2000
In the 1970s Carson City had two indoor shopping malls. The Carson Mall was the older of the two, having been built in the 1960s. But a decade later, on ranchland only one block to the south, the Silver City Mall was built. It was located at the corner of Carson and Fairview Streets. I’m not sure who made the decision to build the second mall right next to the first. Ideally this should have been built on the north end of town to balance demand. But there must have been land available for a good price so they went for it.
Both malls were able to coexist for quite a while. They both had popular chain stores anchoring them. The Carson Mall by the 80s had J.C. Penney and Sprouse-Reitz, and the Silver City Mall had Albertson’s supermarket and Kmart.
The 90s brought decline to both malls, though. Walmart was built at the south end of town. Kmart moved to the north end. J.C. Penney’s and Albertson’s both relocated to other parts of town. The growth of Carson City had brought new retail experiences with it, which made these old experiences at the center of town less exciting. Ernst Hardware and Office Depot moved into the Silver City Mall, but these didn’t bring the traffic that the old stores did.
In its last days the Silver City Mall was dark, dreary, and empty. Most of the shops had closed up or moved away. Very little was left, and the stores that did remain were struggling. I took these photos in 2000, soon after they had announced that the mall would be closing for good.
The Silver City Mall was closed and demolished in late 2000 because the owners of the mall had found a major new tenant willing to move in, but the old infrastructure didn’t suit them. As soon as the dust from the demolition had settled, construction started on a Lowe’s Home Improvement store, situated where the Kmart/Ernst used to be. Ever since opening Lowe’s has enjoyed great popularity, and it keeps the shopping center vital today.
Bonus Photos:
I took enough pictures back in 2000 to be able to put together a couple of extra Then and Now comparisons for this article.
The middle section of the mall was replaced by parking lot, but the old Savon Drugs was torn down and replaced by a brand new Petsmart. Savon itself moved into a new building built around the same time as Lowe’s, located directly behind the camera. It was later renamed CVS Pharmacy, and it remains there today.
The one original building from the Silver City Mall that still remains is at the far west end. In the 1980s it housed Albertson’s. By 2000 Office Depot had moved into this space. Now, in 2018, Office Depot is still there but they have reduced their footprint and only use half the building. The other half of the building is slated to receive a Smart Foodservice Warehouse store.
Several years ago I posted an article with all of the pictures I took of the Silver City Mall in 2000, along with more details and memories of the mall. Click here to read it.
I enjoy reading your articles.
Thank you.
Kinda forgot to add, and pretty sure I remember this correctly but at the old mall when everything was still there, on the corner of Fairview Drive and Highway 395 where CVS Pharmacy is now, there ued to be a restaurant, and if correct the name of it was HOBO JOE’S, please correct me if I am wrong about this, and the one thing I will always remember about the old Silver city mall was when one year at it they had some sort of a Police show, with some of the vehicles, and when it started, they closed down 395 between Stewart Street and Fairview Drive because a Cessna airplane had to land right on the highway and it did, and was able to stop before it reached one of the intersections all depending which way mit landed, then after the show was over, it did the opposite thing and started as far back as it could right around Fairview drive and it was able to take off just before it reached Stewart street, pretty much JUST like the plane did in the movie The Cannonball run………
The last restaurant at the corner of 395 and Fairview was named the “Miramar Hous”… It was closed and knocked down, perhaps in 1994?…Decent place…
I worked at Hobo Joes on the corner of the mall in 1979. The drug store before Savon was called Osco Drug. Inside the mall was a bunch of stores including Sears. There was a bakery and vitamin store a photography studio, jewelers and a couple of cool clothing stores.
I’m inquiring about the Sporting Goods store that was built around the mid 70’s on highway 50, 300 yards or so, east of Carson street, on the north side of the highway, past the Cracker Box and car wash.
East John Street was parallel on the north side, if I remember correctly. The carnivals were always on the field on E. John Street, ending right before Roop St., close to the Sporting Goods store.
My questions are:
What was the name of the store? And….
Did the Lewis family own it?
( I recall the Lewis name, and their son, a classmate and baseball team partner of mine in little league, in the mid to late 70’s, and Mr. Lewis, his dad, one of our coach’s on the baseball team, and also the owner of the store. Please let me know if that’s correct).
I’m 26 years old. Born and raised in Carson City, thank you for making all of these articles. I never would have suspected this area was a mall and since it was demolished in 2000, I was too young to remember.