Launching a Retail First—The Enclosure That Changed the Market
On March 10, 1955, Valley Fair Mall opened in Appleton, Wisconsin. At the time, it was more than a local development—it was a national experiment.
Valley Fair Mall was the first fully enclosed, weather-protected shopping center in the country.
Construction began on July 1, 1953, two years earlier. Back then, the site wasn’t even part of Appleton—it was in the Town of Menasha.
That changed when the city annexed the land. Hamilton Construction Company led the build under the Hoffman Shopping Centers, Inc. name.
Architect George Narovec, based in Appleton, handled the design. He envisioned a new retail space where shoppers could stay dry and warm all year long.
The grand opening was in March, but all six original tenants were up and running on August 11, 1955.
Those included Krambo Supermarkets (which later rebranded to Kroger), House of Camera & Cards, Donald’s, Hamilton Bakery, Eddie’s Self-Service Liquor, and Badger Paint & Hardware.
Each storefront had its entrance, but everything connected under one roof.
By 1956, the mall expanded again—this time anchored by a W. T. Grant discount store on the eastern end.
It turned a mid-century prototype into a completed model. The mall drew in shoppers from across the Fox Valley.
Parking lots fill up on weekends. Local newspapers ran ads promoting “one-stop shopping” without the weather hassle.
For a while, this was one of the top things to do in Appleton, Wisconsin. It wasn’t just groceries or hardware—it was a destination.
And in the middle of it all stood Valley Fair Mall, wrapped in concrete and glass, showing what postwar retail could look like.
National Brands and the 1970s Expansion Push
Valley Fair Mall had already been in operation for more than two decades by the end of the 1970s.
It still looked much the same as it had in the ’50s—low-slung, practical, and built for Midwest weather.
But by 1978, the owners knew it needed an upgrade. Consumer tastes were changing, and so were the expectations of national tenants.
That year, the mall launched a major renovation. Crews extended the eastern wing, tearing through the old W. T. Grant space.
W. T. Grant closed in 1976 when the chain filed for bankruptcy. In its place, Valley Fair Mall created room for 15 to 20 new shops—almost all national chains.
That shift—from mom-and-pop to mall mainstay—changed how the center operated.
Retailers like Brauns, Fanny Farmer, Hallmark Cards, Thom McAn, Walgreens, and Woolworth’s moved in.
A new Kohl’s opened, too, offering both a department store and a full-service grocery under one roof.
At the time, only a few of these hybrid Kohl’s existed north of Milwaukee. The Kohl’s store quickly became the mall’s east-end anchor, drawing traffic from across Appleton and surrounding towns.
Entertainment also got a boost. A Marcus 3-screen cinema was added just off Center Court, tucked into the back of the property.
By the late ’80s, it was converted into a 6-screen multiplex.
The updates didn’t stop there—older sections of the building received cosmetic improvements, including new carpets, updated lighting, and exterior signage to match the new branding.
All of it aimed to keep Valley Fair Mall competitive in a changing market. Tenants stayed longer, customers returned more often, and national leases made the property more stable.
Market Saturation and Foot Traffic Fallout
Valley Fair Mall‘s updates helped—for a while—into the 1980s, but competition in Appleton didn’t slow down.
In 1984, Fox River Mall opened in Grand Chute, just six miles away. It offered more space, newer amenities, and easier highway access.
Valley Fair Mall wasn’t obsolete overnight, but the impact was clear.
Some tenants jumped ship. Others held their ground, hoping location and loyal customers would be enough. National chains started weighing foot traffic more heavily in their renewal decisions.
Over time, Valley Fair’s numbers slipped. Local outlets tried to fill the gaps—Dartmouth Clothing, Lady Dartmouth, and American Clothiers moved in.
Pedro’s Mexican restaurant opened, too, and it was one of the first in the area to offer sit-down service with traditional plates.
When George Wall bought it, he renamed it Sergio’s Mexican Bar & Grill.
Around the same time, Kohl’s began planning a move. By the late 1990s, the department store had left Valley Fair Mall and opened new locations in Darboy and Neenah.
Foot traffic dropped further. Even the hybrid layout—a combination of an enclosed mall and adjoining strip center—couldn’t offset the loss.
The original strip of 15 stores built in the ’60s was still connected to the main mall, creating an unusual format.
It didn’t help that Northland Mall, on Appleton’s north side, had just completed its expansion. Retail in the city was fragmenting.
Leasing agents tried different tenant mixes, but rent costs and maintenance kept rising.
Shoppers noticed. Stores closed quietly, one by one. By the end of the ’90s, Valley Fair Mall was still open—but it was losing ground.
YouthFutures and the Retail Reinvention Pitch
In 2002, a group called YouthFutures bought the mall. Their plan didn’t follow the usual retail playbook.
Instead of trying to bring back big brands or open more restaurants, they focused on something different—young people.
YouthFutures was a Christian-based nonprofit organization that wanted to build a space where teens could hang out, stay off the streets, and hear local bands play on weekends.
The old Kohl’s building was split into two zones: one side became an indoor skatepark, the other a performance and gathering area.
They cleared out the few national chains that were still there and brought in small local vendors.
If it worked, Valley Fair Mall would become the country’s first true “youth mall.”
But the structure was nearly 50 years old. Heating and cooling it in winter and summer was expensive, and remodeling would cost even more.
With no anchor store and fewer people walking through, lease revenue never covered the operating budget.
Maintenance was delayed, and tenants left faster than YouthFutures could replace them.
Some storefronts stayed dark, and posters advertising band nights peeled away from glass windows.
A few stores remained open, selling skate gear or snacks, but they couldn’t support the building alone.
What started as a mission-driven renovation ended up as a holding pattern.
By 2006, YouthFutures had run out of options. The mall, once home to full parking lots and chain-store banners, now had echoing hallways and more plywood than neon.
The property was put up for sale. Within a few months, a new group stepped in, backed by developers and real estate partners who had plans of their own.
Redevelopment, Demolition, and the New Retail Layout
VF Partners purchased the mall on March 30, 2006, for $2.3 million. The investment group included Commercial Horizons, Rollie Winter and Associates, and Bomier.
Their strategy was clear: tear down what didn’t work and start fresh with a more flexible site plan.
Demolition started on August 8, 2007. Crews took down most of the enclosed structure, leaving behind only what was still structurally viable.
The former Kohl’s Food Store, Chase Bank, and Marcus Cinemas buildings stayed intact—they were recent enough to be reused. The rest of the 26-acre site was cleared.
VF Partners pitched a different layout. Instead of a single mall building surrounded by parking, they flipped the design—placing retail buildings closer to Memorial Drive and pushing parking to the rear.
They also shifted the name, calling it Valley Fair Center instead of Valley Fair Mall.
The rebranding reflected the shift away from enclosed shopping toward mixed-use strip development.
Copps Food Center moved in, demolishing the old Kohl’s department store portion and building a new supermarket with a pharmacy.
That store replaced its earlier location on East Calumet Street. The new space measured about 70,000 square feet.
However, years later, that Copps location closed—part of a broader realignment after Roundy’s, Copps’ parent company, was acquired by Kroger in 2015.
The cinema held on until 2015. By then, Marcus Theatres had stopped upgrading smaller locations. The Valley Value Cinema never switched to digital projection. It showed its last movie on September 7, 2015.
What Remains—Retail and Realignment in 2025
The mall is gone—no more interior corridors, no more food court buzz or echoing announcements.
But the land it sat on—off Memorial Drive in Appleton—hasn’t been empty. What replaced it is quieter and more scattered. It is less of a destination and more of a routine stop.
The largest footprint belongs to Pick ‘n Save, which took over the space once filled by Copps Food Center. That change wasn’t unique to Appleton.
In 2015, Kroger acquired Roundy’s, the Milwaukee-based company that owned Copps, and started rebranding stores across Wisconsin. The Valley Fair site followed suit—same layout, different sign.
A Kwik Trip opened next door. It’s the kind of place you can stop for gas, coffee, or dinner—chicken tenders under heat lamps, eggs and milk in coolers, everything lit in fluorescent white.
The chain is known for reliability, and this one’s busy most hours of the day.
Across the lot, the Neuroscience Group runs a full clinic. The building looks new, with glass panels, clean siding, and an updated sign.
It offers diagnostics and treatments for brain and spine conditions. The office draws steady foot traffic, especially in the mornings.
There’s food here too. Arby’s operates with a drive-thru, its red-trimmed logo tucked behind a few shrubs.
Caribou Coffee opened nearby, serving lattes and breakfast sandwiches. Some days, people linger with laptops, while other times, the shop clears out by noon.
It doesn’t feel like a mall. There’s no central walkway and no background music.
But the Valley Fair Mall name still lingers—on zoning maps, in old newspaper clippings, and on the old Valley Fair Mall sign that hasn’t been taken down.
Still standing near the edge of the property, it towers above the lot—blank, faded, untouched.
Today, it looms like a shell—no lights, no marquee, just five rusted words spelling out what this place used to be. Shoppers walk past it now without looking up. But it’s there, watching.