Bellevue Square is a

shopping center A shopping center in American English, shopping centre in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, spelling differences), shopping complex, shopping arcade, ...

Bellevue Bellevue means "beautiful view" in French. Bellevue or Belle Vue may refer to: Places Australia * Bellevue, Queensland * Bellevue, Western Australia * Bellevue Hill, New South Wales Canada * Bellevue, Alberta * Bellevue, Newfoundlan ...

, Washington. The mall has over 200 retail stores with anchors

Macy's Macy's is an American department store chain founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. The first store was located in Manhattan on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, south of the present-day flagship store at Herald Square on West 34 ...

and

Nordstrom Nordstrom, Inc. () is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and a seco ...

. Bellevue Square also offers concierge services, valet parking, and a children's play area. It and the connecting Lincoln Square comprise The Bellevue Collection. Bellevue Square attracts over 23 million visitors annually () and had sales of over $1,000 per square foot in 2016. Bellevue Square is among the minority of class A malls that are privately held and not owned by a public Real Estate Investment Trust.

History

Bellevue Square was first opened on August 20, 1946, trading under the name "Bellevue Shopping Square", with the first suburban department store opened by Marshall Field & Co. through its

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

-based subsidiary,

Frederick & Nelson Frederick & Nelson was a department store chain in the northwestern United States, based in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington. Founded in 1890 as a furniture store, it later expanded to sell other types of merchandise. The company was acqu ...

. With the mall's name shortened to Bellevue Square a few years later, JCPenney opened a store in 1955. Nordstrom, then a local

shoe store Shoemaking is the process of making footwear. Originally, shoes were made one at a time by hand, often by groups of shoemakers, or ''cordwainers'' (sometimes misidentified as cobblers, who repair shoes rather than make them). In the 18th cent ...

, opened in 1958, before adding apparel and becoming the third major anchor in 1966, initially under the name Nordstrom Best. In the 1980s, the mall, then led by the original developer's son, Kemper Freeman Jr., expanded in several phases, finally adding a location for the Seattle-based department store

The Bon Marché The Bon Marché (colloquially The Bon) was an American department store chain founded in 1890 by married couple Edward and Josephine Nordhoff. It was based Seattle, Washington, and served working-class families in the Northwestern United Stat ...

in 1984. In 1992, with the bankruptcy and closure of Frederick & Nelson and collapse of a deal to lease part of the vacated space to

Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (Colloquialism, colloquially Saks) is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain founded in 1867 by Andrew Saks. The first store opened in the F Street and 7th Street shopping districts, F Street shopping distric ...

, the center used the opportunity to reconfigure the vacant anchor as mall shop space. 1994 saw the addition of a separate The Bon Marché Home Store, while Nordstrom expanded the size of their store by half. In 2003, The Bon Marché stores were renamed Bon-Macy's, and in 2005 they adopted the name

. In 2007, Bellevue Square was linked by a skybridge to Lincoln Square, another Kemper Freeman owned property which opened in 2005 and expanded in 2017. Together, they form part of the "Bellevue Collection", which spans several blocks of Downtown Bellevue. In September 2014,

JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC , Trade name, doing business as JCPenney (colloquially Penney's and abbreviated JCP) is an American department store chain store, chain with 649 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. It is managed as part of the Catalys ...

announced that it was closing its store after staying in the mall for 55 years. The 200,000 square foot area was converted into smaller retail stores in May 2015 for the following holiday season including

UNIQLO ( ; ) is a Japanese casual wear designer and retailer. The company is a subsidiary of Fast Retailing, Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. Clare Waight Keller is the creative director. History Men's Shop OS was founded in Ube, Yamaguchi. It was rebrand ...

and

Zara Zara may refer to: Businesses * Zara (retailer), a fashion retail company based in Spain * Zara Investment Holding, a Jordanian holding company * Continental Hotel Zara, Budapest, Hungary People and fictional characters * Zara (name), primari ...

. On May 31, 2020, much of the interior of Bellevue Square (which had been closed for two months in response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

) was damaged by looters in a downtown riot. Police alleged it was staged by organized gang members amid the

George Floyd protests The George Floyd protests were a series of protests, riots, and demonstrations against police brutality that began in Minneapolis in the United States on May 26, 2020. The protests and civil unrest began in Minneapolis as Reactions to the mu ...

that had begun in the area. The mall was later secured by Bellevue Police and the

Washington National Guard The Washington National Guard is one of the four elements of the State of Washington's Washington Military Department and a component of the National Guard of the United States. It is headquartered at Camp Murray, Washington and is defined by ...

References

External links

* {{Shopping Centers WA Shopping malls in King County, Washington Buildings and structures in Bellevue, Washington Shopping malls established in 1946 1946 establishments in Washington (state)