Eastwood Mall opened in 1969 with Sears, Strouss, Montgomery Ward, and Woolworth as anchors. It was the first mall to feature both Montgomery Ward and Sears. The JCPenney wing was added in 1979. Montgomery Ward closed in 1984, and its building was split among Gold's Gym, Toys "R" Us, and Carlisle's. After Carlisle's closed in 1994 and Toys "R" Us moved to a new store, those spaces both became Dillard's. Target was added onto the mall in 2000. Strouss became Kaufmann's in 1986, and Macy's in 2006. A food court was added near Macy's in 2006. In late 2007, a three-tank aquarium, known as the Equarium, was added to center court. In 2012, construction began on a Residence Inn by Marriott in the Dillard's wing. On August 24, 2016, Dillard's was initially closed, and later converted to a Clearance Center. In late 2016, Cafaro Management opened their main office on a new construction., along with a new Hampton Inn & Suites. In 2017, additional renovation of the mall's entrance features and interior occurred. The Cafaro Company is now seeking investors to embark on the deforestation of an adjacent natural wetland totaling 105 acres, which would be named Enterprise Park at Eastwood. This new tract that will be connected to the existing mall property is envisioned as a mixed-use development that will include residential buildings along with office space for medical, educational, research, health care and other commercial activities. On October 15, 2018, it was announced that Sears would be closing as part of a plan to close 142 stores nationwide. In 2019, Nickels and Dimes announced that it will close the Tilt Studio location at the mall by December 2019. This closure was forced on Nickels and Dimes by the Cafaro Company, in order to make room for the construction of a new Boscov's store location. In 2020, Boscov's announced plans to open a store in the former Sears and Tilt Studio.
Leasable space
The Eastwood Mall reported of gross leasable space to the ICSC which included it in the list of largest shopping malls in the United States. However, the Directory of Major Malls reports that less than 1.6 million of gross leasable space are enclosed within the mall property itself, disqualifying themselves due to this falsely reported information the tiny Cafaro's property is now currently ineligible for inclusion on the list of largest shopping malls in the United States based on total square feet of retail space. The greater square footage was reported because mall management included a separate strip mall, big-box stores and restaurants adjacent in the parking lot or on neighboring streets as part of the complex. Therefore, those areas were excluded as part of the criteria of a single distinct shopping mall.
