Holiday Village Mall

The idea of the Holiday Village Mall was conceived in 1956 by owners Don F. Robinson, Theodore J. Mitchell and John T. Mitchell.[1] The first store in the shopping center, an Albertsons food and drug store, opened for business in November 1959.[1] The shopping center's formal grand opening was held in January 1960.[1] Among the first stores in the 100,000 square-foot center were Hesteds, Rosana, Kops Music Mart, and Holiday Jewelry and Gifts.[1]

The first expansion of the shopping center, completed in September 1962, added an enclosed wing with several new shops and a 4B's buffet-style restaurant.[2] Another addition, a larger Hesteds department store, opened in November 1962.[3] Skaggs Drug Centers acquired the Albertsons pharmacy in July 1963.[4]

Ground was broken for another expansion of the mall in February 1966.[5] The new expansion, which was completed in September, included a Montgomery Ward department store and service center.[6] A third expansion of the mall was constructed in 1967.[7] This expansion included the addition of a Buttrey-Osco food and drug store and a first-run, 796-seat movie theater.[7] The opening of the new section was briefly delayed after a fire caused damage to the new Buttrey-Osco store.[7] In July 1969, a Buttreys Suburban department store opened at the mall.[8]

In November 1975, Hesteds announced its plans to close by the end of the year.[9] Four months later, Buttreys Suburban announced plans to close as well.[10] By the end of the year, the former Hesteds space was sold to Herberger's, while J. C. Penney moved into the former Buttreys Suburban space.[11] In 1979, Holiday Village Mall was acquired by Macerich, which renovated the mall the same year.[12]

Following the merger of American Stores and Jewel Companies, Skaggs Drug Centers was rebranded as Osco Drug in February 1985.[13] The Fox Holiday Theater was closed in January 1989.[14] In November 1989, Buttrey-Osco announced it would close its store in early 1990.[15] In August 1990, after months of speculation, Sears confirmed plans to close its downtown Great Falls store and relocate to the site of the former Buttrey-Osco store in late fall 1991.[16] During 1991, Herberger's expanded its store after acquiring 8,500 square-feet of space on the mall's lower-level from Big Bear Sports Centers.[17]

In January 1999, Montgomery Ward announced it would close its store after 33 years at the mall and 70 years in Great Falls.[18] Shortly after the announcement, The Bon Marché, which had recently closed its downtown Great Falls store, announced it was considering opening in the vacant Wards space.[19] In August, Albertsons, the mall's first tenant, announced it would close at the end of October.[20]

In March 2000, Herberger's announced it would move from its current store into the empty Montgomery Ward space.[21] In December 2001, Osco Drug announced it would move from its current space to a free-standing location on the site of the former Montgomery Ward auto center.[22] However, Osco Drug officials later scrapped their plans.[23] Ross Dress for Less announced plans to open a store in the vacant Albertsons space in March 2005.[24] After numerous delays, the store was finally opened in April 2007.

In November 2005, Scheels All Sports, which has operated in the mall since 1968, announced plans build a larger store on the site of the former Herberger's building.[25] Plans were later changed to remodel the vacant space, instead of the demolishing the vacant building.[26] After much anticipation, Scheels opened its new store in February 2007.[27] The empty Scheels space was quickly filled by Bed Bath & Beyond in October 2007.[28]

In July 2006, Macerich sold the shopping center to GK Development.[29]

In 2009, CVS Pharmacy, which acquired Osco Drug from Albertsons in 2005, closed its store after a new free-standing location was built nearby.[30] The old CVS store was replaced by Big Lots in November 2011.[31] Sears announced the closure of its store in September 2014.[32] A Sears Hometown Store was opened in the mall in November 2015[33] but closed in 2018.

Hobby Lobby and PetSmart moved into the vacant Sears space in early 2017.[34] In April 2018, Herberger's parent company The Bon-Ton announced it will liquidate and close all 267 stores.[35] A Harbor Freight Tools store was added to a portion of the former Herberger's building in January 2019.[36]