Southern Hills Mall: From Dispute to Grand Opening
By the late 1960s, Sioux City leaders and developers were debating where a regional shopping mall should rise.
The idea began to take shape under General Growth Properties, which proposed a new enclosed center to serve the tri-state Siouxland region.
Plans first targeted land near the municipal airport, but a zoning change blocked that location.
The developer then shifted to a tract at the southern edge of the Morningside neighborhood, away from the older commercial core.
The move set off years of argument over whether the city's next retail hub should stay downtown or move to open ground.
Through the mid-1970s, competing downtown mall plans gained traction, each promising to revive the city center.
One proposal even led to a large excavation known locally as Lake Brandeis when the project stalled.
In 1977, a newly elected city council reversed course and approved the suburban mall, clearing final political hurdles.
Construction followed in 1979 on what was described as a $21 million enclosed shopping complex developed by General Growth.
Doors open and traffic builds
Southern Hills Mall opened its doors on March 5, 1980.
Target and Sears launched as the first anchors, followed soon after by Younkers.
The new mall introduced Sioux City to a full-scale enclosed shopping center designed for year-round comfort and convenience.
Only weeks after its debut, crowds from three states filled the walkways of the new mall.
Its one-level layout simplified navigation, while a mix of national and local tenants created a balanced retail lineup.
Promotional events, seasonal displays, and in-store grand openings brought a steady rhythm to the first months of operation.
By late 1980, Younkers had joined the anchor lineup, solidifying the mall's position as the city's primary retail hub.
Two years later, traffic swelled once more as bridge repairs on the Siouxland Veterans Memorial Bridge forced detours through the Sergeant Road route serving the mall.
In those early seasons, Southern Hills Mall ran as a complete retail bubble.
The indoor walkway kept people moving through the stores, no matter what the weather was doing outside, and most storefronts stayed filled.
With the anchor stores steady and more visitors arriving from nearby towns, management started planning new attractions to encourage shoppers to linger.
Amenities round out the offer
In 1990, crews brought a carousel into the center court of Southern Hills Mall.
Workers bolted it to the terrazzo floor and built a low fence around its platform.
When it started turning, its mirrors and lights reflected across the concourse.
Parents often chose it to find each other.
Teenagers clustered beside it before setting off down the loop to Sears or Target.
In time, the corridor shifted from an ordinary walkway to a sentimental stop for those who grew up inside its walls.
That same year, the mall's little movie theater finally stretched out.
Four screens weren't enough anymore, so they built more, turning it into a real complex.
Cars stuck around late into the night while the shops sat dark and locked up.
The steady hum of the projector joined the sound of cleaners in the closed concourse.
It marked the first time the building had real activity past closing hours.
On February 25, 1991, Red Lobster opened beside the mall.
It was not inside the structure but close enough that diners walked over afterward to shop or see a film.
With a carousel spinning indoors, a bigger theater, and a sit-down restaurant outside, Southern Hills Mall began operating as more than a place to buy things.
It was becoming part of the daily routine.
Management changes and a bigger tenant mix
In March 1998, Macerich assumed management of Southern Hills Mall under a joint venture with Simon Property Group.
The shift brought new leasing strategies and prepared the center for national expansion trends.
Construction activity increased over the next few years as anchors reconfigured space and new large-format stores were added.
Scheels All Sports opened in 2003, taking over a substantial footprint and adding an experiential component that aligned with the company's regional growth.
Barnes & Noble followed in 2004, strengthening the soft goods and lifestyle mix.
Around the same time, Target vacated its original mall space to open a freestanding Greatland format elsewhere in the city.
JCPenney took the opening and moved from its longtime downtown store to Target's former anchor box in mid-2004.
The move ended the era of downtown department stores and confirmed the mall as the city's retail center.
In 2003, the mall also unveiled a series of 38 Lewis and Clark murals as part of a national bicentennial program.
With refreshed anchors and cultural art in place, Southern Hills Mall closed the decade as a fully modernized regional property ready for its next ownership shift.
Consolidation, then department-store exits
By January 2012, Simon Property Group had taken full ownership and direct management of Southern Hills Mall.
The property entered a period of steady operation, with anchors Sears, JCPenney, and Younkers forming its backbone.
Tenancy held consistent until the mid-2010s, when the national department store sector began to contract.
Younkers announced its closure in 2018 after its parent company, The Bon-Ton Stores, entered liquidation.
The space was vacated that summer, removing one of the original anchors that had operated for nearly four decades.
Within months, another major change followed as Sears announced on December 28, 2018, that its store would close.
Sears wrapped up liquidation in March 2019, creating another vacant anchor at the edge of the mall.
The closures reduced total active space and narrowed the list of major anchors to JCPenney and Scheels.
The smaller stores stayed in business, but most of the crowd movement shifted toward the remaining active ends.
The loss pushed management to start finding new uses for the space, a process that would quietly rebuild the anchor mix over time.
Entertainment and home replace the old anchors
Tilt Studio opened in 2022 inside the former Sears space, converting the anchor into a family entertainment center with arcades and rides.
The change reactivated a large section of the mall that had been closed since 2019.
Tilt's arrival also diversified the mall's offer beyond traditional retail, drawing visitors for events and weekend recreation.
Redevelopment continued in the adjacent anchor shell once occupied by Younkers.
Construction there produced a rebuilt space for Ashley, which opened by 2022 as a full-line furniture showroom.
The store joined The Furniture Mart in the same redeveloped area, bringing a home-goods focus to the former department store footprint.
With these additions, the mall's anchor roster shifted entirely: JCPenney remained, Scheels anchored the opposite end, Tilt Studio handled entertainment, and Ashley filled the home category.
Each opened to the public through separate entrances connected to the interior concourse.
By late 2024, the mall operated as a mixed retail and leisure complex with active anchors on all sides.
The physical structure stayed intact and accessible, maintaining regular hours while ownership moved under Kohan Retail Investment Group for ongoing management.
Policies, security notes, and tenant churn
In November 2024, Southern Hills Mall hosted the Family Crisis Centers' Empty Chair display, a traveling exhibit honoring victims of domestic violence.
The display filled an open section of the concourse with rows of chairs and local outreach materials.
It reflected how the mall still functioned as a gathering space, even as its retail lineup continued to change.
Two months later, Sioux City Police opened an investigation into a string of burglaries connected to stores inside the complex.
The inquiry, announced in January 2025, brought renewed attention to overnight security and access procedures.
By spring, management added new rules to shape visitor behavior.
On April 4, a Youth Escort Policy took effect, requiring anyone under sixteen to be accompanied by an adult twenty-one or older at all times inside the mall.
Tenant movement followed through the summer.
Torrid closed its store in June 2025, while Bath & Body Works confirmed a second city location but kept its mall branch open.
Claire's, facing a national downsizing, announced in August that its Southern Hills Mall store would remain.
That same month, public tax records listed more than half a million dollars in unpaid property taxes tied to the mall's owner, Kohan Retail Investment Group.
Despite the headlines, JCPenney, Scheels, Tilt Studio, AMC Southern Hills 12, and Ashley remain open today.
