History
The original River Park Square was opened in 1974. In 1978, an expansion added a 55,000 square-foot enclosed second level and two skywalks connecting the mall to the JCPenney and Nordstrom stores. When completed, the shopping center contained 800,000 square-feet of retail space with The Crescent, JCPenney, and Nordstrom as anchor stores. In February 1984, a new skywalk was constructed to connect the center to The Bon Marché, which was located east of the complex. The addition of the skywalk added 20,000 square-foot of retail space to the center.
In January 1987, Osco Drug closed its drug store at the shopping mall. The drug store, which previously operated as PayLess Drug and Skaggs, had been located in downtown Spokane since 1942. The space was quickly replaced by Thrifty Drug in November 1987. In April 1994, PayLess Drug, which acquired the pharmacy from Thrifty, closed for good.
In 1991, JCPenney closed its store at River Park Square after relocating to the newly renovated NorthTown Mall. Burlington Coat Factory moved into the space in 1994 and remained at the mall until moving to a larger location in 2001. In April 1992, the shopping mall suffered a big loss when Frederick & Nelson, which acquired The Crescent in 1988, liquidated and closed its remaining stores.
In 1995, the Spokane City Council announced that it would seek a $23.8 million federal loan to build a larger Nordstrom store in an attempt bring shoppers back to the ailing shopping center. On February 12, 1998, Nordstrom signed a 20-year lease on a new building at River Park Square. Construction began in April 1998. The old Nordstrom building was demolished shortly after for new retail space. The redeveloped $110 million dollar shopping center opened on August 20, 1999 to a crowd of about 2,000 people.
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