Foothill Boulevard and Dewar Drive
Rock Springs, Wyoming
Rock Springs, Wyoming
The first fully-enclosed, regional-class shopping hub in Wyoming was built on a 32.4-acre plot, located 2 miles west of downtown Rock Springs. The single-level center, which encompassed approximately 340,500 leasable square feet, was designed by Salt Lake City's Don Johnson & Associates and Berkeley, California's Arthur A. Iwata. It was constructed by the Salt Lake City-based Price Development Company.
A 1-level (34,400 square foot) J.C. Penney became the first operational WHITE MOUNTAIN MALL store on March 29, 1978. It was joined by a 1-level (87,400 square foot) Seattle-based Ernst Home Center. Charter tenants included Kinney Shoes, Karmelkorn, Hickory Farms of Ohio, The Hip Pocket, Zales Jewelers, Gallenkamp Shoes, a 1-level (49,000 square foot) F.W. Woolworth 5 & 10 and freestanding Sizzler Family Steakhouse. Minnesota's Herberger's chain dedicated a 1-level (37,500 square foot) store in 1979.
The only commercial competitor of WHITE MOUN TAIN MALL was PLAZA MALL {1.1 miles southeast, also in Rock Springs}. This open-air strip complex, dedicated in 1972, included a small enclosed shopping area.
In 1989, Wal-Mart took space that had been occupied by the Ernst Home Center. The Woolworth and Wal-Mart stores closed during 1997 and 2001, respectively, leaving WHITE MOUNTAIN MALL with nearly 137,000 feet of vacant area. This prompted management to pursue some creative -and even unorthodox- concepts in leasing.
First off, the old Woolworth became offices for the State of Wyoming. A (23,100 square foot) section of the old Wal-Mart was made into the Movie Palace Rock Springs Star Stadium 8 multiplex. It showed first features in October 2003.
More novel was the establishment of the world's first Harley-Davidson shopping mall store. The (43,000 square foot) Flaming Gorge Harley-Davidson shop featured a sales showroom, service center and men's and women's shower facilities. An RV and tractor-trailer parking area was also maintained at the rear of the store.
During 2007, Herberger's expanded into existing mall space, enlarging their original 37,500 square foot store to 60,100 square feet. In January 2012, Flaming Gorge Harley-Davidson moved out of WHITE MOUNTAIN MALL. Its space re-opened, as a Bozeman-based Murdoch's Ranch & Home Supply, in April 2013. Soon after, the adjacent (21,600 square foot) space was retenanted by Hudson, Ohio-based Jo-Ann Fabrics.
WHITE MOUNTAIN MALL was owned and operated by Chicago-based General Growth Properties between 2002 and 2011. In January 2012, it became one of the GGP properties that was placed under the newly-formed Rouse Properties Real Estate Investment Trust, a spin-off division devoted to "Class B" shopping hubs.
Rouse properties, and its portfolio of thirty-five shopping malls, was sold in July 2016, with the buyer being Toronto's Brookfield Asset Management. As this deal was being finalized, a (14,000 square foot) Ross Dress For Less was installed in WHITE MOUNTAIN MALL space between Murdoch's and Herberger's. This new Ross store opened for business on March 7, 2015.
On April 8, 2016, J.C. Penney shuttered their 38-year-old WHITE MOUNTAIN MALL unit. The vacant area was reconfigured as a (22,300 square foot) T.J. Maxx and (12,000 square foot) Petco. T.J. Maxx welcomed first shoppers on October 30, 2016. Petco held its grand opening in November.
The last original WHITE MOUNTAIN MALL anchor was shuttered as part of the bankruptcy and liquidation of Pennsylvania's Bon Ton Stores. Herberger's went dark on August 29, 2018, after over 39 years in business. The vacant space was leased by Dunham's Sports, who opened their store on October 29, 2021.
Sources:
The Salt Lake City Tribune
The Casper Star Tribune (Casper, Wyoming)
The Deseret News (Salt Lake City)
The Deseret News (Salt Lake City)
The Directory of Major Malls / 1982 / MJJTM Publications / Suffern, NY
www.ggp.com / General Growth Properties
www.rockymountainbikers.com
http://www.rouseproperties.com / Rouse Properties
https://www.brookfieldproperties.com / Brookfield Properties
"White Mountain Mall" article on Wikipedia
"Herberger's" article on Wikipedia
