Daum Industries began construction on a former alfalfa field located at the intersection of Karcher Road and
U.S. Highway 30 in 1963. The mall was completed and opened on August 26, 1965 with anchor stores
Buttrey Food & Drug,
Tempo, and
Portland, Oregon-based
Sprouse-Reitz. In March 1967, construction on a $3.5 million expansion of the shopping mall began, with a finish date set for March 1968. The new expansion added of new retail space to the shopping center, including the new JCPenney store and a
Skaggs Drug Centers store. In 1986, Karcher Mall featured 74 businesses when it was sold from Daum Industries to
Los Angeles-based Standard Management Co. for about $14 million. During the same year, Falk's I.D. Store shut its remaining 55 stores. Falk's I.D. Store sold two locations, including the store at the mall, to
Anthony's. The mall was able to quickly fill the vacant space with
Eugene, Oregon-based
Troutman's Emporium During the 1990s, the mall lost four anchor stores: Anthony's (1991) Ernst Home Centers (November 1996). In May 1998, Karcher Partners LLC, composed of
Tarrytown, New York-based DLC Management Corp. and
Dallas, Texas-based Benton Companies, bought Karcher Mall for a reported $10.9 million. and
Liquidation World to fill the empty spaces left by Woolworth and Ernst respectively. Despite the major renovations, the mall began losing more retailers and customers. Nampa Furniture (which was originally known as Discount Furniture until 1990, and Idaho Furniture Mart until 1991) relocated to a larger building across the street formerly operated by
Waremart Foods (now
WinCo Foods) in September 1999. The mall's movie theater was shut down in February 2000 after its owner, Reel Theatres, relocated to a larger movie theater across the street previously operated by
Cineplex Odeon. Short-lived anchor, Intermountain Sports left the mall abruptly in 2001, though it was quickly replaced by variety retailer U.S. Factory Outlets by the end of the year. Just one month after losing Intermountain Sports, Sears relocated to a newly constructed shopping center north of the Karcher Mall. Shortly after, Jo-Ann Fabrics relocated to the former space left by Sears. In late 2001,
Ross Dress for Less were added to the former two anchor tenants left by the former Jo-Ann Fabrics and Nampa Furniture, and drywall the interior access from the mall. In 2003, Emporium, the mall largest tenant, was forced to close after its parent company, the Troutman Company, couldn't secure a new financing package or sell the stores after a
Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in 2002.
Costco Wholesale,
Home Depot, and other big-box chains expressed interest in space at the mall but were turned down as the chains had "unrealistic expectations as to what they could do with the mall." Shortly after Emporium's closure,
Big 5 Sporting Goods was added to the mall in the former smaller tenants close to Ross, but like Ross, they drywall the interior access as well. Milan Properties announced plans to remodel the 40-year-old mall and fill the long-vacant Emporium anchor with a new department store. In early 2008, clothing retailer
Steve & Barry's replaced the former U.S. Factory Outlets store, which closed in 2005; however, 11 months later the store was closed when Steve & Barry's liquidated. During 2008,
Macy's, which previously operated as The Bon Marché until 2003 and Bon-Macy's until 2005, announced plans to shutter its Karcher Mall location to relocate to the newly constructed
Nampa Gateway Center in late 2009. The new Macy's at the Nampa Gateway Center opened on October 17. In September 2009, Northern Light Cinema Grill, an independently owned movie theater and restaurant, opened in the long-vacant Nampa Reel Theatres building. In July 2014, Macy's announced the closure of the mall's clearance center. In Spring 2016, Karcher Mall announced the opening of the new
Mor Furniture store, filling the former Macy's space. Mor Furniture opened on June 16, 2016. In 2018, Burlington announced the closure of the mall's location to relocate to nearby Treasure Valley Crossing in late 2018. In the recent years, poor maintenance of the mall and poor ownership, as well as increased rental expenses were the major factors of the high vacancy rate and national chains being pulled away from Karcher Mall.
2019-2022 renovations In May 2019, the mall was sold to
Livermore, California-based Rhino Investments. In July 2019, plans were unveiled for a renovation project that include the demolition of of the mall's floor area. Several new tenants will be added to the shopping center as well as nine residential buildings with 216 apartments. However, the construction was temporarily halted in early 2020 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. As of May 2020, the rest of the mall concourses were closed off for plans to reconstruct the interiors into
big-box stores, but a few remaining mall tenants including Jo-Ann Fabrics, and Discount Furniture (which was recently relocated to the former Burlington space) remained open with exterior access. In February 2022, Rhino announced the redevelopment of the former Karcher Mall to be named District 208. The construction resumed in late January of that year after a nearly two year delay. The rear parking lot broke ground for new apartments and storage units. ==References==