Conestoga Mall (Nebraska)

For the operating Canadian shopping mall, see Conestoga Mall (Ontario).

Conestoga Mall was an enclosed shopping mall in Grand Island, Nebraska. It was opened in 1974 and is owned by Woodsonia Real Estate. The mall's lone anchor store at the time of closure was Best Buy. Previous anchor stores included Sears, Dillard's, Younkers and JCPenney.

Conestoga Mall

Location	Grand Island, Nebraska, United States
Coordinates	40°56′03″N 98°22′51″W
Opening date	1974
Developer	Ericson Development
Owner	Woodsonia Real Estate
No. of anchor tenants	5 (1 open, 4 vacant)
Total retail floor area	611,719 sq ft (56,830.6 m2)
No. of floors	1
Website	shopconestogamall.com

History

Ericson Development of Edina, Minnesota, built the mall in 1974.^[1] At the time, it included Miller & Paine and Brandeis as its anchors.^[2] Later expansions brought Sears and JCPenney as anchors, as well as regional department store chain J.M. McDonald.

Dillard's purchased Miller & Paine in 1988, and Younkers purchased Brandeis in 1987. Best Buy later joined as a junior anchor, located in part of the former J.M. McDonald space.

In 2003, J. Herzog & Sons bought the mall from the Richard E. Jacobs group, which had put it up for sale in 1999.^[3][4] In 2017, New York-Based Namdar Realty Group purchased the mall.^[5]

The Younkers store closed in August 2018 with the liquidation of its owner, Bon-Ton Stores.^[6] The mall's Sears location closed in early 2019 as part of a plan to close 40 stores nationwide.^[7] On June 4, 2020, it was announced that JCPenney would be closing around October 2020 as part of a plan to close 154 stores nationwide. On February 1, 2023, it was announced that Dillard's would be closing its location at the mall leaving it with only Best Buy as the remaining anchor.^[8]

In early 2023, the mall was sold to Omaha, Nebraska-based Woodsonia Real Estate. The company announced a $250 million redevelopment plan for the site, to be renamed Conestoga Marketplace, which involves tearing down much of the mall including the vacant anchor stores (but retaining the Best Buy location), converting the remaining inline mall space into outside-facing retail space and building a new Target store as an anchor. A hotel and apartments would also be added on outparcels.^[9] The final remaining interior corridor closed on May 9, 2024, as tenants relocated to the new outside-facing retail space.^[10]