Dort Mall

Dort Mall is a shopping mall located in Flint, Michigan. It was built in two stages in 1964 and 1965, three years before Courtland Center and five years before Genesee Valley Center, making it the oldest mall in Genesee County. It is owned by the Perani family, who also owns Perani's Hockey World, which along with Bargain Hunterz and City Market, is one of the mall's anchor tenants.Its first anchor tenant was a Yankee Stores later renamed Zody's) store which was the first Dort Mall structure built in 1964. The other anchor tenant was an A&P grocery store which opened when the rest of the mall opened the following year. Both stores would close in the mid-1970s. A General Cinema movie theater was added in 1968, was divided into two screens in 1975, and closed in 1983. The movie theater was converted into a maintenance office and storage area, although the theater's restrooms are still in use. Also in the 1970s, a discotheque was located in the mall's basement. Dort Mall would struggle to compete until 1995, when Bob Perani purchased the building. The addition of a Perani's Hockey World store breathed new life into the building. Not soon thereafter, a third of the retail space was converted into office space. The rejuvenated Dort Mall could now accommodate three anchor tenants.