So many memories. Rocker Bob Seger played in the parking lot for a grand opening of Hudson’s at Oakland Mall in 1969. The beloved department store had a Ticketmaster outlet in the basement in the 1980s and 1990s. People remember camping out in the parking lot to get concert tickets. Then there’s the famous Maurice salad at Hudson’s restaurant. Decades later, It carried over to the Lakeside Grill, the restaurant inside the department store that was now called Macy’s.

The store opened as Hudson’s in 1968. That’s when the mall at 14 Mile and John R roads in Troy opened, too.

The Detroit-based Hudson’s became part of Marshall Field’s in 2001; Five years later, Macy’s bought Marshall Field’s, and the stores became part of what is said to be the largest department store chain in the world.

In January, Macy’s announced the closings of 66 stores nationwide, including five in Michigan. In addition to Oakland Mall, the Lakeside location in Sterling Heights will be shuttered.

Lakeside Mall closed last year, but Macy’s was expected to remain open as the mall property was redeveloped into a town center with apartments, offices, a hotel, retail space, entertainment venues and more.

Area shoppers are fondly remembering the attentive sales staff and the wide selection of goods under all three store names.

And they’re worried about Oakland Mall’s future. The Sears store at Oakland Mall closed in 2018. Now Macy’s will be gone, leaving JCPenney as the only department store.

Entrepreneur Mario Kiezi bought the mall in 2022, promising to bring in new tenants. Several family-oriented entertainment venues have opened since he took over. He could not be reached for comment on Macy’s closing.

Shopping memories from decades ago

Gayla Houser’s neighbors took her to the new Oakland Mall in 1968, when she was 10 years old. She shopped at Hudson’s for all of its years in business.

“I was introduced to the Aisles of Beauty, the Rainbow basement budget store within a store,” said Houser, a Troy resident and former president of the Troy Chamber of Commerce.

Later, the store introduced her to layaway.

“My friend Lisa and I laid away plaid sweater sets — maroon for her, olive for me — and paid away until we could wear them to Utica High our senior year,” she said.

“Years later, I ‘financed’ two imported tapestry rugs now on the floor of our second foyer four miles north on John R. My husband and I still have wedding gifts from our registry 42 years ago.”

Houser said the new owner is “pretty aggressive and creative in trying to repurpose and fill empty storefronts,” she said. “But Macy’s is a big space to fill,” she said.

“The world is changing,” she said. “There was no Internet in 1968, no Amazon.”

Bill Pittman of Madison Heights misses the Maurice salad in Hudson’s restaurant, piled high with turkey, ham, cheese and a mayonnaise-based dressing.

Susan Musick of Madison Heights remembers that she “never, ever had a bad meal at that restaurant.”

“My friend always got the Maurice salad. I loved their cheese soup, with that scrumptious little piece of toast floating atop it.”

Richard Todd, 91, drove to Oakland Mall from Clarkston on a recent afternoon for one last shopping trip at Macy’s.

“Macy’s has a quality that you can’t get anywhere else,” he said.

A longtime Hudson’s customer, he went there to buy clothing for his wedding in 1955.

He remembered visiting the flagship downtown Detroit store, going back to his childhood.

“That was like a town in and of itself,” he said.

Enilce Deramo, who frequents Oakland Mall to do her walking, feels badly that so many malls are struggling.

She thinks Oakland Mall “won’t be far behind” after Macy’s closes.

.Another mall shopper, Jessica Stone, hadn’t heard Macy’s was going to close, but looked for deals, as signs proclaimed discounts of 10-50%.

She also thinks the mall is in trouble.

“That’s why I was looking around to see if any other stores are closing,” she said.

Closure means job losses

The pending Macy’s closures leave five locations left in southeast Michigan: Somerset Collection in Troy, Twelve Oaks Mall in Novi, Fairlane Town Center in Dearborn, Briarwood Mall in Ann Arbor and Southland Center in Taylor.

More than 200 employees will receive layoff notices when Macy’s shuts down at Lakeside and Oakland malls. Lakeside has 117 workers and Oakland Mall has 92.

The workers will be out of a job between March 18-31, according to two notices filed with the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity.

Job losses are permanent and none of the employees are represented by a union, according to Allison Johnson, vice president of human resources for Macy’s, in documents filed with the state.