Construction began in 1974. The original planned name of the mall was Westroads Mall.
Ed McMahon and
Billy Carter attended the grand opening, on August 24, 1977. The four original anchor stores were
Sears,
Montgomery Ward,
Famous-Barr and Myers Brothers. Myers Brothers was bought by
Bergner's in 1978 and the store was rebranded in 1983. In the early 1990s, it underwent a $14 million renovation which included the addition of a new
food court. A carousel was installed in 1997. White Oaks Mall houses over 100 stores. Its operator, the
Simon Property Group, which owns 80.7% of the mall, describes White Oaks Mall as a "super-regional shopping mall". In 2001, the Montgomery Ward anchor store closed, after the chain went out of business. In 2006, all Famous-Barr stores were rebranded as Macy's. In July 2018, the
Bergner's anchor store closed when the parent company,
Bon Ton, went out of business. In September 2018, the
Sears anchor store closed as part of a plan to close 78 stores nationwide. This left
Macy's as the only anchor store. In 2020, the
Illinois Department of Central Management Services, the custodian of Illinois state government real estate, purchased the 120,000 sq ft Sears anchor store, to be remodeled as office space for the
Illinois Department of Innovation and Technology,
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, and
Illinois Pollution Control Board. In January 2025, after $80 million in remodeling work, the Illinois EPA moved into the building. After Bergner’s closed, the space was replaced with an entertainment facility known as Malibu Jack’s in 2023. Malibu Jack’s has since become the primary anchor tenant for the space. On January 9, 2025, it was announced that Macy's store would close as part of a plan to close 66 stores nationwide. The store closed in March 2025, leaving the mall with no traditional anchors but with non-traditional anchor tenants with more of a focus on entertainment and office space. ==References==