Brementowne Mall, Tinley Park, Illinois. (1973-1999)

Brementowne Mall, 159th Street and Oak Park Avenue, Tinley Park, Illinois, was a two-anchor shopping mall in Tinley Park, Illinois. It opened on November 15, 1973. The mall was named after the Bremen Township, settled by German immigrants in the 1800s.

Arial View of the Brementowne Mall, Tinley Park, Illinois

Brementowne Mall's two anchors were Gately's Peoples Store and Essaness Bremen 1&2 Theaters, which opened on January 29, 1971, with 1,023 seats.

Gately's was a southside department store with its main store on Michigan Avenue in Chicago's Roseland neighborhood. The mall's east end was anchored by Dominick's Finer Foods, Walgreen and the Essaness Bremen 1&2 Theaters, the first name of the movie theater. The Brementown Theaters expanded to three screens and showed first-run movies. The theaters were subdivided and became second-run theaters sometime in the eighties.

In addition to the two anchors, the mall had several specialty stores, including a bowling alley, a roller skating rink, and several restaurants. The mall was also home to several community events, such as concerts, festivals, and holiday celebrations.

An outlot directly at the corner of 159th Street and Oak Park was a Golden Bear restaurant, later Brown's Chicken and Pasta. 

Gately's never remodeled, and its stock was severely dated. Gately's Peoples Store closed in 1987.

By the early nineties, the only stores that survived were ones that had outside access. Stores began to close and were not replaced.

The entire mall was remodeled into Menard's around 1994. A long corridor remained from the north parking lot running next to the former Dominick's space to provide access to the theaters and arcade. The Gately's building was sold to the Star chain of suburban newspapers and became their main office. The former Golden Bear restaurant, a banquet hall in later life, was demolished.

The theaters, the only indoor theaters in Tinley Park, remained open until 2003 when they were sold to Menard's for an expansion of their store.

The final store closed in 1999, and the mall was demolished in 2001. Menards closed the mall in 2003 and demolished it in 2004. The mall site is now occupied by a Menards home improvement superstore.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Algonquin Commons, Algonquin, Illinois. (2004─)

Algonquin Commons is an outdoor shopping mall in Algonquin, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago. It was built in 2004 and is the largest outdoor mall in Illinois. The mall has over 80 stores, including JCPenney, Barnes & Noble, and Best Buy. There are also several restaurants and a movie theater at the mall.

The history of Algonquin Commons can be traced back to the early 1990s when the village of Algonquin began to develop the area along Randall Road. In 1993, the first development phase was completed, which included the construction of a new library, a fire station, and several retail stores.

In 1999, the village approved plans for the construction of Algonquin Commons. The mall was built by Jeffrey R. Anderson, the same developer who built the Geneva Commons, which is located in Geneva, Illinois. In 2002, the village approved a development plan for the Algonquin Commons. Construction began the following year. 

The mall opened in 2004 and was an immediate success.

In 2013, the Algonquin Commons was foreclosed on by U.S. Bank after the previous owner, Inland Properties, defaulted on its loans. The mall was then purchased by McKinley, a real estate investment trust. McKinley has since invested millions of dollars in the mall, including a major renovation in 2017.

Algonquin Commons is also popular for events and festivals, such as the annual Algonquin Commons Summer Concert Series.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.