Kennedy Mall facts for kids
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| Location | Dubuque, Iowa, United States |
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| Coordinates | 42°29′38″N 90°43′23″W / 42.494°N 90.723°W |
| Opening date | April 15, 1970 |
| Developer | Cafaro Company |
| Management | Cafaro Company |
| Owner | Cafaro Company |
| No. of stores and services | 63 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 10 (8 open, 2 vacant) |
| Total retail floor area | ~700,000 sq ft (65,000 m2) |
| No. of floors | 1 with partial upper level (2 in former Younkers Mens) |
Kennedy Mall is a big shopping mall located in Dubuque, Iowa. The Cafaro Company owns and manages it. The mall has many main stores, called anchor stores. These include Edward Jones, Shoe Carnival, Planet Fitness, Vertical Jump Park, JCPenney, Dick's Sporting Goods, Ulta Beauty, and Books-A-Million. There are also two empty spots where two Younkers stores used to be.
Contents
History of Kennedy Mall
Kennedy Mall was special because it was the first mall in Iowa with air conditioning and heating. This meant it was comfortable to shop in all year round.
Early Days and Opening
In 1964, a store called Montgomery Ward decided to move its Dubuque store. It moved from downtown to the west side of the city. In 1966, the land for the mall was approved for building. The Cafaro Company from Youngstown, Ohio built the mall.
When it first opened, the three main stores were Younkers, Montgomery Ward, and Roshek's Department Store. Roshek's also moved from downtown to the mall.
Younkers opened its doors in the fall of 1968. Montgomery Ward followed in the spring of 1969. Roshek's opened in the fall of 1970. The mall officially opened on April 15, 1970. It had a smaller main store called F. W. Woolworth Company. At that time, Kennedy Mall had sixty stores. This made it the largest enclosed mall in Iowa. Soon after, a tornado caused some damage to the Dubuque area, including the mall.
Changes to Stores Over Time
Roshek's closed its mall store in 1982. Montgomery Ward closed its store in 1983. Then, JCPenney moved from its downtown spot into the old Montgomery Ward space.
A store called Armstrong Department Stores moved into the space where Roshek's used to be. In the late 1980s, Armstrong's closed down. Even though the Dubuque store was doing well, the company stopped operating.
After Armstrong's closed, Sears decided to move its store to Kennedy Mall. They took over the southern half of the old Armstrong's store. Younkers then decided to get bigger. They moved their men's clothing and home goods into the northern half of the building.
Today, the main stores at Kennedy Mall include Books-A-Million, Vertical Jump Park, Dick's Sporting Goods, JCPenney, and Planet Fitness.
Mall Renovations and Updates
After another tornado hit in 1989, the mall had many updates. They added a food court in the northeast part of the mall. They also made many other improvements to make the mall look better.
Originally, there was a movie theater inside the mall. It was called General Cinema and had one large screen. In 1972, it was changed into a two-screen theater. In the 1980s, General Cinema built a new six-screen theater. It was called Kennedy Mall Cinema 6. This new theater was built in the parking lot next to the mall. It replaced the old theater inside. Today, Phoenix Theaters uses that space.
A part of the mall's northeast corner was taken down and rebuilt. This was to make space for a new Borders book store. This book store took over most of the old food court area. It also took over the mall's Sam Goody music store.
On July 15, 2011, Borders Group announced it would close all its stores. This included the Kennedy Mall location. By the end of July, Books-A-Million bought 30 Borders stores. The Kennedy Mall location was one of them. Books-A-Million opened in the old Borders spot in late 2011 after some updates.
Best Buy built its own store in the southeast parking lot. This area used to be extra parking space.
For many years, Walgreens had a store at Kennedy Mall. This store had entrances both inside and outside the mall. It was located between Bishop's Buffet and JCPenney. In 2005, Walgreens built a new store nearby. When the new store opened, the mall location closed. Dick's Sporting Goods then tore down the old Walgreens space. They rebuilt it for a new store, which opened in late 2010.
On January 22, 2014, it was announced that Sears would close by early May. Vertical Jump Park took over the old Sears space and some smaller stores in 2016.
In March 2018, Kennedy Mall announced that Phoenix Theatres would replace Mindframe Theaters.
In April 2018, Younkers' parent company said they would close all their stores. This included the two stores at Kennedy Mall. Both Younkers stores closed permanently on August 29, 2018. It is still unknown what will take their place.
Mall Renovation Project
In April 2007, the Cafaro Company announced plans to update Kennedy Mall. This project was done in two parts. Work started in 2007. The changes included replacing floors, entrances, and landscaping. They also updated the parking lots. New skylights were added. The east side of the mall was changed so more stores could face Wacker Drive. The first part of the project cost about $2.9 million.
Local people were happy with the inside updates. As part of the plan, the mall's famous center water fountain was removed. This made room for more stores. The fountain had not worked for years and looked old. Many parts of the 37-year-old mall needed fixing. This included parking lots, sidewalks, lights, signs, and outside walls. All these were completely updated by the fall of 2008. A new play area for children opened in June 2008. The Finley Hospital helped pay for it. These updates happened because businesses in the area were doing well. More stores were also coming to the area. This showed that Dubuque was ready for the mall to be improved. This was only the second big update in the mall's 37 years.
Main Stores (Anchors)
- JCPenney
- Best Buy (sells electronics and appliances)
- Dick's Sporting Goods (sells sports gear and clothing, opened in Fall 2010)
- Books-A-Million (opened in late 2011 in the old Borders store space)
Images for kids
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The former Borders book store at the mall. This store is now Books-A-Million.
