Preview
Creation Date
1974
Identification #
OGL291-72
Description
his photo shows the parking lot outside of Kmart and the South Forks Plaza located at 1900 South Washington Street. The Grand Cities Mall, originally called South Forks Plaza, was built in several stages. One of the original anchors, Kmart, first opened February 26, 1964, as part of South Forks Plaza (later renamed Grand Cities Mall). It was part of North Dakota's first indoor shopping mall and was a significant part of Grand Forks' retail landscape for over five decades.
The rest of the mall, which continued to be built over the summer of 1964. However, until 1973, the mall's two wings were not accessible to each other from inside. Sears and many of the stores occupied one wing, with Kmart and the remainder of the stores in the other. In November 1973 a connecting portion of the mall was completed, allowing access between the wings.
On April 1, 2015, the entire mall was purchased by Hope Evangelical Covenant Church. A separate company, Land of Hope, LLC, was created to run the mall's daily operations. On December 28, 2018, Sears Holdings announced that Kmart would be closing as part of a plan to close 80 stores nationwide. The store closed in March 2019. In 2000, Sears left the mall and moved to Columbia Mall.
Places Depicted
Grand Forks, North Dakota
Organizations Depicted
Sears Holdings Corporation; Land of Hope, LLC,; Burggraf's Ace Hardware; K-Mart Corporation; Family Dollar Stores; South Forks Plaza; Hope Evangelical Covenant Church; Grand Cities Mall
Rights
Elwyn B Robinson Department of Special Collections, Chester Fritz Library, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks