Valley View Mall celebrates past, embraces future challenges on 38th anniversary

The Valley View Mall celebrated its 38th birthday Tuesday, as it opened July 31, 1980.

Tuesday morning, the La Crosse Area Chamber of Commerce hosted an event at the mall celebrating its history.

Chamber Director Vicki Markussen says the original view point was that the mall would destroy the downtown.

“Within months of the mall coming, the La Crosse Center also opened up,” Markussen said. “And that was really a pinnacle of the city keeping our downtown vibrant. Now, most of us go, ‘What would we do without our mall?'”

Despite some of the main companies closing, Valley View general manager Jeff Odom says it still has a 90-percent occupancy rate.

Valley View recently lost Herberger’s. Odom says that just gives them opportunity to grow.

“The days of having four department stores, six jewelry stores, 10 cellphone companies has changed,” Odom said. “Right now I would say we are in conversation with 3-5 different national type companies — not all retail.”

Odom hopes they will acquire the storefront by September.