South Sound Center is a

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

located in

Lacey, Washington Lacey is a city in Thurston County, Washington, United States. It is a suburb of Olympia, Washington, Olympia with a population of 53,526 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Washington, 24th mos ...

, United States. It opened in 1966 as the first shopping center in the Olympia area and originally had a enclosed mall. The indoor sections were demolished in 2000 and replaced by a retail plaza anchored by

Target Target may refer to: Warfare and shooting * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artille ...

and

Kohl's Kohl's Corporation (Kohl's is stylized in all caps) is an American department store retail chain store, chain. currently has 1,165 locations, operating stores in every U.S. state except Hawaii. The company was founded by Polish immigrant Maxwe ...

History

South Sound Center opened in 1966 and was billed as the fourth regional shopping center in the state of Washington. Anchors at one time included Nordstrom Place Two (closed in 1994),

Peoples The term "the people" refers to the public or common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. In contrast, a ...

(1966–1983, opening as

Mervyns Mervyn's was an American middle-scale department store chain based in Hayward, California, and founded by Mervin G. Morris (1920–2021). It carried national brands of clothing, footwear, bedding, bath products, furniture, jewelry, beauty product ...

in 1984),

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...

(closed in 2020),

Pay 'n Save Pay 'n Save Corporation was a retail company founded by Monte Lafayette Bean in Seattle, Washington, in 1940. Over the years, Pay 'n Save was the leading drugstore chain in Washington and was the owner of several Washington-based retailers, inc ...

(closed in 1992?) and Woolworth (closed in 1997 as the last store of the chain in Washington State). From the 1960s until the mid-1970s, a Safeway grocery store was in an outlot of the mall, though the building has since been demolished. A Joann Fabrics was also built behind the mall, though it is now an office building. For some time in 1980s to early 1990s, the center hosted the "Christmas Island" display during the holiday season at the back of the parking lot. It also hosted an annual fireworks display on July 3 for 45 years before it moved in 2012. After many stores in the mall moved out or closed, the enclosed mall portion was torn down in 2000 and replaced by a

store between Sears and Mervyns. In December 2006, Mervyn's closed and was reopened as Kohl's in early 2007. Around the mall's main building, which is occupied by Target and Kohl's, are a

Michaels Michaels Stores, Inc., doing business as Michaels, is an American privately held arts and crafts retail chain. It is North America's largest provider of arts, crafts, framing, floral and wall décor, and merchandise for makers and do-it-yourse ...

Marshalls Marshalls, Inc. is an American chain of discount store, off-price department stores owned by TJX Companies. Marshalls has over 1,000 American stores, including larger stores named Marshalls Mega Store (stores operating with HomeGoods combined), ...

,and a

PetSmart PetSmart Inc. is a privately held American chain of pet Big-box store, superstores, which sell pet products, services, and small pets. It is the leading North American pet company, and its direct competitor is Petco. Its indirect competitors ...

. In 2017,

Verizon Wireless Verizon is an American wireless network operator that previously operated as a separate division of Verizon Communications under the name Verizon Wireless. In a 2019 reorganization, Verizon moved the wireless products and services into the div ...

's store in the mall was crushed by snow and was closed until further notice, later relocating across the street in 2019. On November 7, 2019, it was announced that Sears would be closing this location as one of 96 stores to close nationwide. The store closed in February 2020. This Sears opened in 1943 and moved to the mall in 1966 for the grand opening of the mall. As of August 2022, other than seasonal Halloween stores, it has not been occupied, and the sign remains up.

References

Buildings and structures in Thurston County, Washington Lacey, Washington Power centers (retail) in the United States Shopping malls established in 1966 Shopping malls in Washington (state) {{US-mall-stub