A relic of retail
I love these tiny, community mall discoveries I come across when researching the cities I plan to visit. Much like the roundabout ways I found out about the existence of New Landing Mall in Kansas City and Cedar Hills Crossing outside of Portland, I randomly found Park Fair Mall listed as a destination on a DART (Des Moines’ bus system) map.
1 & 2- The full front façade of Park Fair Mall facing Euclid Avenue. 3- The eastern mall entrance. 4 to 7- The western portion of the center. 8- The western mall entrance.
Located just to the north of downtown and across the Des Moines River, Park Fair Mall is located in the historic neighborhoods of Oak Park and Highland Park. One of the older portions of the sprawling midwestern city, the area was once home to old timey amusement park Riverview Park which closed in 1978.
Park Fair Mall lease plan ca. 1956. View the full PDF version here.
I found the low slung red brick building just a couple of blocks to the west of a strip of quaint shops lining Sixth Avenue. Cosplaying as a strip mall when viewed from Euclid Avenue, the building stretches for a couple of blocks with nationally known labels such as Ace Hardware, Dollar Tree and Citi Trends displayed prominently on its façade.
1- Just inside Park Fair Mall’s western entrance. 2 & 3- The now closed interior entrance to Ace Hardware, originally Woolworth. 4 & 5- The sepia toned mural of the surrounding neighborhood marks the spot where the former upper concourse once started. 6 to 7- The western escalators and steps leading down to the ground level.
I entered at the eastern mall entrance located next to Fareway Grocery, which was once occupied by original anchor W.T. Grant. Once inside, the truncated former upper level corridor was walled off with a colorful mural of Riverview Park. Just beyond were the set of escalators and stairs serving as access to the lower and only remaining mall concourse.
1- Park Fair Mall’s ground level concourse, the only remaining enclosed portion of the center. 2 to 4- The area around the escalators contains several exhibits of the now defunct Riverview Amusement Park which was located nearby on the banks of the Des Moines River. 5 & 6- The western end of the ground level concourse.
Park Fair Mall’s basement level, while brightly lit and not at all uninviting, was also plainly utilitarian in design. Dirty brown carpet framed by earth tone colored tile lay beneath my feet while an indented concrete ceiling lined with multiple fluorescent lights hung above my head.
Park Fair Mall lease plan ca. 1981. View the full PDF version here.
The majority of the tenant spaces were vacant while the few that were occupied mainly served as office space for the community groups based at the mall. Toward the middle, where I assume center court once stood when the facility was fully double tired, was an island of more offices that, although occupied, were darkened at the time.
1 to 7- More small shop space surrounding the western escalators. 8 to 10- The western half of Park Fair Mall’s interior concourse.
Unfortunately, there were few if any reminders of Park Fair Mall’s mid-century beginnings. The few aesthetic elements were huddled around opposite ends of the corridor near the stairways and escalators providing access to both the western and eastern mall entrances.
I ascended to the main level at Park Fair Mall’s western end where another colorful mural representing the Oak Park and Highland Park neighborhoods marked the spot where the upper level concourse once began. I exited next to Ace Hardware, the current tenant occupying the space originally built for Woolworth, before taking a peaceful walk through the surrounding neighborhood.
Park Fair Mall’s ground level concourse contains office space built in the center of the concourse and a seating area with tables that may have once served a now non-existent food court.
Park Fair Mall opened in 1956 as Des Moines’ first true suburban shopping center. Laid out in a basic mid-century set of four separate buildings framed by outdoor breezeways, it opened on a compact piece of property in one of the city’s established neighborhoods. The facility hosted an anchor on each end with Woolworth to the west and W.T. Grant to the east.
Park Fair Mall pamphlet ca. 2021. View the full PDF version here.
The 310,000 square foot complex hosted mainly local nameplates and enjoyed early success as the only retail facility of its type at the time. This prosperity was short lived, however, as nearby competitors Merle Hay Shopping Center, the open air precursor to present day Merle Hay Mall, made their debut to the west while Eastgate Plaza was established to the east.
1 to 3- The eastern half of Park Fair Mall’s ground level corridor. 4 & 5- The escalators and steps connecting the lower level to the eastern mall entrance on the upper level. 6 & 7- Just inside the eastern mall entrance on the upper tier. 8- The colorful mural of Riverview Amusement Park marks the spot where the once upper level concourse met the eastern end of the center. 9- Fareway Grocery Store’s now closed mall entrance once served as the egress to Brandeis. 10- The eastern mall entryway.
Park Fair Mall, as it was rechristened after an enclosure and a basement level were added, continued to carry on well enough through the eighties when W.T. Grant closed their doors to be replaced by Omaha based Brandeis department store. This location, however, was branded as a Budget Outlet in reflection of the declining neighborhood surrounding the shopping center.
Park Fair Mall pamphlet ca. 2026. View the full PDF version here.
Brandeis’s tenure was short lived as they were soon replaced by another local department store, Sernett’s. Woolworth finally shut down in 1987, a few years before the entire chain was retired. Soon after, the churn on the eastern side continued as Sernett’s called it quits to be replaced by present day anchor Fareway Grocery in 1990.
1 & 2- Park Fair Mall’s eastern mall entrance. 3- Fareway’s store once housed Grant’s, Brandeis and Sernett’s. 3 to 7- The flanking side of the building along East Douglas Avenue. 8- The western end of the mall from Second Avenue.
In the mid-2010s, the entirety of the upper level concourse was closed off and redesigned to allow larger footprint tenants to take occupancy. The lower level’s concourse remains today as the sole reminder of the enclosed shopping center that once was. Park Fair Mall retains this footprint to the present day and hopefully for years to come.
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