Nobody says “I’m going to Washington Square” with excitement anymore. They say it like they’re confessing something. “I was at the mall.” Eyes averted. As if spending two hours at Nordstrom and eating teriyaki in the food court is something to be ashamed of.
It isn’t. Washington Square has been part of the Tigard-area landscape for over fifty years, and its story — from suburban shopping experiment to lifestyle destination to whatever it’s becoming next — is more interesting than most people realize. So here’s a proper guide: the history, the food, the changes, and why the area around the mall is quietly turning into one of the most interesting pockets of the Portland metro.
🏗️ A Brief History of the Square
1974: Washington Square opens at the corner of Highway 217 and SW Hall Boulevard. It’s a two-anchor mall — Meier & Frank and JCPenney — surrounded by what was, at the time, mostly farmland transitioning to suburbia. The Tualatin Valley was booming, Tigard was incorporating as a city, and the idea of a big indoor shopping center felt genuinely exciting. Families drove from all over Washington County to walk the corridors. It was an event.
1980s: Nordstrom arrives. Sears expands. The food court becomes the social center of teenage life west of Portland. If you grew up in Tigard, Beaverton, or King City in the ’80s, you had a food court order you could recite from memory and a bench you considered yours. The parking lot hosted some of the earliest holiday craft fairs in the area, and the annual tree lighting was a genuine community occasion.
1990s–2000s: The mall expands again — adding a third floor, more specialty stores, and a major renovation that modernized the interior. This was peak mall culture nationally, and Washington Square rode the wave. The surrounding area densified rapidly: apartment complexes, office parks, the Nimbus business district, and a web of restaurants along Hall Boulevard and Scholls Ferry Road that would eventually matter more than the mall itself.
2010s: The national retail reckoning hits. Anchor stores close. Foot traffic declines. Meier & Frank becomes Macy’s, then that feels uncertain too. The food court thins out. Everyone writes the obituary for malls in general and Washington Square in particular. But something interesting happens: the area around the mall keeps growing. New restaurants, mixed-use developments, improved transit connections. The mall becomes less of a destination and more of a anchor point for a neighborhood that’s developing its own identity.
2020s: Washington Square reinvents — again. New tenants lean toward experiences over retail: dining concepts, fitness studios, beauty services, pop-up spaces. The food court gets a refresh. The surrounding streets fill in with Korean barbecue joints, ramen shops, bubble tea spots, and the kind of casual dining that draws people from across the metro. The mall isn’t dead. It just grew up.
🍽️ Where to Eat (In and Around the Mall)
This is where Washington Square honestly shines now. The dining scene in the immediate area has exploded:
- Inside the mall: The food court has cycled through many iterations, but the current mix includes solid quick-service options. It’s not destination dining, but it’s better than it was in 2015. Nordstrom’s in-house restaurant remains quietly excellent for lunch.
- Hall Boulevard corridor: This strip south of the mall has become a legitimate restaurant row. Korean, Japanese, Thai, Indian, and Vietnamese options within a five-minute drive. The density of good Asian cuisine near Washington Square is genuinely one of the best things about living in this part of the metro.
- Scholls Ferry Road: The stretch between Washington Square and Murrayhill has a cluster of brewpubs, pizza spots, and family restaurants. Good date-night territory, especially if you want dinner and then a walk at one of the nearby parks.
- Cedar Hills Crossing (nearby): The former Cedar Hills Cinema complex has reinvented as a mixed-use hub with New Seasons, restaurants, and shops. It’s a five-minute drive from Washington Square and worth the detour.
🛍️ What’s Actually Worth Visiting at the Mall
Look, we’re a florist, not a retail analyst. But here’s an honest take from people who’ve been in the Tigard area for over two decades:
- Nordstrom — Still the anchor. Still reliable. The shoe department alone justifies the trip for many people.
- The seasonal pop-ups — Washington Square has leaned into temporary retail and holiday markets. The November–December pop-up corridor is genuinely fun and supports small businesses.
- The walking factor — On rainy Portland days (so, October through June), indoor walking at the mall is a real thing. Retirees from King City and Bull Mountain have been doing morning mall walks for decades. It’s exercise, it’s social, and it’s dry.
- People-watching — We’re just being honest. A food court coffee and thirty minutes of watching the human parade is an underrated form of entertainment.
🏘️ The Neighborhood That Grew Up Around It
The most interesting thing about Washington Square in 2026 isn’t the mall itself — it’s the area that’s formed around it. Within a mile of the mall you’ll find:
- The Nimbus area — Originally a business park, now a mix of offices, breweries (Nimbus Brewing started here), and some of the best lunch spots in the area. The trails connecting Nimbus to Fanno Creek — which we wrote about in our Fanno Creek deep dive — make this a surprisingly walkable pocket.
- The apartment boom — Thousands of new housing units have gone up within walking distance of the mall in the last decade. This isn’t sprawl — it’s genuine densification, and it’s brought a younger, more diverse population to the area.
- Transit improvements — The WES commuter rail station at Washington Square connects to the MAX system. It’s not perfect, but it means the mall area is more accessible than ever without a car.
- Green spaces — Greenway Park and the Fanno Creek trail system run right past the mall’s back side. You can literally walk from the Nordstrom parking lot to a creekside trail in five minutes. Most people don’t know this.
For a broader look at the trails and hills around Tigard, our Bull Mountain guide covers the southern side, and the farmers markets piece covers where to find local flowers and produce in the area.
📅 The Mall Through the Seasons
- Spring: The surrounding landscaping blooms with cherry trees and azaleas. The parking lot islands are actually quite pretty in April if you slow down enough to notice. The Old Town Tigard area is a 10-minute drive for a completely different vibe.
- Summer: Outdoor dining patios along Hall Boulevard fill up. The mall itself is gloriously air-conditioned. Weekend evenings, the restaurant corridor hums.
- Fall: Back-to-school energy. The seasonal pop-ups start. The Fanno Creek trail behind the mall turns gold and orange — one of the most underrated fall color walks in the metro.
- Holiday season: This is when Washington Square still feels like Washington Square. The tree, the crowds, the gift panic, the Nordstrom bags. If you grew up here, walking through the mall in December still triggers something. It just does.
🤰 What the Mall Means to Tigard
Here’s the thing nobody says out loud: Washington Square is Tigard’s living room, whether the city claims it or not (the mall technically sits in unincorporated Washington County, which is a whole other conversation). It’s where Tigard teenagers got their first jobs. Where parents bought prom dresses. Where retirees walk on rainy mornings. Where families wander on Sunday afternoons because they need to get out of the house but don’t have a plan.
The history of the mall tracks the history of Tigard itself — from rural to suburban to something more urban, from homogeneous to diverse, from car-dependent to slowly more connected. We wrote about Tigard’s journey from onion fields to livable suburb, and Washington Square is one of the landmarks that made that transition visible.
Is the mall what it was in 1988? No. But neither is Tigard, and that’s mostly a good thing.
💐 The Flower Connection
We deliver to the Washington Square area constantly — to the apartments, the offices in Nimbus, the restaurants (congratulations bouquets for new openings are a real thing), and the homes in the neighborhoods tucked behind Hall and Scholls Ferry. If you live or work near the mall and need flowers delivered, we’re your neighbor.
We also deliver to Beaverton, King City, Lake Oswego, and everywhere else in the Portland metro. Browse what’s fresh at tigardflorist.com and let us handle the rest. 🌸