Remembering Owensboro’s Great Mall Anchor Stores from Woolco to Sears

I'm sure there are residents who don't remember when Owensboro Christian Church was a mall. In fact, that transition occurred so long ago, you might not even have to be a new Owensboro resident for that to be absent from your memory banks. If that describes you, then I will shed some light. Yes, it was once Lincoln Mall. It was Owensboro's first, and it featured a very popular anchor store.

Woolco

Part of the Woolworth empire, that anchor store, Woolco, was similar to today's big box stores like Walmart and Target, but it was smaller.

And with traditional malls going by the wayside more and more these days, perhaps the term "anchor store" is slowly vanishing, too.

Lazarus

This legendary department store was an anchor at Owensboro's Towne Square Mall, as well as malls all across the country. I wasn't much of a Lazarus shopper, but I somehow once ended up with a Lazarus credit card. And it saved my butt one Christmas a long time ago. I had had a car accident, and it was my fault. Unfortunately, I'd had another wreck a few months earlier, so I didn't turn the second one in on my insurance. I paid for it out of pocket and was broke, so I bought everyone's gifts with the card.

Bacon's

Bacon's Department Store was a huge hit in Owensboro's Towne Square Mall and was the west side anchor of that mall for many years before it yielded to the aforementioned Lazarus. I mainly liked Bacon's because it had a big & tall men's department, and it was a good one. And it was reasonable.

Sears

To this day, one of my favorite Christmas memories from childhood is getting that Sears Wish Book (the Christmas catalogue) in August. I would then thumb through practically every day until December 25th. When I pass the Wax Works building downtown--the former Sears location before it moved to Towne Square Mall--I still get a little tinge of nostalgia.

I hope you've enjoyed this trip down memory lane as much as I have.