Parmatown was part of a national trend that emerged in the 1950s sparked by the father of shopping malls, Victor Gruen. Originally, like many malls of that time, Parmatown once looked more like it looks today as the new Shoppes at Parma before it became enclosed in 1965. In fact, there is actually a statue that has managed to remain outside of the Shoppes of Parma to this very day that dates to Parmatown's opening, which is the statue of a seal. While there are still remnants of the old Parmatown such as the seal statue, a lot has changed throughout the years, specifically its iconicism as a place where everyone used to want to be and the pinnacle of a town's consumerism. 

Parmatown featured a wide array of stores to shop from throughout its years, including department stores such as May Co. and Higbee's, many shops for dress clothes or casual clothes depending on the time period, restaurants, one of which, Antonio's Pizza, can be seen to this very day, and entertainment ranging from Aladdin's Arcade to a movie theatre. This enclosed community allowed people of all ages and primarily those of younger age to experience a sense of wonder and excitement that they couldn't have found anywhere else, a home away from home. For many of us, shopping malls are places with a wealth of childhood memories, and one of the first places that one gets to experience independence away from one's parents. The welcoming warmth of the shopping mall helped to shape the image of what it meant to be American during a time when consumer culture portrayed somewhat of an idealized romance regarding shopping malls and the indulgences they offered.

Closely mirroring the broader history of malls, Parmatown was, like most malls, an experience, one that was a cornerstone of Parma culture for generations. Longtime Parma resident Jane Kovach recalls, "It used to be a big deal to go to the mall. One wouldn't just wear jeans and shirt; people wanted to show respect to each other by dressing decently–no jeans and a t-shirt." Despite the informality many younger people may associate with suburban malls, Kovach's memory is a reminder that in their early days, malls shared a lot with downtown shopping, where people also tended to dress up in their finer clothes.

Officially opening in 1956, Parmatown was not originally like the mall that stood for generations. Instead it was an open-air shopping plaza like the kind we have today in Parmatown's old location of what is now the Shoppes at Parma. It was not until 1965 that the mall was enclosed, taking the form that most people would associate with a mall. Parmatown would have many attractions throughout its years as a mall, both inside and out, including the annual Rib N Rock, an arcade, Easter events with live animals, and more. Parmatown's influence extended far and wide, not least through its promotion in advertisements throughout Cleveland newspapers. 

During Parmatown's time before becoming the Shoppes at Parma, it underwent three expansions: first in 1965 as an enclosed mall, second in 1966 adding a Higbee's with a second floor and a fully enclosed west wing, and third in 1979 to add a new south wing, a food court, and a second floor for J.C.Penney. All of the expansions highlight the growing popularity of the mall phenomenon. Despite its success as an enclosed mall for almost fifty years, however, on January 4, 2012, the first sign of Parmatown's downfall appeared with the closing of Macy's. Shocking everyone, Macy's would lay off its 127 employees that spring. Due to underperformance of the store, Macy's decided it was best to focus on the higher performing stores rather than keep underperforming ones like that of Parmatown barely afloat. The lost jobs were those which were not unionized, but more importantly they were all jobs that once thrived for decades, highlighting the warning signs of a changing economy. At this point, Parmatown representatives announced plans to keep the mall open and try out new stores, which indicates that amid the economic hardship, mall representatives were likely told to keep quiet regarding the mall's failing state in order to see just how much longer the mall could keep generating revenue before its closing would be declared.

Finally, it was announced in 2013 that Parmatown mall would be closing and the owner would be given a 30-year tax break in order to help finance a renovation where the mall would be taken back to a state closely resembling its original form until it was enclosed in 1965. The agreement was that Phillips Edison & Co. would use one-hundred percent of new property taxes generated at the mall on infrastructure improvements and demolitions. By 2015, the Shoppes at Parma were almost fully built, and as of 2019 the center appeared to be thriving from an outsider's perspective, with businesses all around where the entrance to Parmatown once was, now providing an open-air concept just like Parmatown before it was enclosed mall in 1965. It appears as if the mall got its third chance at life.

Although Parmatown surely experienced a surge of new competition when SouthPark Mall opened in Strongsville in 1996, Parmatown’s demise primarily stems from the rise of the internet, with people being able to access billions of products that may fit a particular need better than what a store can fulfill at any given moment, all at a cheaper price. The impact of massive companies like Amazon or Walmart taking over the retailing industry was ultimately too much for Parmatown. Historian Vicki Howard, author of From Main Street to Mall, argues that "traditional department stores no longer had a powerful trade voice as they had earlier in the twentieth century, when presidents sent messages to their annual conventions or appointed merchants to head important wartime agencies or consult on national policy." Eventually, certain companies started to reign supreme in the fight for market share, and have since made it harder for traditional department stores to remain in business. A perfect example of this phenomenon occurring at Parmatown, along with many other malls, was when when Walmart took over the old the Dillard's in 2004 and remains in the same building until this very day. 

Parmatown was a victim of a changing economy, one in which online competition outshines brick-and-mortar retailers of all sizes, and only the strongest survive. Pairing the changing economy with little innovation in terms of trends, Parmatown was eventually forced to close and move to an open-air model reminiscent of it had been prior to 1965. While the Shoppes at Parma is not technically considered a mall, it still has mall-like inflections with tens of stores along a massive strip. The mall-like inflections, however, are limited. They foster little sense of community, as the plaza model no longer forces people to shop in one massive building, instead granting them the ability to move only between their car and a particular store. Despite the tradeoffs, hopefully the plaza model will sustain the revival of the Shoppes for many years to come.

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On August 11, 1976, the Randall Park Mall opened its doors in the village of North Randall, Ohio. Built upon the site of the former Randall Park Race Track, this shopping complex embodied the essence of modernity and class with its unique marble flooring and distinctively structured interior. Randall Park Mall was originally constructed as a shopping center with over 200 stores on two levels. It contained more than two million square feet of space and eventually included five department stores. This immense center in North Randall was to become a “super city” in which individuals could not only shop but conduct their business and living affairs as well. Commissioned by the (Edward J.) DeBartolo Corporation, this expansive shopping center was intended to change the very structure of the greater community in which it was placed.

The man behind the massive undertaking to build Randall Park Mall was Edward J. DeBartolo, Sr. (1909-1994) of Youngstown, Ohio. Capitalizing upon the desire of 1960s American families for a quieter life away from the bustle of the big city, DeBartolo undertook projects to develop residential communities in which families could not only live, but also work and conduct their personal business as well. Through his building of massive shopping complexes all over the country, DeBartolo bolstered his economic legacy as one of Forbes’ wealthiest individuals in the United States in the mid-1970s, and shortly before his death was estimated to be worth roughly $850 million. Influenced by the famed mall architect Victor Gruen, DeBartolo based much of his designs off of original Gruen models, showcasing two-level shopping centers. Much like Gruen, DeBartolo also desired to build his shopping centers into larger cities, providing an area for consumers to conduct business, pursue recreation and even live. Edward J. DeBartolo Sr. was succeeded by his son, Edward J. DeBartolo Jr. in his business endeavors after his death in late 1994, and today, DeBartolo Holdings has moved away from the construction of public shopping spaces to pursue more private endeavors.

After three years of construction and periodic halts (including lawsuits and legal injunctions from the community) to the progress of construction, Randall Park Mall was finally ready to open its doors for business in the summer of 1976. Randall Park Mall’s grand opening was received with fanfare and jubilee as patrons and community members explored the expansive center’s endless options for shopping and enjoyed what, at the time, bore more resemblance to the grandiose manor of a famous Hollywood actor than a shopping mall. As one journalist reported, “It was more like Cedar Point than a shopping center. The thousands of Greater Clevelanders who poured through Randall Park Mall on its opening day were in a holiday mood.”

While the birth of Randall Park Mall accelerated the decline of downtown shopping and other local shopping complexes, it also provided a small, obscure community with the opportunity to become a leading contender in commerce, not just in Ohio, but across the United States as well. This enormous influence, however, would not last more than twenty years, and in an age in which development companies catered to the will of the ever-changing masses, Randall Park Mall quickly lost favor with not only the industry itself, but the local community as well. “It began to fall apart in the late 1990s. Two of the mall’s anchors, JCPenney and Dillard’s, left as part of a companywide downsizing triggered by big-box competition. Many of the smaller stores soon followed.” By 2009, this once vibrant and thriving shopping complex was closed, stripped down to the bare bones.” As crime rates within the surrounding North Randall and Warrensville Heights areas began to rise and businesses began to fail, North Randall was no longer a place to which the Cleveland masses desired to flock. Consumers lost confidence in the North Randall shopping complex as a safe, fun and engaging atmosphere in which they could conduct their recreational and business activities, and thus began to move their business elsewhere. Beachwood Place, which opened two years after the debut of Randall Park Mall, began to steal away wealthier customers as they sought shopping and entertainment in more affluent and safe areas. In 2014, less than forty years after the mall opened, work began on the demolition of the expansive shopping complex. The North Randall area continues to be affected by the legacy of Randall Park Mall and community members hope that future business endeavors will achieve the lasting success it failed to attain.

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In the early 1900s, wealthy Clevelanders escaped from the pollution and congestion of downtown to the fresh air and open spaces of the countryside. Three members of the Severance family purchased land at the intersection of Mayfield and Taylor Roads in Cleveland Heights for their new estates. Wealthy businessman and philanthropist John L. Severance, best known for building Severance Hall as the home of the Cleveland Orchestra, began purchasing land in this area in 1899 and eventually acquired nearly 200 acres.

Severance's Cleveland Heights estate, called Longwood, included a mansion, a dairy barn, several stables, gardeners' cottages, natural brooks and waterfalls, and extensive formal gardens. Severance hired architect J. Milton Dyer, who studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and designed Cleveland's city hall, to build an English Tudor mansion. After six years of construction, Severance and his wife Bessie moved into Longwood in the summer of 1910. But just four years later, the couple hired renowned Cleveland architect Charles Schweinfurth to completely remodel their home. Their new 50-room mansion included a tea porch, wine cellar, interior fountain court, and a dedicated space for flower arranging. The finishes included elaborately carved wood paneling, ornamental plaster ceilings, fabric wall coverings, and eight large Italian stone fireplaces. The workers even detached the original servants wing and added a two story addition to connect the two sections. The Severances moved into their "new" $2 million home in early 1916.

After the death of John L. Severance in 1936, the estate transferred to his second cousin Severance Millikin. Millikin lived in the home until 1959, when he moved to a more secluded estate in Gates Mills. But for years before the move, Millikin worked on his plan for a "new downtown" on the former estate. In 1952, he requested rezoning that would pave the way for commercial development of the property. After five years of legal wrangling, the rezoning was approved. Longwood was demolished in 1961 to make way for Ohio's first enclosed mall, Severance Center, as well as the Austin Company headquarters, offices and apartments.

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Seven years after Victor Gruen's visionary Southdale appeared outside Minneapolis, consigning many an American downtown to a generation of retail decline, Severance Center opened in Cleveland Heights in 1963 as the first fully enclosed regional mall in Ohio. The shopping center's namesake, Cleveland industrialist and philanthropist John L. Severance (who also was responsible for Severance Hall in University Circle), once lived at Longwood, the 125-acre estate that became the mall site. Two other Severance family estates were located near Longwood, both situated across Mayfield Road. Ben Brae, the estate of Julia Severance Millikin, was located near the northeast corner of Mayfield and Taylor Roads, and Glen Allen, the estate of Elisabeth Severance Allen Prentiss, sat to the east of Ben Brae.

After John Severance died in 1936, his nephew Severance Millikin inherited Longwood and lived on the estate until 1959. By the early 1950s, Millikin was making plans to redevelop Longwood, and he hired Cleveland's Austin Company to plan a future use for the property, leading to the recommendation for a regional shopping center. Austin Company ended up acquiring the land and brought in a Seattle-based development firm as a partner on the project. While the decision to build a large mall on the previously undeveloped land caused some controversy, the city eventually gave its assent to the plan. The mansion at Longwood was torn down in 1961 and a groundbreaking ceremony for the mall was held during the winter of 1962.

Severance Center opened for business in October 1963. The mall's original anchors were Cleveland-based department stores Halle's and Higbee's. Other tenants at the new mall included Fisher Foods, Woolworth's, Richman Brothers, Peck and Peck, and a branch of Society National Bank. At first, the mall was extremely successful. As newer malls opened across Greater Cleveland, however, Severance faced stiff competition. Halle's closed in 1982, prompting a renewed push to upgrade the mall into a full-fledged "town center." New anchor stores were brought in, a new food court opened, and, most significantly, in 1986 the Cleveland Heights City Hall relocated to the northwest corner of the Severance property. By the 1990s, however, the mall was simply unable to compete in its existing form, and much of the original mall was torn down. The current outdoor shopping center, anchored by "big box" stores, reflects the response to continually changing patterns in retailing.

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