Willamette Town Center

Willamette Town Center, formerly Lancaster Mall, is an exterior entrance shopping center located in Salem, Oregon, United States. Opened in 1971,[1] the main part of the center has 550,000 square feet (51,000 m2) of space.[2] The regional mall is located on Lancaster Drive and is bordered on the West by Interstate 5, making Willamette Town Center a retail hub for the city of Salem.

Willamette Town Center
South side of the mall
LocationSalem, Oregon, United States
Coordinates44.94180°N 122.98650°W / 44.94180; -122.98650
Opening date1968
DeveloperThrifty PayLess
ManagementC. E. John Company
No. of stores and services80
No. of anchor tenants8
Total retail floor area648,990 sq ft (60,293 m2)
(GLA), includes outlying retailers
No. of floors1
Parking3,523
Websitewww.willamettetowncenter.com

History

Lancaster Mall began in 1968 when Thrifty PayLess built a small enclosed mall in Salem, Oregon, featuring a PayLess drug store and Albertsons supermarket.[3] Two years later, the rest of the mall was built.[4] Montgomery Ward then moved from downtown Salem to the newly renovated mall.[4] In 1972, the mall was to be one of the first locations in Oregon for an automated teller machine not located at a bank branch, which created controversy at the time.[5] About 1976, the Taco Time chain experimented with selling alcoholic beverages at their Lancaster location.[6]

A 17-year-old woman was kidnapped from Lancaster Mall in 1977,[7] as was a 19-year-old woman in 1982.[8] In May 1982, an ex-Salem police officer shot and killed two people at the mall before killing himself in the parking lot.[9] The mall banned the Salvation Army from soliciting there in 1988 in an effort to uniformly ban all solicitations at the mall.[10][11]

In 2008 Lancaster Mall achieved EarthWISE Certification through Marion County Public Works-Environmental Services. Lancaster Mall has committed to recycling, reducing waste, saving energy, conserving water and practice environmentally preferable purchasing in their operations.[12]

The mall was renamed Willamette Town Center in 2017. As part of the renaming, HomeGoods, Sierra Trading Post, and Hobby Lobby were added.[13] A portion of the indoor mall corridor leading to the closed Macy's store was also closed as the new stores took over the space as inline tenants and feature outside entrances only.

On October 15, 2018, it was announced that Sears would be closing as part of a plan to close 142 stores nationwide.[14]

Pier 1 Imports, which operates a store by the former Sears, announced in May 2020 that they were closing all locations and going out of business.[15]

Anchors

Former anchors

See also

References
  1. "Salem's Lancaster Mall opens new shop". Portland Business Journal. November 22, 2000. Retrieved 2010-05-04.
  2. Chain Store Age. Vol. 75 (Issues 1-6 ed.). Lebhar-Friedman. 1999. p. 104.
  3. "Pay Less shopping center in East Salem opens Tuesday". The Statesman Journal. November 23, 1968. p. 15. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
  4. "Store to move to East Salem". Register-Guard. Eugene, Ore. Associated Press. January 13, 1970. p. 2A. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  5. Nacheman, Allen (October 3, 1972). "Oregon banks hire automated tellers". Register-Guard. Eugene, Ore. Associated Press. p. 7F. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  6. Bellamy, Ron (April 13, 1984). "Taco Time hopes selling wine and beer will ..." Register-Guard. Eugene, Ore. p. C1. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  7. "Two men kidnap girl, take car and presents". Register-Guard. Eugene, Ore. UPI. December 13, 1977. p. 7C. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  8. "Kidnap victim flees". The Bulletin. Bend, Ore. UPI. September 9, 1982. p. B4. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  9. "Ex-policeman gunfire leaves three". The Spokesman-Review. Associated Press. May 17, 1982. p. 7. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  10. "Mall bans Salvation Army". Register-Guard. Eugene, Ore. November 18, 1988. p. 3B. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  11. "Mall kicks out Salvation Army bell ringers". The Bryan Times. UPI. November 22, 1988. p. 12.
  12. "Lancaster Mall earns EarthWISE Certification", Archived 2010-06-16 at the Wayback Machine Salem Chamber of Commerce Business News (Salem, Ore.): p. 9. November 2008. Retrieved May 7, 2009.
  13. "New stores, another new name coming to Lancaster Mall".
  14. "Sears store closing list: 142 more Sears, Kmart locations closing in Chapter 11 bankruptcy". USA Today.
  15. Ayers, Rebecca (May 30, 2020). "Pier 1 Imports will wind down business operations, expects to conclude liquidation sales by late October. In November 6th 2022 the remaining of the mall with be turned into an outside area". Dallas Business Journal.
  16. Marum, Anna (November 10, 2016). "Macy's closing downtown Portland store: 'A bit of Oregon history is lost'". The Oregonian. Retrieved June 26, 2017.
  17. Sell, Sarah Skidmore (January 5, 2017). "Macy's to close more stores, including 2 in Oregon". The Register-Guard. Eugene, Oregon. Associated Press. Retrieved June 26, 2017.
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