Great Lakes Crossing Outlets - Great Lakes Crossing

Great Lakes Crossing Outlets is an enclosed shopping mall, super-regional in size, located in the city of Auburn Hills, a suburb on the northern outskirts of metro Detroit, Michigan, United States. Developed and owned by Taubman Centers, Great Lakes Crossing Outlets features 185 manufacturer's outlets, traditional retail stores and restaurants, a 1,000-seat food court, and a 25-screen AMC Star movie theater. Anchor stores of the mall include Burlington Coat Factory, Bass Pro Shops, The Children's Place Outlet, Neiman Marcus Last Call Clearance Center, Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th, and The Sports Authority. Great Lakes Crossing Outlets is also home to LEGOLAND® Discovery Center Michigan and SEA LIFE Michigan Aquarium.

HistoryEdit

In the 1990s, Taubman Centers presented plans for an outlet dubbed Great Lakes Crossing, similar in design to a previously proposed Auburn Mills mall, but with a design that proved to be less intrusive on adjacent wetlands.

The mall, with a design scheme based on Michigan's outdoors, opened on November 12, 1998 with over 200 stores laid out in a mile-long oval racetrack layout. Several retailers opened their first Michigan locations in the mall, including Bass Pro Shops, GameWorks, Neiman Marcus Last Call Clearance Center, and Rainforest Cafe, as well as the first mall-based location for discount sportswear chain Steve & Barry's. It also included a J. C. Penney outlet store.

H&M occupies 25 percent of the former J.C. Penney Outlet space since opening in June 2007. The remainder of the J.C. Penney space featured a 22,000+ square foot, 650-seat Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill until November 2015. Sportmart was acquired by Sports Authority and renamed; and Steve & Barry's closed in 2007 and was replaced by Urban Behavior which would later be replaced by an expanded Forever 21 store. A Coach Factory Outlet and a BCBG Max Azria store opened in the last quarter of 2009. On March 29, 2010, GameWorks closed due to company restructuring. Four years later, the space underwent conversion to SEA LIFE Michigan Aquarium.

On September 27, 2010, the mall name changed to Great Lakes Crossing Outlets. The re-grand opening celebration was October 14, 2010. At the same time, several new outlet stores announced their entry into the mall. The new stores include Lord & Taylor Outlet, HUGO BOSS Factory Store, Talbots Outlet, and Movado Company Store all being the first in Michigan. Other new stores include Polo Ralph Lauren Factory Store, Wilsons Leather Outlet and aerie outlet by American Eagle. Also announced was that Art Van Furniture, Michigan's largest furniture chain would be opening its first mall location.

In January 2015, Great Lakes Crossing Outlets introduced SEA LIFE Michigan Aquarium by Merlin Entertainments. It is one of only two aquariums in Southeast Michigan. LEGOLAND® Discovery Center Michigan opened adjacent to the food court in March 2016. The Sports Authority closed its store in August 2016 due to the chain's Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

See alsoEdit

• Auburn Hills, Michigan
• Metro Detroit
• Tourism in metropolitan Detroit

ReferencesEdit

External linksEdit

• Great Lakes Crossing Outlets Official Site