River Falls Mall


River Falls Mall is a shopping center in Clarksville, Indiana, on Lewis and Clark Parkway. From its opening in 1990 until 2006, the center was an enclosed mall, with of gross leasable area. It originally comprised multiple entertainment venues and retail. After losing the majority of its tenants, River Falls Mall was redeveloped in 2006 as a power center, comprising Dick's Sporting Goods, Old Time Pottery, Jo-Ann Fabrics, and Bass Pro Shops.

History

River Falls Mall opened in 1990, across from the existing Green Tree Mall and comprising of retail space. It included Walmart and Bacon's as its anchor stores, as well as several entertainment venues, such as miniature golf and bumper cars. Dawahares and Toys "R" Us also operated within the mall. When Bacon's parent company was acquired by Dillard's in 1998, Dillard's operated its men's clothing, children's clothing, and housewares departments in the former Bacon's building, while retaining women's clothing at the Green Tree Mall store. Although the mall struggled with high vacancy for most of its existence, the addition of a Dick's Sporting Goods in 1999 briefly increased occupancy to 92 percent.
Bass Pro Shops entered negotiations with Chicago-based mall owner General Growth Properties in 2002 to open a store at the mall. Negotiations were completed and construction on the Bass Pro Shops store was started in early 2004. Dillard's closed its store around this time, returning all of its departments to the Green Tree Mall location, as had been the case before the River Falls store opened. Soon afterward, the movie theater closed, and Walmart moved out of the mall to a new Supercenter. Dick's Sporting Goods then moved out of the middle of the mall and into the former Walmart. In 2005, Bass Pro Shops opened, displacing most of the mall itself. Toys "R" Us, the former Dillard's, and the former Walmart were all left standing.
Since the opening of Bass Pro Shops, the mall has been "de-malled", and turned into a power center consisting of big box stores. Subsequent openings include Old Time Pottery and Louisville Athletic Club, both of which displaced portions of the former Walmart wing. A brand new movie theater, Great Escape River Falls 12, opened in November 2006. The rest of the former mall structure between Dick's Sporting Goods and Bass Pro Shops has become Old Time Pottery, Louisville Athletic Club, hhgregg, and Jo-Ann Fabrics. Toys "R" Us was the only holdover still in its original location from when it was an enclosed mall, however after the company's bankruptcy in 2018, Toys "R" Us has since closed.