A fixture in Battle Creek's downtown from 1965 until August of 1986, Cole's at the corner of Michigan and McCamly avenues was one of the anchors of the Michigan Mall — its president and co-owner Theodore Sovern also was chairman of the Downtown Development Authority. When this photo was taken in September 1976, the store was considering a $1.4 million expansion. Hopes for a growing retail environment downtown were never realized, however, this in spite of the construction of the "superblock" that would eventually become McCamly Plaza or the Kellogg Co. headquarters near the river. Cole's Inc. would open a women's closing store in the new Lakeview Square Mall in 1983. It liquidated its downtown women's clothing department in late 1985, and in 1986 announced the decision to consolidate the men's store at the mall, as well. "The (downtown) store was not making money," Sovern told the Enquirer and News on June 17, 1986.