Above, we have an actual photo of the finished product. The mall remodeling commenced in January 2013 and was completed in November of the same year.
Photo from http://www.mcknze.com / Mackenzie Engineering
In this view, we see a newly-refurbished East Wing. The shopping concourse is flanked by Pink "cool wear" apparel and Tilly's, an "action sportswear" specialty retailer.
Photo from http://www.mcknze.com / Mackenzie Engineering
By 2024, THE EMPIRE MALL (not including EMPIRE EAST) houses 140 stores. The complex was hit with a double whammy in 2018, when Younkers and Sears closed their stores for good. An abandoned Younkers was expanded and retenanted by Dillard's. A redevelopment of Sears, as a medical and-or office facility, is also in the works.
SIOUX EMPIRE PLAZA
West 41st Street and South Louise Avenue
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
WESTERN MALL, the Mount Rushmore State's first regional-class shopping complex, was built in the city of Sioux Falls and opened for business in October 1968. South Dakota's second regional retail facility was developed on a 93-acre tract, located .6 mile west of WESTERN MALL and 3 miles southwest of the Sioux Falls Central Business District.
SIOUX EMPIRE PLAZA was developed by the Des Moines-based General Growth Development Corporation (the mother company of General Growth Properties). The single-level, fully-enclosed complex was designed by Derwood Quade and George Reese. Construction commenced in April 1974.
South Dakota Governor Richard F. Kneip (D) attended the mall's grand opening, which was held on September 24, 1975. The PLAZA encompassed approximately 516,000 leasable square feet and had space for fifty-six stores and services.
Anchoring the first phase were a 1-level (106,000 square foot) Des Moines-based Younkers and 1-level (50,000 square foot), St. Cloud, Minnesota-based Herberger's. Charter inline stores included Team Electronics, Orange Julius, Coach House Cards & Gifts, Maurices, Bostwicks For Men, a Fantle's Esplanade junior department store and (17,000 square foot) Osco Drug. The Mid-Continent Theatres (MidCo) Plaza Twin 1 & 2 had shown its first features on August 8, 1975.
A second construction phase was completed with the dedication of a 1-level (134,000 square foot) J.C. Penney, which welcomed first shoppers on April 28, 1976. SIOUX EMPIRE PLAZA now spanned approximately 650,000 leasable square feet.
The "quarter-mile-long mall" was situated around a large Empire Court area, which included skylights and eight large trees. Its focal point was a 24-foot-high modern art fountain and sculpture. This had been created by Clarence E. Van Duzer of Cleveland. Within a few years of the mall's dedication, freestanding stores were being built in its periphery. LaBelle's Catalog Showroom began business September 16, 1976, with a Hy-Vee Food Store opening on February 8, 1977.
Construction got underway on the first mall expansion in the summer of 1977. A twenty-two-store South Wing would be anchored by a 1-level (100,800 square foot) Minneapolis-based Dayton's. The new department store welcomed its first shoppers on July 29, 1978, with the mall wing being dedicated on August 2nd.
Stores brought into the mall included Country Cobbler Shoes, Thom McAn Shoes, Catherine's ladies' wear, and Daniel's Jewelry. The shopping hub, now promoted as THE EMPIRE, encompassed approximately 750,800 leasable square feet, with a retail roster of ninety-nine stores.
A second fully-enclosed shopping center was built on a tract situated across Louise Avenue from THE EMPIRE. Originally known as NEW TOWN MALL, the 287,000 square foot shopping venue was officially dedicated on November 1, 1980.
Herberger's THE EMPIRE store was shuttered in January 1981. The space was reconfigured as Empire Second Edition, a mall within a mall. The facility was officially dedicated on October 16, 1981. Among its eighteen stores were Zeezo's Magic Castle, Sound World, Private Lives, Fashion Company, Lady Madonna Maternity Boutique and House of Wood.
Construction on a second expansion of THE EMPIRE commenced in the spring of 1987. A new Southwest Wing would be anchored by a 1-level (110,000 square foot) Sears. This store opened on June 29, 1988. The new wing added twenty-seven stores. Among these were Audio King, The Canary & Elephant Gifts & Novelties and Burgs of Sioux Falls Shoes. With these renovations, the mall encompassed 1.1 million leasable square feet.
General Growth Properties had sold THE EMPIRE to the Equitable Life Assurance Society in 1984. In 1997, the shopping center was resold, as part of a twelve-mall joint venture. The participants were the Indianapolis-based Simon Debartolo Group and Santa Monica-based Macerich Company, with Macerich assuming management duties. The complex would be known, henceforth, as THE EMPIRE MALL.
NEW TOWN MALL had been reconfigured in the mid-1990s, with a new Kohl's store taking up much of its inline store space. This center was also acquired by the Simon / Macerich joint venture, with its name being changed to EMPIRE EAST. The center was operated -and promoted- as part of THE EMPIRE MALL for several years.
The first culinary complex to operate in THE EMPIRE took common area space in the middle of the mall. The Center Food Court was installed in the former Empire Court, where the Van Duzer fountain-sculpture had stood for 8 years. The new culinary complex featured six vendors; including Dairy Queen, The Cinnamon Bear, The Hamburger Shop and Chocolate Chip Cookie Company. Eateries opened for business between November 1983 and March 1984.
At the turn of the 21st century, the mall's food facility was relocated. The 12-bay Harvest Cafe was set up in gutted store space in the northwest corner of the complex. The first restaurants debuted in September of the year 2000 and included Auntie Ann's Pretzels, China Pantry, Villa Pizza, Burger King, Dairy Queen, Subway and Taco John's.
The Dayton's store was rebranded, under the Chicago-based Marshall Field's nameplate, in August 2001. A Macy's nameplate was installed on September 9, 2006. By this time, THE EMPIRE MALL and EMPIRE EAST constituted the largest shopping complex between Minneapolis and Denver. Their combined gross leasable area was approximately 1,368,100 square feet, with a total of 180 stores and services between them. 131 of these were housed in THE EMPIRE MALL, with twenty-five being mallway kiosks. There were also eighteen outparcel businesses in, or around, the mall site and six stores within the EMPIRE EAST center.
News of prospective competitors for THE EMPIRE surfaced in the early 2000s. The GALLERIA AT RIVER'S BEND, a 1 million square foot, hybrid lifestyle / residential venue, was plotted for a 200-acre site, located 7.5 miles northeast of the THE EMPIRE MALL. This project was eventually abandoned.
However, SHOPPES AT DAWLEY FARM {6.2 miles northeast, in Sioux Falls} was built. A Target store at the open-air venue was dedicated in October 2009, followed by a new Kohl's, in March 2011. The final store opened in January 2012.
On January 1st, the Simon / Macerich joint venture had been dissolved, with the Simon Property Group establishing 100 percent ownership of THE EMPIRE MALL and EMPIRE EAST. In January 2013, Simon announced a thorough interior and exterior renovation of THE EMPIRE MALL.
The project, which included new flooring, ceilings and landscaping for all common areas, also rehabilitated the existing Harvest Cafe and Main Mall Entrance. Work commenced in February 2013 and was completed in time for the Christmas shopping season. As the mall was remodeled, a new junior anchor was added. A 1-level (50,600 square foot) Dick's Sporting Goods opened its doors in March 2014.
The Simon Property Group created a spin-off Real Estate Investment Trust in May of the same year. Known as the Washington Prime Group, it assumed ownership of forty-four of Simon's "Grade B" malls, including the EMPIRE EAST complex. As a result, it was no longer marketed as part of THE EMPIRE MALL, but as a separate entity.
Younkers and Sears both did an "anchors away" in 2018. Younkers went dark on August 29, 2018, with Sears shutting down in the following September. Within months, Dillard's had announced plans to expand the vacant Younkers building to 140,000 square feet. A grand opening was originally scheduled for the fall of 2019. This date was moved up to the fall of 2022, but was delayed again. The latest news from Little Rock indicates that the new EMPIRE MALL Dillard's will open its doors in March 2024.
Sources:
The Argus Leader (Sioux Falls, South Dakota)
https://www.macerich.com / The Macerich Company
http://www.greetingsfromsiouxfalls.com
https://www.simon.com / Simon Property Group
http://www.keloland.com
Minnehaha County, South Dakota Tax Assessor website
http://www.cinematreasures.org
http://www.siouxfallsdevelopment.com
"Empire Mall" article on Wikipedia
"Dayton's" article on Wikipedia
FAIR USE OF NEW TOWN MALL IMAGE:
The photograph from The Argus Leader helps illustrate a key moment in the mall's history that is described in the article. The image is not replaceable with a free-use or public-domain image. The use of the image does not limit the copyright owners' rights to distribute the image in any way. The image is being used for non-profit, informational purposes only and its use is not believed to detract from the original image in any way.
