Von Maur sets opening date at Jordan Creek Town Center
The Von Maur department store at Valley West Mall will close for good at 7 p.m. Oct. 31, and the new store at Jordan Creek Town Center will open on Nov. 5, the Davenport-based retailer confirmed Wednesday.
The opening will come in plenty of time for the holiday season.
Jessica Stoltz, director of advertising and e-marketing for Von Maur, said opening day at Jordan Creek will feature a DJ, gifts with purchases throughout the store, chances to register to win a $500 gift card or a gift basket, entertainment for children and a gumball machine dispensing chances to win a gift card. Customers who get a blue gumball will receive a gift card worth $50, and those who get a gold one will get a card worth $500, Stoltz said.
Von Maur was one of the earliest anchor tenants of Valley West, opening in 1976. But the West Des Moines mall has fallen on hard times in recent years, beginning with the closure of its Younkers store as part of the 2018 liquidation of Bon-Ton Holding Inc., the owner of that once-Des Moines-based department store chain.
With vacancies mounting at the mall, Von Maur in August 2021 confirmed what had long been rumored: It would close its Valley West store and take over the former Younkers space at Jordan Creek.
Valley West was foreclosed on in May after its owner, Minneapolis-based Watson Center, failed to make payments on a $50 million loan. The mall is now set to be auctioned at an as-yet unannounced date. With Von Maur's departure, its sole anchor tenant will be J.C. Penney, a chain that filed for bankruptcy in 2020, closing hundreds of stores across the nation.
More:What the auction of Valley West Mall could mean to West Des Moines
On the west side of West Des Moines, Jordan Creek, meanwhile, is gaining not only Von Maur but a variety of other tenants, including a Tavern Grill location, GNC, aquarium chain Blue Zoo and a Kids Empire play space.
Staff writers Susan Stapleton and Donnelle Eller contributed to this article.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Von Maur's Jordan Creek mall location to open in November 2022
