LEWISTON CENTER-MALL
19th Avenue and 17th Street
Lewiston, Idaho
This Lewis Clark Valley shopping hub evolved from a single-level strip complex. LEWISTON CENTER was built on a 17.3-acre site, located 1.2 miles south of downtown Lewiston. Nampa's Daum Development Corporation built the facility on land leased from the McCann Land Company. Ground was broken on January 20, 1965, with grading complete by February.
On August 15, 1965, Kinney Shoes became the first operational store. Its grand opening was followed by those for PayLess Drug, on September 28th, and a (32,100 square foot) Buttrey Foods Super Store, on September 30th. This supermarket awarded Gold Strike trading stamps with every purchase.
Three new stores opened on October 27, 1965. These were a 1-level (38,600 square foot) Montgomery Ward, 1-level (44,900 square foot) Tempo Discount Center and 1-level (51,075 square foot) W.T. Grant. Wards included a snack bar. Grants featured a Bradford House restaurant. At this time, LEWISTON CENTER encompassed approximately 225,000 leasable square feet and contained twelve stores and services.
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 was 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 leased by Seattle-based The Bon Marche, which also relocated from a center city location. The Bon opened for business on July 24, 1978. Montgomery Ward was shuttered on December 24, 1981 and re-opened, as a Washington State-based Lamonts, on October 26, 1984. Buttrey Foods closed in July 1987, with the store space being assumed by Sears in October.
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. Some of these stores were 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 retail venue was renamed LEWISTON CENTER MALL. It became the preeminent shopping center in -or around- "L Town." The only competitor within a 30 mile radius was Moscow, Idaho's PALOUSE ["puh-loos"] EMPIRE MALL (1979).
Lamonts Apparel, Incorporated was acquired by Fresno, California's Gottschalks chain in July 2000. The LEWISTON CENTER Lamonts was rebranded by Gottschalks on August 26, 2000. The store had closed for good by July 15, 2009. The mall's Bon Marche was rebranded, as a Bon-Macy's, on August 1, 2003 and was fully "Macy-ated" on March 6, 2005.
A 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 closing in July. The struggling shopping complex was put up for sale in June 2020. It was sold in May 2023, with the Boise-based Lewiston Center Equities, Limited Liability Company becoming the new owner.
Lewiston Center Equities began retenanting the virtually vacant mall. Planet Fitness assumed 24,000 square feet of the vacant Macy's space and opened for business on March 19, 2024. In April 2024, it was announced that Hobby Lobby was leasing the vacant J.C. Penney at LEWISTON CENTER. The (51,000 square foot) store was officially dedicated on June 6, 2025.
Sources:
The Lewiston Morning Tribune
The University of Idaho Argonaut
https://www.co.nezperce.id.us / Nez Perce County, Idaho
https://www.bigcountrynewsconnection.com
http://www.lewistoncenter.com (website on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
http://idahodocs.cdmhost.com
https://wwd.com / Women's Wear Daily
https://newsroom.hobbylobby.com
"The Bon Marche", "Lamonts" and "Gottschalks" articles on Wikipedia
