Yankton Mall Welcomes Three New Retailers
After years of sitting mostly empty, the Yankton Mall has entered a new era. Hobby Lobby, Marshalls and Five Below will join Dunham’s Sports to bring new life to the shopping center.
The property was purchased in 2023 by Matt Evans with plans to once again make the mall a vibrant destination for the Yankton community.
“The mall is over 250,000 square feet in size, which creates countless opportunities to bring new retailers to Yankton,” said Evans. “Hobby Lobby, Marshalls and Five Below bring nearly 100,000 square feet of new retail.”
The three retailers represent the ‘first wave’ of new stores, according to Ryan Tysdal of VanBuskirk Companies. Tysdal is the leasing agent who assisted Evans in putting the deals together.
“Having an anchor like Hobby Lobby, along with Marshalls and Five Below, is a draw for additional stores,” according to Tysdal. “National retailers like being next to other national retailers.”
Hobby Lobby will open a 55,000-square foot arts and crafts store, featuring home décor, seasonal décor, tableware, floral, art supplies, hobbies, framing and more.
Marshalls, which is part of the T.J. Maxx family of retailers, will open a 25,000-square foot store. The off-price department store sells clothing, footwear, bedding, bath, furniture, home décor, jewelry, beauty products, toys, housewares and pet supplies.
Five Below is a chain of specialty discount stores, selling most everything for five dollars or less.
“It’s a really fun concept,” according to Tysdal, who brokered a Five Below deal in Sioux Falls last year. Their grand opening in Sioux Falls was their second-highest grossing opening in company history. They are excited to open more stores in South Dakota. Yankton will be Five Below’s fourth store in the state.
Evans and Tysdal are in conversations with additional retailers, but first needed to secure Hobby Lobby and Marshalls before others would engage.
The former Staples box is 22,000 square feet with a loading dock. “Having existing box space with a dock is attractive to many potential tenants,” said Tysdal. “We also have a couple additional spaces ranging from 6,000 to 12,000 square feet.”
Evans is optimistic.
“This project is really coming together, and we are hopeful to gain the attention of additional tenants to fill the center,” said Evans.
But the project would not have been a possibility without the assistance of Yankton Thrive, Evans added. “This project was a huge risk to put together. Without the temporary sales tax abatement incentive from the city, the numbers just didn’t work.”
Tysdal echoed Evans’ sentiment. “It’s encouraging to see municipalities like Yankton take control of their future by stepping up to secure new retailers, which ultimately leads to long-term sales tax revenue that would never have otherwise existed.”
First Dakota National Bank is the lender on the project. “Aaron Ness and his team have been phenomenal to work with,” said Evans. “We all have the same goal of doing what’s right for the Yankton community; it’s been a wonderful experience working with the team at First Dakota.”
VanBuskirk Construction is the general contractor. “Our construction team has done builds for all of these retailers before; it’s nice going into a project without a lot of guess-work,” said Tysdal.
“We completed the parking lot asphalt just in time to beat the winter weather,” Tysdal added. “We are in really good shape to get everyone open for business on schedule.”
Hobby Lobby, Marshalls and Five Below expect to be open for the 2025 holiday season. Evans is hopeful for additional 2026 announcements in the months ahead.
