Westgate Square Shopping Center (Racine, Wisconsin)

Westgate Square Shopping Center
General information
Type	Shopping center
Location	4801-4915 Washington Avenue Racine, Wisconsin
Construction started	1979
Opening	November 5, 1979

Westgate Square Shopping Center is a shopping center located at the southwest corner of Washington Avenue and Ohio Street in Racine, Wisconsin. Opened in 1979, the shopping center was formerly known as Westgate Mall Shopping Center until 2005, and is built on the former site of the Westgate Outdoor Theatre. The center's primary anchor was Shopko #27 from its opening until the chain's bankruptcy in 2019. The secondary anchor space was occupied by a Randall's County Market supermarket from 1981 to 2001, and was split into smaller retail spaces after the store closed.

History

Opening

Westgate Outdoor Theatre and Turn Style Family Center that once occupied the site of Westgate Mall Shopping Center, shown in 1966.

The site of Westgate Mall Shopping Center was first commercially developed in 1948, when construction on the Racine Outdoor Theatre, later renamed the Westgate Outdoor Theatre, began. The theater's owner, Spiro J. Papas, moved into the retail business in 1961 when he announced plans to build a discount department store north of the theater and facing Washington Avenue. The store building became home to Jewel Tea Company's first Turn Style Family Center outside of Massachusetts, which opened in 1962. After Westgate Cinema opened across the street in 1968, the outdoor theater's popularity declined.

Westgate Outdoor Theater ended the 1978 season without fanfare on September 18. After Jewel shut down all Turn Style stores that year, the Racine store was one of three that was not subleased to The May Department Stores Company to become a Venture store. Instead, ShopKo became interested in the location. In November, ShopKo announced that it was planning to renovate and expand the Turn Style building. However, by February 1979, the company instead proposed tearing down both the store and the theater to build a new shopping center. The theater was demolished in May 1979, shortly after the thirtieth anniversary of its opening.

The general contractor on the shopping center's construction was Tonn & Blank of Michigan City, Indiana. On September 8, 1979, a flatbed truck owned by James Cape and Sons stolen from the construction site was found being driven by a 15-year-old with no driver's license. The center's primary anchor and first tenant, Shopko store #27, opened on November 5, 1979, before the rest of the L-shaped building had been constructed. On January 30, 1980, Randall's Foods announced plans to build a 40,000-square-foot Randall's County Market supermarket at the mall, which would become Racine's largest grocery store. On May 29, around the time that construction on the addition began, surveying equipment owned by Tonn & Blank valued at $1,600 was reported stolen from the construction site.

The first store to open in the new addition was Fashion Plus, a women's specialty store which opened on July 28, 1980. Racine's third Radio Shack store opened at the center on September 5. The center's parking lot hosted the "$7 million car sale" during the weekend of September 25-27, 1980, in which seven local car dealers joined together to sell over 500 cars.The dealers successfully sold the majority of their collective inventory during the three-day sale.

Shari's Card Shop, part of the Cherkinian's Card Shops chain, opened at the center in late October 1980. The Gamut, a variety store selling sporting goods, school and office supplies, and arts and crafts, opened November 10. Sound & Video Warehouse, an audiovisual equipment store, opened November 28. Lamberton's, a local women's apparel chain, moved one of its locations from the Western Village Shopping Center to Westgate Mall after the Western Village lease ended on February 28, 1981. The store opened at Westgate on March 3. The first Sweet Temptations candy and ice cream store also opened at the center in March. Pants Towne, a jeans store located at 424 Main Street in downtown Racine, moved at the end of March 1981 to Westgate Mall, doubling the store's floor space.

The Randall's County Market supermarket had been hoped to open as early as December 12, 1980, but changes in the construction plans delayed the store's opening until the following spring. The store opened on March 25, 1981. In addition to being Racine's largest supermarket, it was the city's first grocery store to introduce UPC barcode scanners.

1980s

Business owners at the shopping center formed the Westgate Mall Merchants' Association in July 1981. That month, Scene II moved to the center from 520 Monument Square in downtown Racine. A Gloria Marshall Figure Salon opened in September. In October, Billings Pianos and Organs moved to Westgate from Badger Plaza. West Wind Book Store moved to Westgate from Western Village Shopping Center in July 1982.

On August 9, 1982, a Racine resident fell and suffered serious injuries at the entrance to the Sweet Temptations candy store. The victim filed a lawsuit against the center and the store in January 1985, alleging that the store's entrance was dangerously elevated. Pants Towne closed in November 1982 after filing for bankruptcy. Fashion Plus closed in January 1983 after a similar bankruptcy proceeding. Lamberton's closed shortly after on January 29.

Two Westgate stores, The Gamut and Scene II, closed in June 1983. Wisconsin's second Fashion Bug location opened on March 29, 1984, in the space formerly occupied by Lamberton's. West Wind Book Store closed in October 1985. Billings Keyboard Center of Racine closed on September 30, 1992.

An interior view of the mall in 1986, taken by Chuck D'Acquisto of the Racine Journal Times, shows Payless ShoeSource and Fashionation.

In 1986, 19 of Westgate's 24 retail spaces were occupied. The shopping center's tenants at that time were noticeably trending toward small specialty stores. That year saw the openings of Wicker Warehouse & Jewelry in May, Silky and Sassy Lingerie and The Socks Factory in September, Living Well Lady Fitness Center in October, and Old Country Buffet in December. In February 1987, Sophisticated Lady Figure Salon replaced the former Gloria Marshall Figure Salon.

Fashion Bug moved out of Westgate and into the nearby Racine Centre development in 1989.

2000s

Randall's County Market closed in March 2001, with the expiration of its twenty-year lease. A spokesperson for Supervalu said that the store closed primarily because there was too much competition in the Racine grocery market. The closure of the supermarket was part of a larger trend that vacated most of the shopping center, leading Westgate's owners to initiate a redevelopment plan to revitalize the location.

In May 2004, an Always 99 Cents store opened in most of the former Randall's County Market space, creating an unusually large 32,000-square-foot dollar store with an expansive selection of groceries. The remainder of the Randall's space became home to a Perkins Restaurant and Bakery and Main Moon II facing Washington Avenue and a ShapeXpress women's exercise club to the south later in 2004. The Always 99 Cents store was first announced in August 2002 and had originally been planned to open by the end of October 2002. While the store was expected to present tough competition to the city's dollar store market, sales faltered after the first few months and the chain entered bankruptcy proceedings in December 2004. While the chain tried to save the Westgate store above its other three locations, and revenues did increase during the holiday season, the store went out of business by the end of the year.

Main Moon II opened on February 12, 2005, and Perkins followed on March 7.

Westgate Mall Shopping Center was officially renamed Westgate Square Shopping Center in 2005. While the Westgate Square name appears on the center's signage,

2010s

In March 2011, Careers Industries, a local organization employing people with developmental disabilities, announced that it would purchase the southwest corner of the building for $1.3 million and move its facilities there from 3502 Douglas Avenue. The 55,000-square-foot segment of the shopping center had contained a small enclosed mall which by 2011 had been vacant for several years, and the owners of Westgate were reportedly "elated" to bring "momentum" to the suffering shopping center. The move was described by the Racine Journal Times as a "creative" form of adaptive reuse. Careers Industries opened its new facility on December 19, 2011. Greater Grain Gluten-Free Goods, a shop selling gluten-free foods, opened inside the facility on March 1, 2012 as a training ground for disabled employees learning career skills.

The Old Country Buffet restaurant, alongside 45 other locations in the chain, closed abruptly and unexpectedly after a normal day of business on January 18, 2012. The closures were announced the following day as part of a bankruptcy action by the chain.

Perkins Restaurant and Bakery closed on September 22, 2013, after a pattern of poor sales reportedly resulting from poor visibility, despite the restaurant's location along Washington Avenue. Scores Sports Bar & Grill, a restaurant previously located at 6100 Washington Avenue, moved into the former Perkins space in October 2014.

After filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Shopko announced in February 2019 that it would close its Westgate store. The store closed on May 19.

Tenants

Current tenants

• North Shore Bank, opened as Southeastern Savings Bank September 29, 1980, renamed at the end of 1983
• Main Moon II, opened February 12, 2005
• Scores Sports Bar & Grill, opened October 2014
• The Salvation Army Family Store & Donation Center
• Security Finance
• CSL Plasma
• Service First Staffing
• Careers Industries, opened December 19, 2011
• CALINAILS

Former tenants

• Shopko #27, opened November 5, 1979, closed May 19, 2019
• Fashion Plus, opened July 28, 1980, closed January 9, 1983
• Radio Shack, opened September 5, 1980, closed unknown
• Shari's Card Shop, opened late October 1980, closed around 1983
• The Gamut, opened November 10, 1980, closed late June 1983
• Sound & Video Warehouse, opened November 28, 1980
• Payless ShoeSource, opened 1981, closed unknown
• Lamberton's, opened March 3, 1981, closed January 29, 1983
• Randall's County Market, opened March 25, 1981, closed March 2001
• Sweet Temptations, opened mid-March 1981, closed unknown
• Pants Towne, opened April 1981, closed November 30, 1982
• Scene II, opened July 1981, closed June 26, 1983
• Gloria Marshall Figure Salon, opened September 1981, closed between 1984 and 1987
• Billings Pianos and Organs, later known as Billings Keyboard Center, opened October 15, 1981, closed September 30, 1992
• West Wind Book Store, opened July 1982, closed October 1985
• Fashion Bug, opened March 29, 1984, closed 1989
• Wicker Warehouse & Jewelry, opened May 1986
• Silky and Sassy Lingerie, opened September 1986
• The Socks Factory, opened September 1986
• Living Well Lady Fitness Center, opened October 1986
• Old Country Buffet, opened mid-December 1986, closed January 18, 2012
• Sophisticated Lady Figure Salon, opened February 1987
• Mimi's Hallmark
• Diane/Maries
• Computer Paradise
• Fashionation
• Gingiss Formalwear
• Hair Surgeon Designers
• Sweats 'n Socks
• Jalensky's Sports Headquarters
• A B Gifts & Jewelry
• Sally Beauty Supply
• The Book Rack
• Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicles
• Stretch & Sew Fabrics
• One Price Clothing
• Sunshine Sandwich & Sweet Shop
• Color Copy Cats
• United States Armed Forces Recruiting
• Imaginations by J D Salon & Boutique
• Carpet Clearance Center
• Always 99 Cents, opened May 2004, closed December 2004
• Perkins Restaurant and Bakery, opened March 7, 2005, closed September 22, 2013