After a few days of
soft openings with invited guests, the mall opened to the public on October 27, 1993 with a
Elder-Beerman, a
Parisian, a
Sears and a as anchors. The store in the mall replaced two other locations in the area: one in the Airway Shopping Center in then-Mad River Township (now
Riverside) and a smaller store in
Xenia. An
Dick's Sporting Goods store opened in 2004. In April 2014, Elder-Beerman announced that it would consolidate its two mall locations back into its original location and eliminate the furniture gallery; the consolidation was complete on August 20, 2014. The vacated portion of the mall was demolished in early 2015; it was replaced between late 2015 and 2018 with six restaurants: two attached to the mall but with exterior-only public entrances, and four freestanding. An additional freestanding restaurant in the space opened in fall 2018. Elder-Beerman closed on August 29, 2018, due to the bankruptcy of parent company The Bon-Ton. After a September 18, 2018 announcement that Sears would be closing as part of a plan to close 12 locations nationwide, The lower level of the former Sears store opened as
Round One Entertainment on November 23, 2019. In spite of the fact that there had yet been no announcement that the Sears store would either be vacated or reduced in size, on July 26, 2018, it was announced that
The RoomPlace would open a home furniture store in the mall.
Trade magazine Furniture Today claimed that a store was then scheduled to open in fall 2019 in the upper level of the Sears space. The RoomPlace plans were confirmed on September 18, 2018, when the Sears closing was announced, and were reaffirmed as late as February 13, 2020. On February 25, 2020, it was announced that locally-based regional chain Morris Home Furniture would be opening instead in the upper level of the former Sears store, with The RoomPlace confirming two days later that it had shelved its plans to enter the Dayton market. The Morris showroom was tentatively scheduled to open in spring 2020; it opened on June 15. From June 20 to August 2022, Morris offered a
pop-up clearance and closeout location in the former Elder-Beerman space. In February 2024, it was reported that Dick's Sporting Goods planned to open a Dick's House of Sport location in the former Elder-Beerman store. The facility was planned to allow patrons to practice and try out
gear, and to provide space for patrons to hold events. It was also planned to include a
climbing wall;
golf simulators; multi-sport
cages for
baseball,
softball,
lacrosse and
soccer; an outdoor
track; and a outdoor
turf field which could be used as a winter
skating rink. The plans for the existing Dick's Sporting Goods store were not reported; signs on the existing store indicated that all operations would be moved into the House of Sport location. The store opened March 7, 2025. On January 9, 2025, it was announced that Macy's would be closing as part of a plan to close 66 stores nationwide. The store closed on March 23, 2025. On April 15, 2025, in the wake of corporate employee layoffs, the prior sale of assets in its portfolio, and its decision to sell the remainder of its portfolio, mall owner
Washington Prime Group announced that it planned to sell the mall. No positions at the mall itself are expected to be eliminated. On October 29, 2025, the mall was sold to a
joint venture (JV) between
Syracuse, New York-based Spinoso Real Estate Group and
New York City-based Kize Capital. As of November 2025, the JV also owned
SouthPark Mall in
Strongsville, Ohio, a
Greater Cleveland suburb. Ironically, on October 27,
Hull Property Group had announced that it had acquired the
Dayton Mall, ending that mall's management by Spinoso Real Estate Group. In October 2025, Beavercreek city planner Colin Caville announced that the city had issued a certificate on September 25 for
Dillard's to open a store in the former Macy's location. In February 2026, Dillard's announced that they planned to open what was characterized as a location, as opposed to the listed in property records. As of early March 2026, the closest Dillard's locations to The Mall at Fairfield Commons are
Cincinnati-area stores at
Liberty Center in
Liberty Twp., Butler County and the
Kenwood Towne Centre in
Kenwood, as well as at
Richmond Mall in
Richmond, Indiana. Dillard's held its grand opening as scheduled on March 19, 2026. In early March 2026, Spinoso Real Estate Group owner Carmen Spinoso stated that he had been in the mall business since the 1980s, founding his company around 2009. Spinoso said that the mall's focus had shifted from traditional retail and restaurants to "
experiential retail", placing more attention on events, activities and community gatherings.
Non-retail uses In December 2020, it was reported that Mosaic Church, an almost three-year-old congregation which had been holding services in area movie theaters and parking lots, would move to one floor, approximately , of the former Elder-Beerman space; the church opened on the upper level on January 10, 2021. As of December 2020, the mall's and University Baptist Church's websites suggested that the latter congregation would be opening a location in the lower level of the former Elder-Beerman space. On June 4, 2021, Beavercreek-headquartered developer Synergy & Mills Development announced that in partnership with the mall's owner, Washington Prime Group, it would convert the entire former Elder-Beerman building into office, laboratory, and
research and development space. The over $10 million project, which was to be called "The Meridian", would be built
on spec starting in late 2021. The developers expected the complex to be popular with
defense contractors due to nearby Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, but would also market the space to prospective tenants in other industries. As of June 2021, it was unknown when Mosaic and University Baptist churches would be expected to leave their spaces. In February 2024, it was reported that this plan had not proceeded. ==References==