Three Rivers Mall
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Three Rivers Mall is an enclosed shopping mall located in Kelso, Washington that opened in 1987, on the site of a former golf course adjacent to Interstate 5. Previously owned by General Growth Properties, the mall was one of 30 malls that was spun off into Rouse Properties in 2012. Rouse was acquired by Brookfield Properties Retail Group in 2016. In July 2019, Brookfield sold the mall to Arizona-based Three Rivers Village, LLC. The mall has three anchors: JCPenney,
Sportsman's Warehouse Sportsman's Warehouse is an American outdoor sporting goods retailer which operates in 29 states across the United States. Sportsman's Warehouse sells apparel, footwear, and gear which caters to sportsmen and sportswomen with interests in hunting, ...
, and Regal Cinemas. Its original main anchors were The Bon Marche (which became Macy's; closed 2017), JCPenney, Sears (closed 2013), and
Emporium Emporium may refer to: Historical * Emporium (antiquity), a trading post, factory, or market of Classical antiquity * Emporium (early medieval), a 6th- to 9th-century trading settlement in Northwestern Europe * Emporium (Italy), an ancient town ...
(closed 2001). The Kelso Public Library moved its main branch to the mall in 2011. The mall also has several freestanding businesses:
Safeway Safeway is an American supermarket chain founded by Marion Barton Skaggs in April 1915 in American Falls, Idaho. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and features a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, d ...
(originally
TOP Food & Drug Haggen Food & Pharmacy is a grocery retailer in Washington State. Haggen is headquartered in Bellingham, Washington, where it started in 1933 when Ben Haggen, Dorothy Haggen, and Doug Clark opened the first store on Bay Street in Bellingham. Fo ...
),
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(opened 1990), and Pier 1 Imports (which closed in 2020 along with the rest of the chain). There are also several freestanding restaurants: Red Lobster, Panera Bread, and Fiesta Bonita Mexican Restaurant. There is one vacant restaurant which was last occupied by Izzy's Pizza, which, according to a Facebook post, closed during 2020 for a remodel, and has not reopened as of August, 2021. Regal Cinemas operated a freestanding theater until January 2015, when it relocated into the main mall.


History

While the mall opened to great fanfare in 1987, bringing a variety of new stores to the area, as well as the relocation of Sears, JCPenney, and The Bon Marche from nearby downtown Longview, Washington, the mall began to struggle in the early 2000s, starting with the closure of the
Emporium Emporium may refer to: Historical * Emporium (antiquity), a trading post, factory, or market of Classical antiquity * Emporium (early medieval), a 6th- to 9th-century trading settlement in Northwestern Europe * Emporium (Italy), an ancient town ...
chain. A few tenants, such as a used car showroom, a seasonal Halloween store, and a church, occupied the former Emporium for brief periods of time until 2014. The decline in foot traffic prompted many smaller retailers to close, and some chains present in the mall such as Radio Shack,
Sam Goody Sam Goody was a music and entertainment retailer in the United States and United Kingdom, operated by The Musicland Group, Inc. It was purchased by Best Buy in 2000, sold to Sun Capital Partners in 2003, and filed for bankruptcy in 2006, clos ...
, and
KB Toys K·B Toys (also known as Kay Bee Toys) was an American chain of mall-based retail toy stores. The company was founded in 1922 as Kaufman Brothers, a wholesale candy store. The company opened a wholesale toy store in 1946, and ended its candy who ...
, were also closed as those chains struggled. The food court also dwindled down to a couple of local tenants. Sears announced late in 2012 that they would close their store in the mall in January 2013, which further reduced foot traffic. Among the businesses that left after Sears closed were Big 5 Sporting Goods, Fred Meyer Jewelers, and Mr. Formal. Chuck E. Cheese's also closed their location inside the mall on April 7, 2014. Macy's announced in January 2017 that the Kelso location is one of 68 stores that would be closing. The store closed in March 2017. As of February 2018, there were no tenants open in the food court, and the food court remained vacant until March 2020.
Sportsman's Warehouse Sportsman's Warehouse is an American outdoor sporting goods retailer which operates in 29 states across the United States. Sportsman's Warehouse sells apparel, footwear, and gear which caters to sportsmen and sportswomen with interests in hunting, ...
opened in the former Emporium store in July 2014. The former Sears store has been demolished, and Regal Cinemas has constructed a new theater on the former Sears site, which replaced the mall's freestanding theater, as well as the Triangle Cinemas in nearby Longview. The new theater opened in January 2015. The mall's management announced in September 2014 that Planet Fitness will be moving into the former Chuck E. Cheese's site with additional space. Planet Fitness held its grand opening in January 2015. Panera Bread built a new, freestanding location which opened in December 2017. A local business called The Coffee Court opened in the mall's food court in March 2020. This is the first food court tenant in over two years.


In popular culture

An episode of the Food Network show ''
Food Court Wars ''Food Court Wars'' is an American competitive reality television cooking show on the Food Network that puts two teams of entrepreneurs in a shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping ce ...
'' was filmed in the mall. The episode titled "Gaufre Gourmet vs. Pressed" originally aired on March 30, 2014. The winner of the contest received one year of free rent in the food court, and Gaufre Gourmet opened for business in April 2014. However, citing a lack of foot traffic, Gaufre Gourmet closed in September 2014, and the owners have since opened a restaurant in Portland, Oregon.


References


External links

* {{Shopping Centers WA Shopping malls established in 1987 Shopping malls in Washington (state) Buildings and structures in Cowlitz County, Washington Tourist attractions in Cowlitz County, Washington 1987 establishments in Washington (state)