Fashion Place Mall; Murray, Utah
Thanks to Jay for these more-than-ten-years-old photos of the Fashion Place Mall in Murray, Utah. Far from a dead mall, Fashion Place is one of the most dominant shopping malls in the Salt Lake City area, with Macy’s, Dillard’s, Nordstrom, and Sears as anchor stores.
Jay took these photos in 1997, though the mall has changed fairly significantly since and is in the process of changing again. In the summer of 2007, it was announced that the 876,000 square foot Fashion Place would get a 230,000 square foot expansion. Nordstrom and Dillard’s would get brand new stores, and the mall area itself would be expanded to add new stores and restaurants, and the interior of the center will be renovated.
I’ve never visited the center and am not too sure of much of its history, but I do know that the mall opened in 1972, and the Dillard’s store (which is pictured in the link above) was opened as a Weinstocks and then later became The Broadway. The existing, 4-level Dillard’s is going to be demolished as part of the mall’s renovation to make room for more mall space.
In 2006, Fashion Place was one of a dozen American shopping malls to open on Black Friday at 12:01a.m., and experienced crushing crowds. Reportedly the earliest Black Friday ever, the mall was open for 22 hours… placing a great strain on employees and managers throughout the center. The gimmick seems to have been a success.
Also, check out this undated photo from the University of Utah’s J Willard Marriott Library–it showcases a much-older Nordstrom logo! Any guesses on when it’s from? I didn’t have Nordstrom in my area until about a decade ago, so I’m not as familiar with their older logos.
on March 25th, 2008 at 12:12 am
the last time i saw that logo was in the 80s. judging by the cars in the lot, it looks like maybe early 80s. nordstrom’s handled shopping bags during this time used the same logo on a dark brown background with the typeface in a cream/light tan color.
on March 25th, 2008 at 10:46 am
Does the 70’sreffic big tall mall entrance still exist?????
Did those big large modernist skylights survive the renovation???? I gotta know!!!!!
on March 25th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
The lowercase Nordstrom logo lasted into the late ’80s. I think the Tysons Corner location (their first East Coast store) originally opened using it, but it was removed shortly after they opened.
on March 25th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
The lower case Nordstrom logo was also used in NJ when the first three in the staet were being built (GS Plaza, Menlo Park, Freehold….Short Hills didn’t come until 1995) on “Coming Soon” signs, but was not used when the actual buildings were complete and open for business.
I do remember it on the Tysons location.
on March 26th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
These photos brought back a whole new set of memories. I frequented Fashion Place in the mid-Eighties. Nordstrom was the big deal, there. I typically shopped at Castletons, the junior department store in the middle of the mall (it’s a T-shaped mall).
The ZCMI II concept didn’t last very long. I didn’t even realize they tried it at Fashion Place. Hmm.
This mall was always considered the best mall in the valley, least until South Towne in Sandy took over in the late Eighties. Nevertheless, I’ll still remember it fondly.
Scott
on April 2nd, 2008 at 3:40 am
You have the Broadway and Weinstock’s stores in vice versa order. It was orginally The Broadway (from Los Angeles) in 1972, then their parent company Carter Hawley Hale Stores converted it to their Sacramento-based Weinstock’s nameplate in 1978. I once had some Nordstrom annual reports saying that their store at Fashion Place opened in 1981.
on April 19th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Nordstrom officially changed their logo from lower-case block letters to upper-case in 1995. Some stores, such as San Francisco Center and many East Coast stores used an upper-case style similar to the current logo. I never understood why, since it wasn’t an ‘official’ logo.
Slightly off topic, has anyone noticed that the Von Maur stores in Iowa seemed to copy the logo and interior design/decor from Nordstrom? No wonder people say it’s the Nordstrom of the midwest!
on April 21st, 2008 at 10:53 pm
Funny, I was about to say the same thing as Trevor about the similarities between Von Maur and Nordstrom’s older vs. newer logos!
That aside, interesting write-up about this mall, as I very strangely had initially missed this post about Fashion Place, until I was browsing through more recent entries tonight. And just so I get the future plans for this mall straight, is the Dillard’s gonna be rebuilt in a different part of the mall, or is it leaving this mall for good? (I’m guessing the latter due to its size, but who knows)