Jason Percival sees opportunity in empty retail spaces in malls.
He remembers when hanging out at the mall was the cool thing to do.
Percival hopes to once again help make struggling malls the center of social life and entertainment for teens, young adults and even families.
Enter Wonder Cleveland.
It’s not exactly a museum.
It’s not a science center either.
And it’s not an art gallery.
It is sort of a mishmash of all the above and something more.
What is Wonder Cleveland?
Percival, along with some partners, have opened what they call an “enchanting, immersive entertainment space” smack in the middle of the Great Lakes Mall in Mentor across from retail stalwart JCPenney.
It occupies an abandoned H&M clothing store.
Percival, who grew up in Northeast Ohio, said Wonder Cleveland a place to play and chill and even take a selfie or two or three.
It is sort in the spirit of Otherworld in Columbus that features immersive spaces, interactive puzzles and digitally augmented art.
Fly above West Side Market
Wonder Cleveland opened on Friday and as Percival explains is a work in progress with new stuff and gadgets being added all the time.
There’s a futuristic space ship vibe zone along with underwater caves with sound effects and video screens.
There’s a beach area with a video wall and large shark hanging from the ceiling.
There’s an area dedicated to selfies where you can pose as an angel hovering on the ceiling of the city’s iconic West Side Market.
Through some visual trickery, the guest lies on the floor atop of angel wings, giving the appearance of flight when the photo is snapped.
Nearby you can sit on the moon and have your photo taken or pose with a giant sucker in a b.a. Sweetie Candy Company inspired scene.
There’s a room where you become an alien like figure projected onto a wall of stars that can move by waving your arms and moving about.
Another large wall lets you play pong with lego shapes falling from the sky.
One room features black and white cut outs of Dr. Seuss characters that magically change colors thanks to some technical wizardly.
The old dressing room is a museum of sorts.
Each stall has a flat sign in it. Thanks to a free app you can install on your phone, once you point your camera at the sign a piece of art magically appears.
Percival said visited similar attractions in places like New York City to draw inspiration from to bring a similar experience to Northeast Ohio.
Back in 2019 he opened Cleveland’s first so-called pop-up Instagram museum that had a Christmas theme in an old industrial building on the city’s east side.
He plans to expand on the Winter Wonder Cleveland concept when the pandemic hit and any hopes for another hand’s on experience had to be shelved.
Percival, who has worked on special event planning and live concerts, said he and his partners worked on Wonder Cleveland and its elements over the pandemic when all events ground to a halt.
What he loves about the indoor experience concept is that unlike concerts or large festivals — it never rains inside of the mall.
Wonder Cleveland ticket and admission information
Tickets range from $16 to $19 for adults depending on the time or day you choose to visit. Kids ages 3 to 12 are $12. Admission is timed to enter, but guests are free to linger.
Reservations are available at www.wondercleveland.com but walk-ins are also welcome.
Wonder Cleveland is a bit of a trial balloon.
Percival said the plan is to add and remove elements all of the time to not only keep things fresh but begin to have scenes and things already made to eventually open similar experiences in other malls and spaces throughout the country ;looking to attract more foot traffic.
“Like trunks of a tree we will continue to add things,” he said. “I believe this trend may be the future for many malls.”
Craig Webb, who is so old he remembers when the Wonder Cleveland space was a J.J. Newberry 5 & 10, can be reached at cwebb@thebeaconjournal.com.
