When the doors opened for the first time at The Empire Mall on Sept. 24, 1975, the name was Sioux Empire Plaza, and the store lineup read like a chapter in retail history.
There were the anchor department stores: Herberger’s and Younkers. Specialty retailers in the earliest years included Kinney Shoes, Radio Shack and Waldenbooks. Food options were more like snacks: Baskin Robbins, Karmelkorn and Orange Julius.
A JCPenney store arrived a year after the opening, and several original tenants still remain, including Maurices and Riddle’s Jewelry.
Here’s a list from 1976:
In 1978, an expansion brought a fourth anchor — Dayton’s, which later became Marshall Field’s and now Macy’s — as well as space for 22 other tenants.
Through the decades, the mall has expanded and evolved, from 34 tenants in 1975 to an estimated more than 140 today.
A parking lot that once held 3,500 vehicles now accommodates about twice that.
“A lot of people have different memories of the mall, but it’s always family-centric,” said Dan Gies, who became general manager in 2017.
“It’s somewhere you can take the whole family, whether it’s back-to-school shopping or holiday shopping or just running out to the mall. It’s a place to gather and to make memories.”
Looking back…