Boardman Plaza

History

The Boardman Plaza, is a super-regional strip mall on Route 224, in Boardman Ohio. The center origanally opened in the mid-1950s, with Kroger, Grey Drug, Montgomery Ward, and Boardman Plaza Theater. It was fame shopping mall developer Edward J. DeBartolo's first shopping center. Through the 1980s, the shopping center picked up a Hills Department Store, and Children's Palace. Around the same time, lighting struck the Stambaugh's Hardware store (Current Save-A-Lot) and set the plaza ablaze. About 6 store spaces had fire and smoke damage. Following the fire, the plaza had a major renovation. By the 1990s, the plaza had retailers like Burlington Coat Factory, Linens-N-Things, Stein Mart, DEB Shops, and 5-7-9. And in 1996, when DeBartolo merged with Simon Property Group, the ownership turned over to Simon. Montgomery Ward closed sometime in 2000, to be replaced by Burlington, relocating from across the street. Hills, which had turned to Ames, closed in 2002, following bankruptcy. Hobby Lobby opened in its place a year later, along with Verizon Wireless. Linens-N-Things closed in 2008, along with DEB Shops. Simon sold the property a year later. As a new decade was rushed in, the plaza began to have a shift, from high quality goods, to a more discount oriented customer base, with the opening of Ollie's Bargain Outlet, in the former Linens-N-Things. The center lost Hobby Lobby, in the same year. In September 2018, the center was sold again, to a firm out of Maryland. In Spring of 2019, Ace Hardware opened a store, situated next to the former Burlington. In August 2019, Avenue closed their location due to bankruptcy. In 2022, Roses Discount opened in the long abandoned Burlington space.