A Mall in Motion—How Kitsap Mall Redefined Silverdale’s Retail Scene
The air inside Kitsap Mall smells of fresh-baked pretzels and department store cologne.
A mother hurries past the JCPenney entrance, a shopping bag in one hand and a restless toddler in the other.
Across the way, a group of teenagers drape themselves over the food court chairs, scrolling through their phones between sips of iced coffee. The sound of an escalator hums faintly in the background.
This scene, familiar and routine, plays out inside a mall that wasn’t always here.
Before 1985, if you wanted real shopping in Kitsap County, you went to Bremerton.
That was where the stores were—the department chains, the big names, the retail experience.
But developers had a different vision. The Winmar Company saw an opportunity: a sprawling, enclosed mall in Silverdale, a community growing fast enough to need its commercial core.
On August 1, 1985, Kitsap Mall opened its doors. The draw was instant. Shoppers streamed in, checking out the original anchor stores, Sears, Lamonts, and The Bon Marché.
With nearly 600,000 square feet of retail space, it was more than a mall—it was a signal that Silverdale was ready to become its economic center.
It made sense for retailers. The location is near Highway 3, which is convenient for customers coming from all over the county.
In the first few years, Kitsap Mall operated like a well-oiled machine. Parking lots stayed packed.
The holiday season meant long checkout lines and department store Santas. Shoppers filled their bags with clothes, housewares, and the latest must-have items.
The mall wasn’t just where you bought things—it was where you spent time.
Kitsap Mall was thriving. The neon-lit food court, the scent of fresh popcorn, the window displays with seasonal trends—it was all part of an era when malls reigned supreme.
And for anyone looking for things to do in Silverdale, Washington, this was where you went.
Expansion and Evolution—Kitsap Mall’s Boom Years
By the late 1980s, Kitsap Mall was more than just a new shopping center—it was the retail powerhouse of Kitsap County.
The demand was there, and the response was fast. On March 4, 1988, Mervyn’s opened, adding another major player to the mix.
In 1989, JCPenney moved in, locking Kitsap Mall into place as the shopping hub of the region.
Business was booming. By 1993, The Bon Marché pushed east, nearly doubling its footprint. There were more racks, more displays, and more reasons for shoppers to linger.
Clothing, home goods, cosmetics—everything under one roof, and plenty of space to keep buying.
Sears followed in 1994, adding a standalone HomeLife furniture store north of the mall.
The expansion wasn’t just about space—it was about offering more, keeping customers inside longer, and ensuring they didn’t need to drive elsewhere.
The late 1990s brought new changes. Lamonts rebranded as Gottschalks in 2000 following a bankruptcy sale.
The Bon Marché transitioned as well, first becoming Bon-Macy’s in 2003 and then fully rebranding as Macy’s in 2005.
Every shift was another step in Kitsap Mall’s evolution—keeping pace with national retail trends and adapting to the names shoppers expected to see.
For nearly two decades, Kitsap Mall expanded, adapted, and thrived.
Storefronts filled, foot traffic stayed strong, and new brands arrived. But retail moves fast, and change is always just around the corner.
The First Cracks—Retail Shifts and Anchor Store Closures
The mid-2000s brought the first warning signs. Gottschalks shut down in 2006, unable to compete with larger department stores.
The space didn’t sit empty for long—the entire building was torn down and rebuilt for Cost Plus World Market and Barnes & Noble.
The new tenants were strong, but it was the first time an anchor store had disappeared, and it wouldn’t be the last.
In 2007, Mervyn’s closed. The company was struggling nationwide, and the Silverdale location went dark ahead of the chain’s full bankruptcy the following year.
Kohl’s moved in on November 11, 2007, filling the gap quickly. It was a win for the mall, but the retail landscape was shifting.
By 2011, Kitsap Mall’s owners took action. The mall got a facelift, with new storefronts, updated interiors, and a sleeker look. For a while, it worked.
Buffalo Wild Wings landed in 2013, breathing life into the food court. Victoria’s Secret shifted locations, adding a PINK store to draw younger shoppers.
Then came H&M in 2015, proof that Kitsap Mall still had pull and still had a place in the retail game.
Then came 2019. After nearly 35 years, Sears announced it would close, part of a wave of 85 closures nationwide.
The store closed on October 20, 2019. It wasn’t just an empty anchor space—it was a loss of a familiar name, a place where customers had shopped for decades.
The Breaking Point—Foreclosure and Ownership Changes
By May 26, 2021, Kitsap Mall was slipping. Once the retail anchor of Silverdale, it was now headed for foreclosure.
An auction was set for August 27. The numbers told the story—$34.5 million in assessed value and $74.56 million in debt.
Foot traffic was thinning, tenants were struggling, and ownership was out of moves.
The auction dragged. August 27 passed—no sale. Another delay, another month of uncertainty. Stores waited, employees wondered, and shoppers kept coming, unsure of what they’d find next.
Then, on December 17, 2021, the inevitable. U.S. Bank took it—no competition, no rescue, just a foreclosure on paper.
No buyers, no rescue—just a mall in limbo. JCPenney, Kohl’s, and Dick’s Sporting Goods stayed, but Sears was gone, leaving a void too big to miss.
Then came WinCo Foods, opening on August 22, 2022, in the old Sears space. It was a smart move—groceries don’t go out of style—but it changed the game.
Malls thrived on fashion, gadgets, and impulse buys. WinCo stocked bulk rice and frozen pizzas.
For months, the mall operated under the shadow of uncertainty. Stores kept running, lights stayed on, but the future remained unclear.
Then, in January 2025, Rhino Investments Group bought Kitsap Mall for $25 million, a fraction of what the property once commanded.
The deal included the 762,000-square-foot mall and the neighboring Red Robin. At 96% occupancy, the mall isn’t dead, but it isn’t thriving either.
The Uncertain Future—Adapting to a Changing Retail Market
The news wasn’t surprising, but it still landed with weight. On January 9, 2025, Macy’s announced it would close its Kitsap Mall location by March 23, 2025: another anchor store, another darkened entrance.
Employees scrambled for transfers, liquidation signs went up, and clearance racks filled with marked-down inventory.
For longtime shoppers, it was familiar—the same cycle had played out with Sears, Gottschalks, and Mervyn’s.
For Rhino Investments, the challenge was clear. Malls across the country were reinventing themselves, adding entertainment, restaurants, and even medical offices to replace shrinking retail footprints.
Would Kitsap Mall follow the same playbook? The new owners hinted at a mix of retail and experience-based tenants, but no official plans had been announced.
Inside the mall, the changes weren’t yet visible.
JCPenney, Kohl’s, Barnes & Noble, and Dick’s Sporting Goods remained. The food court still had a steady lunch crowd, and small retailers kept their doors open.
But the Macy’s closure would leave a major vacancy. Filling it wouldn’t be easy.
Rhino’s next moves would determine what came next. The mall wasn’t dead—not yet.
But it also wasn’t the Kitsap Mall, which opened in 1985, expanded through the ’90s, and ruled Silverdale’s shopping scene for decades. The next chapter was still unwritten.
