American Eagle Outfitters operated a BENTLEY MALL store between 2005 and 2023.
Photo from https://www.bentleymallfairbanks.com
In this image, we see the west end of the BENTLEY shopping concourse. The Payless ShoeSource store, seen in the center of the image, shut down in early 2019.
Photo from https://www.bentleymallfairbanks.com
The center section of the shopping concourse features retailers such as Torrid Plus Sizes and Hot Topic.
Photo from https://www.bentleymallfairbanks.com
On the east end of the concourse are Zales Jewelers, a charter, 1977 tenant, Zumiez and GameStop. The latter pulled up stakes in March 2021.
Photo from https://www.bentleymallfairbanks.com
BENTLEY MALL
College Road and Old Steese Highway
Fairbanks, Alaska
The first suburban shopping mall developed in The Golden Heart of Alaska (a.k.a. Fairbanks) opened for business in May 1972. GAVORA MALL, which originally had a small enclosed concourse, covered approximately 103,000 leasable square feet.
BENTLEY MALL was the city's second suburban-type shopping hub. Ground was broken at a 14.6-acre site, located 8. mile northeast of the downtown area, in June 1976. The land parcel was part of the holdings of the Bentley family, of Fairbanks. Over the years, the site had contained Bentley's Dairy Farm and the Miller-Bentley Equipment Company.
A fully-enclosed shopping complex was developed by Seattle's Barsa Associates and designed by the Dykeman, Ogden & Ellerbe firm of Everett, Washington. A 1-level (32,900 square foot) Safeway supermarket became the first operational tenant on March 13, 1977. A (28,000 square foot) Pay 'n Save Drug held its grand opening on April 26th, with a mall-wide grand opening commencing on April 29th. When fully-realized, BENTLEY MALL housed nineteen stores and services.
Charter tenants included Pier One Imports, Bentley Books, Lady Bug Boutique, Sachs Men's Shop and The Music Corner. Four freestanding structures in the mall's front parking area housed stores and services such as One Hour Martinizing, Kelley's Photo Lab and the National Bank of Alaska.
Apparently, four mall-type centers were eventually built in Fairbanks. In addition to BENTLEY MALL, these were the aforementioned GAVORA MALL (1972) {.1 mile south of BENTLEY MALL}, SHOPPER'S FORUM (1977) {1.5 miles southwest} and UNIVERSITY SQUARE MALL (1984) {2.9 miles southwest}. NORTH POLE PLAZA (1985) {12 miles southeast} was located in the suburb of North Pole, Alaska.
Over the years, several small, strip-type shopping centers were also built around Fairbanks. These included RIVER MALL (1985), CAMPUS CORNER MALL (1986), CORNERSTONE MALL (1986) and EAGLE PLAZA MALL (1986). Although promoted as quote-unquote "malls," these complexes had no enclosed shopping concourse.
The BENTLEY MALL site was expanded in the early 1990s. A 12.4-acre parcel, adjacent to the mall's west end, was utilized for a 1-level (161,000 square foot) Pace Membership Warehouse. This store began business on November 20, 1992.
Wal-Mart acquired ninety-one Pace Membership Warehouse locations in November 1993. Included in the transaction was the BENTLEY MALL store. It re-opened, under a Sam's Club nameplate, in June 1994. The Sam's Club structure was renovated in 2007. The store went dark on January 26, 2018 and re-opened, under a Costco brand, on November 20, 2018.
Meanwhile, the Pay 'n Save chain had been absorbed by PayLess Drug Stores in 1992. The BENTLEY MALL location was rebranded, as a PayLess Drug, in May 1993. PayLess Drug merged with the parent company of Thrifty Drugs in April 1994. A new entity, known as Thrifty PayLess Holdings, Incorporated, was formed. This company was acquired by the Rite Aid Corporation in October 1996. The BENTLEY MALL PayLess Drug was never rebranded by Rite Aid. It was shuttered in 1998. The vacant store was reconfigured as a Michaels arts & crafts emporium, which welcomed first shoppers on March 27, 1999.
In the previous year, the only physical expansion of BENTLEY MALL had been completed. Safeway was thoroughly remodeled and expanded by nearly 17,000 square feet. A 1-level (24,000 square foot) Office Max was also built on Safeway's east side. Office Max opened its doors on January 25, 1998, with the newly-enlarged Safeway being dedicated in March of the same year. The mall was given an indoor-outdoor renovation between September and October of 2006.
Ownership of BENTLEY MALL has changed on three occasions. The shopping hub was acquired by San Francisco-based Rawson, Blum & Leon (RBL Real Estate) in 1982. The San Francisco-based Krausz Companies bought the property in May 2007. Details are sketchy, but apparently, the mall was sold in June 2018 to joint venture of two entities. These were the KE Bentley, Limited Liability Company and KGC Bentley, Limited Liability Company. Both are based in San Francisco.
In the mid-2020s, the mall proper contains twelve stores and services, with spaces for twenty-two. Tenants include Foot Locker, Claire's, Zumiez and Journey's Shoes. East and West Satellite Buildings house eight tenants. Among these are Starbucks Coffee, Cricket Wireless and Sally Beauty Supply. There are three other freestanding structures; Autozone, a Wells Fargo Bank and Safeway filling station.
Sources:
Fairbanks Daily News Miner
The Tundra Times (Fairbanks, Alaska)
The Anchorage Daily News
https://propertysearch.fnsb.gov / Fairbanks North Star Borough property search
http://www.krauszcompanies.com / Krauz Companies
https://www.bentleymallfairbanks.com
https://local.safeway.com
"Pay 'n Save," "PayLess Drug," "Pace Membership Warehouse," "Sam's Club," and "Bentley Mall" articles on Wikipedia
