Shopper's World is a retail park in Framingham, Massachusetts. The original facility (spelled Shoppers' World) is of historical significance as one of the first suburban shopping malls in the United States upon opening in 1951; it was demolished and replaced by the current open-air facility in 1994. The retail park, with the adjacent Natick Mall in Natick, are major components of the Golden Triangle shopping district in the center of MetroWest, situated between Route 9 and Route 30. History and layout One of the earliest suburban shopping malls in the United States, Shoppers' World (spelled with an apostrophe and possessive "s" in the plural form) opened on October 4, 1951 with 44 stores, 25,000 people, and State Treasurer John E. Hurley present. This futuristic concept mall was designed to be the mecca of suburban shopping between Boston and Worcester, as the area around its original property remains today. At the time the term "mall" was not yet in use as a term for an enclosed shopping center, but articles about the center spoke of its "mall", in the original sense of "promenade" or "walkway", along which the stores were arranged. The large Jordan Marsh dome on the southern end was the sole anchor store for the mall in the earliest days. The dome was visible from the air and was used on aeronautical charts as a visual reporting point for aircraft approaching Boston's Logan Airport. It was reputed to be the third largest (in diameter) unsupported dome in the world after St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and St. Paul's Cathedral in London. There were two long, flanking two-level wings separated by a two-story open courtyard mall surrounded by large, open parking lots. The original design included a multipurpose theater at one end of the mall. Originally called The Cinema, the house contained a large orchestra seating section, a balcony, and a full stage with a fly area for curtain, scenery, and lighting grid. Early stage crews at The Cinema are credited with coining the now-standard industry term Best Boy to describe an assistant to the chief electrician. In addition to movies, in the 1950s the theater was the site of many live summer theater productions such as Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie and George Abbott and John Cecil Holm's Three Men on a Horse. It was the first movie theater in the country to take advantage of the mall parking