Rolling Acres

Rolling Acres is a former shopping district in Akron, Ohio, surrounding the now-demolished Rolling Acres Mall. Planning for the area began in 1960s with Forest City Enterprises, a Cleveland real estate company and the powerful Buchholzer family, whose previous endeavors involved financing much of the Chapel Hill Mall area. Despite warnings by civic leaders and former Mayor Edward O. Erickson that the addition of a third mall in the Akron area would harm downtown department stores, the Rolling Acres area was born with Rolling Acres Mall serving as its anchor. Pulling from a diverse population of blue collar workers in Barberton, Ohio and Kenmore, and inner city neighborhoods such as West Akron and Lane-Wooster, the Rolling Acres shopping district blossomed. At its peak it was the most visited mall in Northeast Ohio. Today, Rolling Acres stands as a skeleton of what it once was, mirroring many other parts of the Midwest that have suffered from stagnant economic conditions, saturated markets, and unprofitable foot traffic.

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