DECATUR — Looking at the former Franklin Mall in its current condition, one would never guess it was once was a social hub for some of Decatur’s political heavyweights and up-and-comers.
H.G. “Skinny” Taylor, Howard Brown and Dave Cooprider were among the regulars who filled the seats of Café Tiffany, the cornerstone business of the mall at 304 S. Franklin St. for breakfast and again in the afternoon.
For many, the mall was a convenient place close to the courthouse to discuss events of the day. For others, such as friends Ellen Sheffer and Louise Mrotzek, it was a special place to meet and shop.
Sheffer said she had been going to the Mall since the late 1970s, where, every Saturday, she and her husband, Don, would meet with several of their friends and have breakfast at the Tiffany.
Mrotzek, a retired physical education and health teacher for the Mount Zion School District, met Sheffer after moving into the same neighborhood with her husband, Ron. Both families had children who were the same age, and they soon became friends.
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From then on, both of them continued the Saturday morning ritual of meeting for breakfast at the cafe from 7 to 10 a.m., until their large group began to dwindle in later years.
Sheffer said what she enjoyed about the mall was the sense of camaraderie.
“Everyone was so fun,” she said.
She recalled one occasion when a man who wasn’t a regular went up to the register to pay his bill. He marveled to the cashier about how the group was laughing and having such a good time, “… and they’re not even drinking!”
But the Tiffany wasn’t the only draw for Sheffer. She said she did a fair amount of shopping there, as well. The mall, said Sheffer, was a great place to find unique gifts, but it was the people who really made the experience memorable for her.
“You saw people you knew there,” she said fondly.
For Mrotzek, it was the ambiance of the place. “It was like a cozy little corner in Europe,” she said.
She remembered the lawyers who would come in from the courthouse across the street and all the politicians who would talk for hours.
“You could find anyone here,” she said, “And the shop owners and regulars all looked out for one another, and you could wander through freely.”
That sense of camaraderie extended beyond the customers as well.
Judy DeBouck, who owned the Apple Peddler for nearly 14 years in the mall, said the other merchants were like family and everyone really cared about each other.
“It was the most unique place in all Decatur,” she said.
DeBouck decided to join the family in 1984. She was sitting in the cafe with friend Pam Buttz when she noticed a “for rent” sign on one of the storefronts.
She had been going to craft shows and selling items, so she decided to pursue the idea of opening a business. By the time she opened the Apple Peddler, the already established stores were Lamp Light Gallery, the Wild Daisy, the Viking House, Shacklee supplement store, the Needle Nook, a barber shop, Café Tiffany and Franklin Travel.
Two years later in 1986, Judie Morville, who now owns and is a stylist for The Salon inside the DemirCo building, was the owner of the Brass Scissors, which filled the upstairs loft space in the mall. Morville said she spoke with the mall’s creator Ralph Owen about renting it after attending hairstyling classes in London. Unfortunately for Bill Owen, who had been using the loft as a place to sleep, got the boot.
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When Morville started the business on her own, she had two stylist chairs and two tanning beds, but eventually she grew to have as many as eight or nine in staff. She was also the one who brought in Sara Harris and Richard Stivers, who worked in the salon Hair It Is on the first floor.
Morville said it was difficult working by herself for the first time, but at the Franklin Mall, “You could hear the chatter going on” of the customers and shop owners. “Everyone was always talking and keeping each other company. That’s what got me through working by myself.”
A few years later, Morville relocated her salon to South U.S. 51.
If the Café Tiffany was the soul of the mall and the various shops and shop owners were the backbone, then its creator, Decatur entrepreneur Ralph Owen, was its heart.
The roots of Franklin Mall were planted many years before its actual creation when Owen started the Hobby House toy business in his home in 1946. The store soon moved downtown and expanded to both Fairview Plaza and Brettwood Village in Decatur as well as several Illinois locations. A store was even located outside of Illinois in Nashville, Tenn.
Fueled by this success, Owen purchased the Barger Garage building at 304 S. Franklin St. for use as a toy warehouse in 1961. And when the toy business started to decline, Owen turned the warehouse into the Franklin Mall. Designed and outfitted with antiques by Owens, the mall opened in June 1967 with 12 tenants, including Hobby House Toyland.
When it first opened, the mall was described like this in a newspaper article:
“Old Town Santa Fe and New Orleans, bits of Sweden, Philadelphia and Texas, old brick, barn lumber, iron gates, paintings, jewelry, Tiffany lamps, toys, candles and all-day suckers — all this is the Franklin Mall and much more.
“It is a dream come true for a man who likes to see unusual things happen. The rest of us enjoy his dreams and his promotions.”
The Hobby House would soon give way to Franklin Travel, which opened in 1968. Ralph and his wife, Julie, were hands-on owners, living for 10 years in an apartment upstairs in the mall.
For Judy DeBouck, who owned the Apple Peddler for nearly 14 years, said some of her fondest memories of having her shop at the mall were the late nights she spent sitting at a table with Owen talking.
“He was a nice guy,” she said.
The Owens turned over operations of the travel operation to their children in 1996.
The final days of the mall came in 2009, when Bill Owen, co-owner of the building since 1999, decided to sell it after a possible deal with the city to build a new police department building on that site did not materialize.
In 2008, Owen said the building, with 15 retail spaces, was 80 percent to 100 percent occupied, but because it appeared that there was going to be a deal with the city, Owen switched from longer leases to month-to-month terms. That, according to Owen in a Herald & Review news story, contributed to an exodus of retailers from the mall. In the end, only three retailers remained in the mall, including Franklin Travel.
On Nov. 7 of that year, nearly 42 years after the mall was established, its bits and pieces were sold at an auction. The mall building went for $117,000 to an unnamed buyer represented by Ed Walker of Mount Zion. The property is still currently listed for sale on One Main Place Properties’ website at an undisclosed price.
Tim Vieweg, a real estate agent who represents the At Home Apartments LLC., which owns the property, said that the plans for the building will include demolishing it, and the property will be developed into something else, but offered no other details.
