Bellis Fair Mall

Bellis Fair opened in August 1988, at the site of a former USDA Soil Conservation Service plant-materials center.[2] The mall attracted several retailers from downtown Bellingham, including Sears, Cineplex Odeon, JCPenney and The Bon Marché, who had failed to build a mall in downtown Bellingham in the early 1980s.[3] Mervyn's and Target also anchored the mall initially, with the latter as part of the first wave of Target stores in the Pacific Northwest.[4] The mall was popular with shoppers from nearby Vancouver, Canada in the early 1990s,[5] but sales waned as the Canadian dollar declined in value against the American dollar by 1995.[6]

In 1990, a Nordstrom Place Two store was added, having also relocated from downtown Bellingham.[7] The Nordstrom Place Two store was later converted to Nordstrom Rack in 1994, before closing in 1999[8] and becoming an auxiliary store for The Bon Marché. Also in 1999, Old Navy was added.[9]

Bellis Fair Mall is the last place North Carolina student Leah Roberts was seen in March 2000 before she disappeared. She bought a ticket to watch the movie American Beauty at the mall and she ate at a café there. Her crashed car was later discovered nearby but no trace of her has ever been found.

Both Bon Marché stores became Bon-Macy's in 2003 and Macy's in 2005. After Mervyn's closed its stores in the Pacific Northwest in 2006, many of the locations were sold to Kohl's, including the Bellis Fair store.[10] Sears closed in January 2013 and became Sports Authority the same year.[11] The cinema closed in 2014, replaced with many restaurants. Portions of the mall were renovated in 2015 including common area, food court and entry ways.[12] Sports Authority closed in 2016 but became a Dick's Sporting Goods in 2017. Ashley Furniture opened in the remainder of the former Sears in 2018.[13]