Bellis Fair Mall


Bellis Fair is an enclosed shopping mall in Bellingham, Washington. Opened on August 4, 1988, it features JCPenney, Kohl's, Macy's, Macy's Home Store, Dick's Sporting Goods, DSW, H&M, Forever 21, Ashley Furniture, and Target. The mall is located along Interstate 5 at its interchange with State Route 539 north of downtown Bellingham.

History

Bellis Fair opened in August 1988, at the site of a former USDA Soil Conservation Service plant-materials center. 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. 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. The mall was popular with shoppers from nearby Vancouver, Canada in the early 1990s, but sales waned as the Canadian dollar declined in value against the American dollar by 1995.
In 1990, a Nordstrom Place Two store was added, having also relocated from downtown Bellingham. The Nordstrom Place Two store was later converted to Nordstrom Rack in 1994, before closing in 1999 and becoming an auxiliary store for The Bon Marché. Also in 1999, Old Navy was added.
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. Sears closed in January 2013 and became Sports Authority the same year. 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. 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.