TIME & AGAIN: The call of the mall

TIME & AGAIN: The call of the mall

This photo is from the grand opening of the Bon Marche (now Macy’s) store at the Tacoma Mall in 1964. It was one of many milestones for the iconic indoor shopping center, starting with groundbreaking in 1963 for the $40 million project. It was one of three such centers developed in the Puget Sound region by Allied Department Stores. The others were Northgate Mall (now called Northgate Station), which debuted in 1950 in Seattle, and Westfield Southcenter in Tukwila, which opened in 1968 as simply Southcenter and is the largest shopping mall in Washington. Tentatively named Town Center and later Tacoma Freeway Mart during early planning in the late 1950s and early ‘60s, Tacoma Mall officially opened in October 1965. It has undergone three major renovations since then and seen multiple stores close and new ones open.