April 2, 2018: The Younkers at Westdale Mall in Cedar Rapids remained after all the interior of the mall was demolished. That’s when the “Open During Construction” banner was put up. Off camera, across Williams Boulevard, is a Toys “R” Us that is also closing.
We all thought Sears would be the first major mall anchor to fall into history (or at least I did), but it’s another chain, carrying what once was an Iowa nameplate, taken out first.
This week, and this week only, both Cedar Rapids Younkers stores are open and going out of business; Westdale was on an earlier list. There are 18 Younkers in Iowa, at every major and minor mall, along with 12 in Wisconsin, nine in Michigan, four in Nebraska, two in Minnesota, and one each in Illinois and South Dakota. (And one misplaced Herberger’s in Ottumwa.) It was the last surviving anchor in Fort Dodge (after it lost the Penney’s) and the second-to-last in others (Southridge is down to Target). The Sears-J.C. Penney-Younkers triad was common across Iowa malls.
Cedar Rapids’ Lindale Mall is the victim of a double whammy; its Sears closure announcement came barely a week before Bon-Ton (Younkers’ owner) was sold off to its creditors. Von Maur will be the only anchor there come Labor Day. On the other side of the city, J.C. Penney will remain at Westdale, which isn’t a true mall anymore but a redeveloped retail center (as you can see at top).
Many Iowans’ memories of Younkers are connected with the downtown Des Moines store that closed in 2005, which was the headquarters of the company for decades. The history cross-pollinates with the girls’ basketball tournament, because it made for a “big city” trip to shop for prom dresses. That extended to Merle Hay Mall, which had the second Younkers location in Iowa.