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 December 1971. 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 a dairy farm and junk yard.
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 (1971) {.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). 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 Stores 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 June 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 shuttered in 1998. The vacant store was reconfigured as a Michaels arts & crafts location, which welcomed first customers 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.
Ownership of BENTLEY MALL has changed on two occassions. 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 2007. The mall had emerged from an indoor-outdoor renovation between September and October of 2006.
In the 2020s, the main BENTLEY MALL structure contains fifteen stores and services. Tenants include Foot Locker, Icing by Claire's, Zumiez and Zales Jewelers. East and West Satellite Buildings house eight tenants. These include Starbucks Coffee, Cricket Wireless, Great Harvest Bread Company and Sally Beauty Supply.
Sources:
Fairbanks Daily News Miner
The Tundra Times (Fairbanks, Alaska)
https://propertysearch.fnsb.gov / Fairbanks North Star Borough Property Search
http://www.krauszcompanies.com
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
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