoz Chanamolu said.
The first phase of stores includes an INDIACO grocery store, Best Brains learning center, Sweet Night mattress store, StemShala robotics center and Confidentlee kids personal development center, as well as a dance and martial arts studio and a business lounge.
Next up, four of an eventual eight restaurants in the food court are set to open in August, including The Port of Peri Peri, Wraps N More, Hyderabad House and a yet-to-be-named Gujarati restaurant.
Chanamolu said he and co-owner Anil Sunkara are looking forward to offering lifestyle, fashion, food and entertainment amenities all in one place. The idea is that shoppers can bring their kids to one of the activity centers, such as dance or robotics, while they get their grocery shopping done or buy gifts or necessities. Then, the family can reconvene for a meal or quick snack at the food court.
“This is a unique experience to have,” Chanamolu said. “Everything is under one roof.”
Construction on the Mall of India has been under way since January 2019. Crews have turned a former Walmart that sat vacant for five years into spaces for roughly 25 separate shops as well as the food court.
Led by Purohit Architects in Schaumburg, workers gutted the 116,000-square-foot Walmart and revived it into what Chanamolu said is the first indoor mall in Naperville.
Fox Valley Mall is right across the Route 59 border in Aurora, and the Super H Mart on the city's north side has a bit of a food court or plaza inside the facility. But Christine Jeffries, president and CEO of the Naperville Development Partnership, said the Mall of India will be Naperville's first true shopping mall with a wide variety of small shops under one roof.
“It's row upon row of different businesses and stores,” Jeffries said, praising the design as “really well done” with a “great layout.”
“It's going to be a great gathering place for families. I think it'll be very popular,” she said.
Mall of India owners are in the process of seeking a liquor license for a bar they plan to open in the food court. Other eventual food court tenants are expected to include a south Indian vegetarian restaurant, an Indochinese restaurant, a Greek restaurant, a coffee and tea shop with 100 varieties of drinks and a fresh juice and ice cream stall.
Also set to join the mall beginning around September are a meat shop, jewelry store, spa and beauty parlor, cricket simulator, clothing stores, electronics store, gift shop, flower shop, wedding decor shop, candy store, attorney's offices, a travel agency, an insurance agency and an adult day care facility.
A third phase of the mall planned for next year is expected to build a 20,000-square-foot children's day care center complete with a swimming pool. Chanamolu said day cares with pools are a rarity across the region, with the only other one he knows of located in Schaumburg and always in high demand.