NUGGET MALL

Glacier Highway and Old Dairy Road
Juneau, Alaska

Alaska's oldest enclosed shopping center, THE MALL (now known as MIDTOWN MALL), opened in Anchorage in January 1968. The state's largest enclosed shopping center, the 736,600 square foot DIMOND CENTER (also in Anchorage) opened in August 1977. The most upscale retail complex in the state would surely be 5TH AVENUE MALL, which has been in business, in Anchorage, since August 1987.

Closer to the Lower Forty-Eight, in the state's capital city of Juneau, is a little-known enclosed shopping center. NUGGET MALL was developed by a joint venture of Bellevue, Washington's C.E. Loveless and Barclay Tollefson (of Loveless-Tollefson Properties) and Bill Flint, of Juneau. The complex was built on a 12.1 acre tract. This was located 7.3 miles northwest of the Alaska State House and was entirely within The City & Borough of Juneau.

The City and Borough of Juneau was formed in 1970 out of the merger of the existing City of Juneau, City of Douglas and Borough of Greater Juneau. The incorporated area of the city is larger than the states of Rhode Island or Delaware.

NUGGET MALL was originally anchored by a 1-level (13,000 square foot) Nugget Department Store, which opened for business on November 1, 1974. By January 1975, mall tenants included Martha's Flowers, Kinney Shoes, Zales Jewelers, a Pizzazz restaurant and (17,000 square foot) Nugget Super Rexall.

Commercial competition arrived with the completion of MENDENHALL MALL {.7 mile northwest, in Juneau}, in 1977. This was joined by a Fred Meyer hypermarket {.5 mile southeast, in Juneau} in 1984.

In 1987, the Nugget Department Store downsized into a smaller mall space, and changed its name to the Nugget Men's Store. The vacant store on the east end of the mall was expanded into a 1-level (21,500 square foot) Bellevue, Washington-based Lamonts. On the opposite end of the shopping hub, Nugget Super Rexall had morphed into a Pay 'n Save and then PayLess Drug.

A face lift renovation of NUGGET MALL got underway in late 1997. During this project, the north facade was rebuilt with new mall entrances. Updated lighting and signage were also installed on the interior. By 1999, the drug store space in the West Wing was occupied by Jennings Home Furnishings of Juneau. In the East Wing, the Nugget Men's Store had enlarged into adjoining area and morphed into Nugget Alaskan Outfitter (a.k.a. "NAO").

Lamonts was shuttered on June 25, 2000. The store was replaced -by a Fresno-based Gottschalks- on September 7, 2000. Gottschalks was shuttered in July 2002, when it relocated to MENDENHALL MALL. The vacant space at NUGGET MALL was temporarily leased to Jensen's Home Furnishings, who used it as a warehouse.

The Jensen's store closed and was followed by Jo-Ann Fabrics, who opened for business in March 2003. 4 years later, a formidable retail rival came on the scene. A (120,000 square foot) Wal-Mart SuperCenter {2.2 miles southeast, in Juneau} welcomed first shoppers on September 12, 2007 (the store would be shuttered on February 5, 2016).

The Lamonts-Gottschalks space at NUGGET MALL was expanded into adjoining area during 2011. An (11,300 square foot), San Diego-based Petco began business on January 2, 2012, followed by a (16,900 square foot), Naperville, Illinois-based Office Max. These stores had exterior entrances and were not accessible from the enclosed shopping concourse.

Nugget Alaskan Outfitter moved to MENDENHALL MALL in September 2013. Soon, plans were being made to expand the vacant NAO space to accommodate a new anchor store. Big Dipper Ice Cream, Specs In the City, GNC and Rodfather's Broiler Restaurant were displaced. A (27,800 square foot), Midvale, Utah-based Sportsman's Warehouse debuted on June 18, 2016. NUGGET MALL now encompassed approximately 149,900 leasable square feet.

The original developers, C.E. Loveless and Barclay Tollefson, were both deceased by 2014. The mall ended up in legal limbo, with no actual owner. Seattle-based Resource Transition Consultants was put in charge of the facility in 2015.

In April 2018, California's Aventine Development Services agreed to buy the mall, but backed out of the deal in June. Maintenance of the structure had been deferred for a number of years and several expensive repairs were needed. Seattle's Columbia Pacific Advisors assumed ownership of the complex.

 

By 2018, the mall's official website was no longer online. Several tenants had pulled up stakes, leaving the inline store section virtually vacant. The mall's west anchor, JoAnn Fabrics, closed -along with the chain- in February 2025.

 

Sources:

The Juneau Empire

 https://nuggetoutfitter.com / Nugget Alaskan Outfitter

https://www.nuggetmalljuneau.com (website on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)

http://www.mallmanac.com
http://www.juneaualaska.com 

https://www.ktoo.org / KTOO TV &  radio
https://juneau.org / city-borough property search

https://columbiapacific.com / Columbia Pacific Advisors