LEWISTON CENTER (MALL)
19th Avenue and 17th Street
Lewiston, Idaho
Idaho's sixth shopping mall originated with a single-level strip complex. LEWISTON CENTER was built on a 21.7-acre site, located 1.2 miles south of downtown Lewiston. Ground was broken on January 20, 1965. The first operational store, Kinney Shoes, opened in August 1965. A center-wide grand opening was held on September 29th. At this time, the shopping hub encompassed approximately 225,000 leasable square feet and contained twelve stores and services.
Nampa's Daum Development Corporation built the original complex. It was anchored by a 1-level (38,600 square foot) Montgomery Ward, 1-level (44,900 square foot), Minneapolis-based Tempo and 1-level (48,000 square foot) W.T. Grant.
Inline stores included the aforementioned Kinney Shoes, along with PayLess Drug, the Center Restaurant and a Buttreys Food Super Store. This grocery welcomed its first shoppers on September 30, 1965 and awarded Gold Strike trading stamps with every purchase.
Tempo became the first major tenant to receive a new nameplate. A Rasco Tempo trademark was installed in September 1969. The store closed in March 1976. Grants at LEWISTON CENTER had been shuttered in November 1975. Its space was retenanted by J.C. Penney, who relocated from their downtown Lewiston location on August 24, 1977.
The vacant Rasco Tempo space was taken by Seattle-based The Bon Marche, which moved from a center city location on July 24, 1978. The LEWISTON CENTER Montgomery Ward was shuttered in 1982 and re-opened, as a Washington State-based Lamonts, in the fall of 1984. The Buttreys Food store closed in July 1987, with the store space being assumed by Sears.
Meanwhile, a 25,000 square foot addition was built on the north-facing front of the open-air strip center. It featured a fully-enclosed shopping concourse and added fifteen tenants to the store directory. These included Andrews Hallmark, Karmelkorn, Orange Julius and Third Dimension.
A grand opening celebration began on September 24, 1981 and lasted for 10 days. Entertainment was provided by the Lewiston High School Pep Band, Jawbone Flats Barbershop Singers and Lewis & Clark Sweet Adelines. There was also a square dancing exhibition by the Twin City Twirlers. With completion of the addition, the 250,000 square foot venue was renamed LEWISTON CENTER MALL. It was the preeminent shopping center in -or around- the city. The only competitor within a 30 mile radius was Moscow, Idaho's PALOUSE EMPIRE MALL (1979).
The LEWISTON CENTER MALL Lamonts was shuttered in 1995. It re-opened, as a Fresno-based Gottschalks, in the year 2000 and was shuttered in 2007. The Bon Marche was rebranded, as a Bon-Macy's, on August 1, 2003 and was fully "Macy-ated" on March 6, 2005.
A second major vacancy was created in 2012, when Sears shut down. The store space was renovated and re-opened, as a Columbus, Ohio-based Big Lots, on November 8, 2012. The Gottschalks building sat vacant for 5 years and was eventually demolished. A 1-level (59,400 square foot) Boise-based Winco Foods was built. It was dedicated on November 6, 2014.
Two more LEWISTON CENTER anchor stores went dark in 2020. Macy's shut down in March, with J.C. Penney pulling up stakes in July. The struggling shopping complex was put up for sale in June 2020. By March 2021, the mall website was inactive.
Sources:
The Lewiston Morning Tribune
The University of Idaho Argonaut
www.lewistoncenter.com
www.loopnet.com
http://idahodocs.cdmhost.com
"The Bon Marche", "Lamonts" and Gottschalks" articles on Wikipedia
