South Sound Center is a shopping mall located in Lacey, Washington. Its major stores include Target and Kohl's. The mall is not enclosed, but before major re-development in 2001, the centerpiece of the shopping center was a 500,000-square-foot (46,000 m2) enclosed mall.
History[]
South Sound Center opened in 1966 and was billed as the fourth regional shopping center in the state of Washington. Anchors at one time included Nordstrom Place Two (closed in 1994), Peoples (1966–1983, opening as Mervyns in 1984), Sears, and Woolworth. After many stores in the mall moved out and the closing of the last Woolworth store in the state of Washington in 1997, the enclosed mall portion was torn down in 2001 for a Target store between Sears and Mervyns. In December 2006, Mervyn's closed and was reopened as Kohl's in early 2007.
From the 1960s until the mid-1970s, a Safeway grocery store was in a outlot of the mall.
By 2001, most of the stores had left as the owner of the mall, who was trying to sell it to Target, had raised rents until businesses couldn't survive. Some of the last stores included Olympic Cards and Comics and DQ.
For some time in 1980s to early 1990s, the center hosted the "Christmas Island" display during the holiday season at the back of the parking lot. It also hosted an annual fireworks display on July 3 for 45 years before it moved in 2012.
In 2017, Verizon Wireless's store in the mall was crushed by snow and was closed until further notice. It remains closed due to the heavy damage. It is the only non-anchor store in the center(the part that was formerly the mall.)
After the mall closed and Target moved in, the mall and the many buildings around it were renamed the "South Sound Center".
On November 7, 2019, it was announced that Sears would be closing this location as part of a plan to close 96 stores nationwide. The store closed in February 2020. This Sears had been opened in 1943 and moved to the mall in 1966 for the grand opening.
Currently, the building that was formerly the enclosed mall has 5 buildings, currently only 2 are occupied by Kohl's & Target.