Holiday Village Mall facts for kids
Entrance to the mall and JCPenney in February 2007
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| Location | Great Falls, Montana, United States |
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| Coordinates | 47°29′34″N 111°17′23″W / 47.49278°N 111.28972°W |
| Opening date | November 1959 |
| Developer | Don F. Robinson Theodore J. Mitchell John T. Mitchell |
| Owner | GK Development |
| No. of stores and services | 35 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 8 |
| Total retail floor area | 576,897 square feet (53,595.5 m2) |
| No. of floors | 2 |
Holiday Village Mall is a two-story shopping mall located in Great Falls, Montana, United States. It first opened its doors in November 1959. Back then, a grocery store called Albertsons was one of its main shops. Over the years, the mall grew and changed. Today, you can find many popular stores there. Some of the main stores include Big Lots, Harbor Freight Tools, Hobby Lobby, JCPenney, PetSmart, Ross Dress for Less, and Scheels.
Contents
History of Holiday Village Mall
How the Mall Started and Grew
The idea for Holiday Village Mall began in 1956. Three people, Don F. Robinson, Theodore J. Mitchell, and John T. Mitchell, thought it up. The very first store, an Albertsons food and drug store, opened in November 1959. The mall officially celebrated its grand opening in January 1960. Some of the first shops included Hesteds, Rosana, Kops Music Mart, and Holiday Jewelry and Gifts.
The mall started to grow in September 1962. A new section was added with more shops and a restaurant called 4B's. A bigger Hesteds department store opened in November 1962. In 1963, Skaggs Drug Centers took over the Albertsons pharmacy.
More building work began in February 1966. This new part, finished in September, included a Montgomery Ward department store. In 1967, a third expansion added a Buttrey-Osco food and drug store. A movie theater with 796 seats also opened. A small fire briefly delayed the opening of the new Buttrey-Osco store. In July 1969, a Buttreys Suburban department store opened at the mall.
Changes to Main Stores Over Time
In November 1975, Hesteds announced it would close. A few months later, Buttreys Suburban also said it would close. By the end of that year, Herberger's moved into the old Hesteds spot. J. C. Penney moved into the former Buttreys Suburban space. In 1979, a company called Macerich bought Holiday Village Mall. They updated the mall that same year.
In February 1985, Skaggs Drug Centers changed its name to Osco Drug. The Fox Holiday Theater closed in January 1989. It was torn down in October 1990 to make more room for parking. In November 1989, Buttrey-Osco announced its store would close. In August 1990, Sears said it would move its downtown Great Falls store to the mall. It opened in the old Buttrey-Osco spot in late 1991. Herberger's also made its store bigger in 1991.
In January 1999, Montgomery Ward announced it would close after 33 years at the mall. Soon after, The Bon Marché thought about opening in the empty Wards space. In August, Albertsons, the mall's very first store, announced it would close by the end of October.
In March 2000, Herberger's announced it would move into the empty Montgomery Ward space. In December 2001, Osco Drug planned to move to a new building nearby. However, those plans were later canceled. Ross Dress for Less announced in March 2005 that it would open a store in the empty Albertsons space. After some delays, the store finally opened in April 2007.
Mall Updates Since 2005
In November 2005, Scheels, a store that had been in the mall since 1968, planned to build a larger store. They later decided to just remodel the empty Herberger's building instead of tearing it down. Scheels opened its new, bigger store in February 2007. The old Scheels space was quickly filled by Bed Bath & Beyond in October 2007.
In July 2006, Macerich sold the mall to GK Development.
In 2009, CVS Pharmacy, which had bought Osco Drug, closed its store. A new CVS building was built nearby. The old CVS store was replaced by Big Lots in November 2011. Sears announced its store would close in September 2014. A Sears Hometown Store opened in the mall in November 2015 but closed in 2018.
Hobby Lobby and PetSmart moved into the empty Sears space in early 2017. In April 2018, Herberger's parent company, The Bon-Ton, announced it would close all its stores. A Harbor Freight Tools store opened in part of the former Herberger's building in January 2019.
In January 2023, Bed Bath & Beyond announced its store at the mall would close in March.
