On October 4, 1979, after over ten years of delays by developer Edward J. DeBartolo Sr. on land originally owned by Allied Stores, Alderwood Mall finally opened. Its anchors included The Bon Marché, Lamonts, Nordstrom, JCPenney and Sears. The mall was later sold to the New York State Common Retirement Fund, which retained DeBartolo's management company to operate the center. It remained essentially unchanged except for the addition of a court and cosmetics renovation in 1995-1996 which cost $12 million. After briefly being managed by Simon Property Group following its acquisition of the DeBartolo mall interests in 1996, General Growth Properties assumed management of the property in 1997. General Growth became co-owner of the mall following the formation of a joint venture with the New Yorkpension fundin 1999. Facing a major vacancy with the 2000 closure of Lamonts, the mall was renovated and expanded in 2002. The former Lamonts store was purchased and razed for the construction of a new Nordstrom that opened in 2003. The former Nordstrom was leveled in its turn for the construction of The Village, an attached, open-air lifestyle area on the mall's northern side comprising new shops, restaurants and a Borders Group store. At the same time a second expansion, The Terraces, was constructed on the mall's southwest side incorporating an expanded food court, restaurants and anchored by a new 16-screen Loews Cineplex Entertainment multiplex which opened in 2005. The expansion included two new parking garages, and the theater was constructed over subterranean parking. The 'mall' was dropped from the name at this time and became simply Alderwood, describing itself as a "lifestyle center". The Bon Marché was briefly renamed Bon-Macy's in 2003, before assuming the Macy's Northwest name in 2005. The Loews company was merged with AMC Theatres and was branded with the AMC/Loews name in 2006. In November 2005, Daiso, a Japanese dollar-store, opened its first U.S. store in Alderwood next to Sears. Following the success in its original location, it moved to a larger suite adjacent to JCPenney in 2014. In 2015, Sears Holdingsspun off 235 of its properties, including the Sears at Alderwood Mall, into Seritage Growth Properties. Sears closed the store in March 2017, and the old building was torn down. In May 2018, Macy's announced an off price store called Macy's Backstage within its store.
