Last Chance to Own a Piece of Lakeforest Mall: Auction Ends Tomorrow, New Items Just Added

Time is running out to own a piece of Lakeforest Mall history. The Capital Online Auction that features over 1,000 items from inside of the mall, including fixtures from stores, decorative pieces, holiday displays, and a Chevy Silverado, will close on Thursday, July 6. According to Capital Auctions, interested parties will be able to preview the items today (Wednesday, July 5th) from 10am-4:30pm. Several new items were added to the auction this past week, including a wishing well, concrete benches, and pay phones.
See Also: 11 of the Strangest/Coolest Items Available For Sale at Lakeforest Mall Auction

Lakeforest Mall closed permanently to the public on March 31st, after almost 45 years. The mall first opened on September 12, 1978. At that time, the mall’s anchor stores were JCPenney, Sears, Woodward & Lothrop, and Hecht’s. The mall was one of the first in the United States to feature an indoor ice skating rink on the lower level, in the “H section”, along with being the biggest indoor shopping mall in the county at the time of grand opening. The ice skating rink was replaced by a NTI Theaters movie theater in 1984, later renamed Cineplex Odeon Lakeforest 5, then by a food court, which now occupies the space. The mall was built on top of Lake Walker, a park on the property prior. The mall opened with approximately 30-50 stores, with some of the first stores being relocated from the then nearby indoor Village Mall (now an outdoor strip mall called Montgomery Village Center since 1991) and absorbed onto the property.