A Des Moines-based Ardan discount mart was built on a pad north of the MERLE HAY PLAZA Sears. The 110,000 square foot store opened in 1963. In 1968, the Ardan discount chain merged with another retailer based in Kansas City, Missouri. The MERLE HAY location was rebranded as Ardan-Bellas Hess. This store was shuttered in 1975.
Graphic from the Daniels Investment Company

Ardan-Bellas Hess was followed by a Plaza Family Saving Center store, which morphed into a Kmart in 1979. The tiny PRESTIGE MALL had been added to the south end of the Ardan-Bellas Hess store in 1974. In 1983, the discount store and PRESTIGE MALL were renovated and renamed, collectively, as the FASHION OUTLET MALL.
Graphic from the Daniels Investment Company  

The FASHION OUTLET mall was re-renovated in the mid-1980s. It emerged as THE VALUE MALL in 1985. Stores and services included Burlington Coat Factory, Best Buy and Marshalls (hold-overs from the FASHION OUTLET) and the Forum IV Theatres (which had opened, as part of the PRESTIGE MALL, in 1974).
Graphic from National Properties, Incorporated

THE VALUE MALL was renamed HAYMARKET MALL in 1989. This complex housed the aforementioned Burlington Coat Factory, Marshalls, Forum IV Theatres, Best Buy and the Bochner Art Gallery.
Graphic from Coppola Enterprises

Back at MERLE HAY MALL, the southwest anchor -originally a Montgomery Ward- was renovated by Famous-Barr in the year 2000. This store was shuttered in 2004. Younkers moved in and was in business at this location for nearly 14 years.
Photo from Polk County, Iowa