As with many shopping malls throughout the United States, shopping malls in Salem have faced challenges in recent years with the advent of online shopping. Salem has more than a dozen shopping malls, including the , founded in 1971 on the outskirts of town, according to the Statesman Journal, the city’s major daily newspaper.
The Statesman Journal reports that the Lancaster Mall is situated on 50 acres of land previously used for agriculture. At the time of its opening, it housed more than 20 stores in a climate-controlled environment new to local shoppers.
Since its opening, the mall has gone through many changes, the Statesman Journal says. Its first two anchor stores, Montgomery Ward and PayLess Drug Store, no longer exist in their original forms and as such no longer occupy the mall.
A former brick-and-mortar department store, Montgomery Ward is now an online-only retailer, after filing for bankruptcy in 1997 and closing its remaining stores in 2001. PayLess Drug Store merged with Rite Aid Corporation in the mid-1990s. Rite Aid now has a free-standing store on Lancaster Drive, blocks away from the Lancaster Mall.
Bigger changes are in the works, according a recent Lancaster Mall press release, which announced a $30 million renovation and rebranding effort. Renovations will include both expansion and repurposing of existing space for new retailers.
Red Robin plans to expand its restaurant at the mall entrance, and Burlington Coat Factory says it will upgrade and remodel its existing location. Hobby Lobby will take over a space vacated by Macy’s. The craft store is slated to open in the fall of 2017.
The Statesman Journal says that the mall will be renamed Willamette Town Center to draw customers from a wider area.