If you grew up in Spokane, there’s a good chance you have a NorthTown Mall memory: a first movie date, back-to-school shopping, or a winter afternoon walking laps when it was too icy to be outside. The mall sits on North Division Street at Wellesley Avenue, and for more than half a century it has been one of the busiest gathering spots on the north side of town.
Here’s a short look at where NorthTown came from, how it changed, and what the neighborhoods around it are like today.
How NorthTown got started
NorthTown began with a grocery store. Joe Albertson, founder of the Albertsons chain, opened a supermarket on the site and worked with his agent, E.D. McCarthy, on the idea of building a shopping center next to it. The first hurdle was land: they had to piece together the neighboring parcels before anything could be built.
Once the land came together, McCarthy suggested the name “Northtown.” National chains of the day, including W.T. Grant and Woolworth, signed on as tenants. With financing from Travelers Life Insurance, construction went to H. Halvorson Inc., and the open-air shopping center opened in 1955.
Growing into a regional mall
Northtown caught on quickly. Spokane didn’t have much in the way of a planned shopping center at the time, and more stores wanted in than there was room for. That led to the first big expansion:
- Sears built a large department store at the center, roughly 208,000 square feet.
- About 110,000 more square feet were added for shops, plus room for a bigger Albertsons.
- The Crescent, the well-known Spokane department store, opened a NorthTown location, and the center held a grand opening for the new wing in March 1962.
The biggest change came between 1989 and 1991, when the center was expanded and enclosed into the indoor mall most of us know now. For a city with real winters, an indoor mall made a lot of sense, and NorthTown became a year-round destination.
NorthTown today
Like malls everywhere, NorthTown has seen stores come and go over the years. Because the line-up changes, it’s best to check the mall’s own website for current stores and hours before you go.
What hasn’t changed is the location. NorthTown sits right on the Division Street corridor, which makes it an easy stop for people coming from all over North Spokane and up toward Mead.
The neighborhoods around the mall
The blocks around NorthTown are a mix of older single-family homes, apartments and busy commercial streets. Nearby neighborhoods include Nevada-Lidgerwood, Bemiss, the Garland District to the southwest and Hillyard to the east. A lot of the houses here were built from the 1940s through the 1960s, so you’ll see plenty of brick bungalows, small ranches and homes with full basements.
That age is part of the charm, and it’s also why homeowners in this part of town sometimes face bigger repair lists when it’s time to sell: original wiring, older plumbing, aging roofs and basements that need attention.
Selling a home near NorthTown or anywhere in North Spokane?
Backyard Home Buyers is a local, family-owned company. Both owners were born and raised in the Inland Northwest, and we’ve been buying houses in the Spokane area since 2019, with over 500 deals done.
- A fair cash offer, usually within 24 hours
- We buy as-is, so there’s nothing to fix or clean
- No fees or commissions, and we pay the closing costs
- Close in as little as 7 days, or on the date you choose
Learn more about how we buy houses on our Spokane page or see how it works. If you’d rather talk to a person, call us at (509) 461-9079.