Magic Valley Mall

In February 1979, Lewis Douglas Co. proposed plans for a shopping mall in Twin Falls on land owned by farmer Oren Boone located at the northeast corner of Blue Lakes Boulevard and Pole Line Road.[1] In March 1980, General Growth Properties purchased the site from Lewis Douglas Co. and announced plans for Canyon Ridge Mall.[2] The proposed 512,000 to 700,000 square-foot mall would consist of four department stores and 90 specialty stores with a completion date of fall 1982 or early 1983.[3] At the same time, Woodbury Corporation announced plans to separate shopping mall across from Canyon Ridge Mall on the west side of Blue Lakes Boulevard.[2] By May 1980, zoning changes were approved to allow construction of both shopping malls.[4]

In February 1981, a third mall, developed by Price Development Corporation, received zoning change to construct on a 30 acre site south of the Canyon Ridge Mall site on Pole Line Road.[5] After facing opposition from the nearby Green Acres housing subdivision, Twin Falls City Council denied the zoning change, which triggered a two-year court battle between the city and Price.[6] In September 1983, Price abandoned its original plan and acquired the Canyon River Mall site from General Growth Properties.[6] Price's new plans called for a smaller 450,000 square-feet mall with four department stores.[7] Twin Falls City Council approved the development in February 1984.[8] In May 1984, a spokesman for Price confirmed it was courting The Bon Marché, JCPenney, and ZCMI to anchor the shopping mall.[9] ZCMI was ruled out as a potential anchor in March 1985.[10] Two months later, Shopko announced plans to anchor the new mall, now named Magic Valley Mall, as part of a plan to open six stores in Idaho.[11] The Bon Marché and JCPenney were later confirmed to relocate from downtown Twin Falls to the mall.[12] JCPenney also announced the closure of a store in Jerome as part of its plan to open at the mall.[13] Price Development broke ground on Magic Valley Mall on August 21, 1985.[14] The mall's first tenant, Shopko, opened on October 13, 1986, with JCPenney and other smaller tenants opening on October 29.[1] The Bon Marché opened on July 30, 1987.[15]

In November 1988, Sears announced plans to relocate from downtown Twin Falls to the mall.[16] The store opened on August 2, 1989.[17] A fifth anchor tenant, Lamonts, was added to the mall in February 1992, but closed in December 1996.[18] In 1995, a strip mall was built next to the mall with Barnes & Noble as an anchor.[19] In September 1998, Reel Theaters opened a six-screen discount movie theater in the space formerly occupied by Lamonts.[20] The theater was sold to Interstate Amusements in May 2000 and renamed Odyssey Theater.[21] In August 2003, The Bon Marché was renamed Bon-Macy's and became a full-fledged Macy's in January 2005.[22]

In March 2011, Cinema West announced to plans replace the Odyssey Theater with a new, larger cinema complex.[23] Odyssey Theater was shut down in September 2011, with the new Magic Valley Cinema 13 opening in May 2012.[24] On August 1, 2017, Macy's announced it would not renew its lease at the mall and shut down in early 2018.[25] On January 4, 2018, Sears announced it would close its store at the mall in April.[26] The Macy's store was replaced by Hobby Lobby in September 2018.[27] On February 6, 2019, Shopko announced it would close on May 12, 2019.[28] On August 5, 2019, Kohl's confirmed it will open a store in the former Sears building.[29] The store opened on May 11, 2020.[30]