Valley Fair Shopping Center - History

History

Construction on Valley Fair began on July 1, 1953. It was located in the town of Menasha, Wisconsin until the land on which it stood was annexed to Appleton. The mall was built by Hamilton Construction Company under the name Hoffman Shopping Centers, Inc. Designed by George Narovec, it was one of the first malls in Wisconsin to be enclosed, The mall's grand opening was March 10, 1955. It opened fully on August 11, 1955. The mall originally had six stores: Krambo Supermarkets (renamed Kroger), House of Camera & Cards, Badger Paint & Hardware, Donald's, Hamilton Bakery and Eddie's Self-Service Liquor.

The next two years saw further expansion in phases, fronted on the eastern end by a W. T. Grant discount store. With this, the mall was fully completed by 1956. It remained relatively unchanged through 1976, when the Grant's anchor ceased with the rest of the entire chain.

In a huge expansion and renovation project in 1978-1979, the mall re-tenanted, with less emphasis on local businesses and more on nationally-known tenants. This project included:

• An extension of the east wing of the mall, going through the former W.T. Grant store. Space was created for 15-20 new shops, most of them national chains. Included were Brauns, RadioShack, Fanny Farmer, Thom McAn, Walgreen's, Woolworth's, and Hallmark Cards. This section fronted a huge Kohl's Department Store/Supermarket combo, one of four built north of Milwaukee. Kohl's Department Store at Valley Fair eventually closed near the end of the 1990s, with new replacement stores opening near Darboy (a suburb in the Southeast corner of Appleton) and another one in Neenah.

• A new Marcus 3-screen cineplex was built onto the rear of the mall adjacent to Center Court. In the late 1980s they were divided to create a 6-screen cineplex.

• Alterations were done to the older 1950s portion of the mall to blend it into the newer section, including new carpeting laid atop the original concrete flooring, new lighting fixtures and exterior signage.

Through the 1980s and early 1990s, the mall changed ownership several times. Foot traffic started to decrease when Northland Mall on the north side of Appleton completed a major expansion. Another 15 stores in an existing 1960s-era strip were also connected to Kohl's, creating a rare instance of a hybrid strip/enclosed mall. Dartmouth Clothing & Lady Dartmouth (based in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin) opened a store in the Valley Fair Mall during the early 1980s. It eventually closed and re-opened under the name American Clothiers. Another attraction was the addition of Pedro's, at the time one of the first places in northeast Wisconsin to serve authentic Mexican food. Pedro's was eventually purchased by George Wall and the name changed to Sergio's Mexican Bar & Grill.

This was followed by Fox River Mall opening in 1984 in Grand Chute, a suburb of Appleton. Tenants started to relocate to both malls as leases came up, though others would stick it out up through the late 1990s.