FARGO — A Von Maur Department Store is taking over the long empty Herberger’s spot at Fargo’s West Acres Shopping Center, with plans to open in spring of 2025.
The announcement was made jointly by West Acres officials and Von Maur early Thursday, May 25.
West Acres’ CEO Brad Schlossman said the addition of Iowa-based Von Maur is welcome and the result of contacts over many years.
“This is the culmination of a relationship and conversations with Von Maur that have taken place for over a decade,” Schlossman said in a news release. “With only one or two new store openings per year, their opening at West Acres is a major vote of confidence in our region, but even more specifically in West Acres. This is by far the most significant lease at West Acres since the JCPenney wing expansion in 1979.”
Von Maur, which offers a mix of fashion merchandise, accessories, cosmetics and home goods, will occupy 90,000 square feet of space on the west side of the mall, which has been empty since Herberger’s closed its doors for the last time in August 2018 as part of the bankruptcy of its parent company Bon-Ton.
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Von Maur has been in business 151 years, and it will be the first store in the family owned chain in North Dakota.
"We are thrilled to welcome Von Maur to West Acres," said Alissa Adams, Chief Operating Officer of West Acres. "Von Maur's commitment to exceptional customer service and high-quality merchandise aligns perfectly with our mission of providing an outstanding shopping experience for our visitors. We are confident that their presence will enhance the retail offerings at the mall for shoppers from across the region."
Von Maur said construction on the store will start this summer and that store will eventually employ 125 people, most of them full time.
The new anchor department store would actually be Von Maur’s second investment at West Acres. In 2018, the company opened its popular Dry Goods store concept selling contemporary women’s apparel and accessories. The success of Dry Goods gave the company additional confidence to continue investing in the area, the firm said.
"We look forward to opening the first Von Maur Department Store in North Dakota at such an exceptional location like West Acres Mall," said Jim von Maur, president of Von Maur. "Fargo is a growing, vibrant metropolitan area in the Upper Midwest and we are excited to be a part of the region’s development. We look forward to introducing area shoppers to our wide selection of brand name merchandise and signature Von Maur service and becoming the shopping destination of choice for years to come."
The announcement signals a pivot on the decision making over what to do with the shell of what had been Herberger’s.
The space had been initially difficult to fill with a tenant. A plan to have big box home decor retailer At Home renovate and move into the space failed to materialize in 2019, despite the company having taken out for $3.4 million building permit.
It was in January 2022 that the ownership group of the West Acres Shopping Center announced it had purchased the Herberger’s building and planned a major development in that spot.
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In March 2022, it was learned that the mall’s owners planned to tear down the Herberger’s building and replace it with a $55 million-plus mixed-use housing and retail complex, which would also include office and/or hospitality spaces. The plan would have included 160 to 180 apartments, more than 50,000-square-feet of retail space, 9,300 square feet of what was called amenity space, and the potential for 40,000 square feet of office or hospitality space.
That plan called for asbestos removal and demolition of the Herberger’s building. Completion of that project was also expected in summer 2025.
However, that plan was shelved in January of this year, according to a city official. Jim Gilmour, Fargo’s director of strategic planning and research, said the project was the victim of interest rates that had been pushed 2% to 3% higher nationally than when the project was first proposed. Construction costs had also remained stubbornly higher than pre-pandemic, he said.
At that point, asbestos abatement on the building had been completed, Adams confirmed.
Von Maur was named the top department store in the country by Newsweek’s “America’s Best Retailers 2022.” It was also recently honored by the Accessories Council as the “2023 Retailer of the Year”, the company said in its news release.
Von Maur was founded in 1872 in downtown Davenport, Iowa. The Company currently operates 37 stores in 15 states, along with a 120,000 square foot e-commerce facility that drives its successful online business at vonmaur.com.
West Acres has been operating since 1972, and is home to more than 100 stores and restaurants.
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