Bellis Fair is an enclosed

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...

in Bellingham, Washington, United States. Opened on August 4, 1988, it features

JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gir ...

, Kohl's,

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

, Macy's Home Store,

Dick's Sporting Goods Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc. (stylized as "DICK'S Sporting Goods") is an American sporting goods retail company, based in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. The company was established by Richard "Dick" Stack in 1948, and has approximately 854 stores an ...

, DSW, H&M,

Forever 21 Forever 21 is a multinational fast fashion retailer headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States. Originally founded as the store Fashion 21 in Highland Park, Los Angeles in 1984,Forever 21History & Facts, n.d. Retrieved 27 April 2014 ...

Ashley Furniture Ashley Furniture Industries, Inc. is an American home furnishings manufacturer and retailer, headquartered in Arcadia, Wisconsin. The company is owned by father and son team Ron and Todd Wanek. Ashley Furniture manufactures and distributes home ...

, and

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * 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 artillery, fi ...

. The mall is located along Interstate 5 at its interchange with State Route 539 (Guide Meridian Road) north of downtown Bellingham.

History

Bellis Fair opened in August 1988, at the site of a former

USDA The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

Soil Conservation Service plant-materials center. Plans to build a regional shopping center north of Bellingham were announced in 1980 by the Trillium Corporation, who had acquired for retail and office development. The mall attracted several retailers from downtown Bellingham, including Sears,

Cineplex Odeon Cineplex Inc. (formerly Cineplex Galaxy) is a Canadian movie theatre and family entertainment centre chain headquartered in Toronto. The company was formed in 2003 via the acquisition of Loews Cineplex's Canadian operations (which included t ...

and The Bon Marché, who had failed to build a mall in downtown Bellingham in the early 1980s.

Mervyn's 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, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics, ...

and

also anchored the mall initially, with the latter as part of the first wave of Target stores in the Pacific Northwest. The mall was popular with shoppers from nearby

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, Canada in the early 1990s, but sales waned as the Canadian dollar declined in value against the American dollar by 1995. In 1990, a

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

Place Two store was added, having also relocated from downtown Bellingham. The Nordstrom Place Two store was later converted to Nordstrom Rack in 1994, before closing in 1999 and becoming an auxiliary store for The Bon Marché. Also in 1999,

Old Navy Old Navy is an American clothing and accessories retailing company owned by multinational corporation Gap Inc. It has corporate operations in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The largest of the Old Navy stores are its ...

was added. Bellis Fair Mall is the last place

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

student Leah Roberts was seen in March 2000 before she disappeared. She bought a ticket to watch the movie '' American Beauty'' at the mall and she ate at a café there. Her crashed car was later discovered nearby but no trace of her has ever been found. Both Bon Marché stores became Bon-

in 2003 and Macy's in 2005. After Mervyn's closed its stores in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

in 2006, many of the locations were sold to Kohl's, including the Bellis Fair store. Sears closed in January 2013 and became Sports Authority the same year. The cinema closed in 2014, replaced with many restaurants. Portions of the mall were renovated in 2015 including the common area, food court and entryways. Sports Authority closed in 2016 and was replaced with a

in 2017.

opened in the remainder of the former Sears in 2018. In February 2022,

Brookfield Property Partners Brookfield Property Partners L.P. is a global commercial real estate firm that is a publicly traded limited partnership and a subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management, an alternative asset management company. Its portfolio includes properties ...

defaulted on its $77 million loan and the mall was put up for auction. Brookfield's original note on the property had been taken out a decade prior for $93 million when the mall was valued at $145 million. In December 2022, 4th Dimension Properties acquired the mall at auction for $44 million. The developer stated an intent to improve the mall's nearly 80% occupancy rate by attracting nontraditional tenants. A branch of the Bellingham Public Library opened in the mall on April 26, 2023.

References

{{Brookfield Properties Brookfield Properties Shopping malls in Washington (state) Bellingham, Washington Shopping malls established in 1988 1988 establishments in Washington (state)