 The distinctive clock tower in the open courtyard became the symbol of both the shopping center and the village.The grass and tree-lined courtyard gave the center an airy attractiveness which was popular much of the year.The mall was anchored by a Marshall Field's, Sears, and Goldblatt's department stores 

Competition from a new larger indoor mall in nearby Matteson, Illinois three the decades later in the early 1970s ultimately doomed Park Forest Plaza.