Bob and his late wife Betty Lightfeldt had a big impact on the Kirkland business community for decades. Their shops Betty’s Apparel, which was located in downtown Kirkland, and Shady Lady, at Totem Lake Malls, were at the heart of Kirkland fashion from 1962-88. Despite closing their Kirkland stores nearly a quarter century ago, 92-year-old Lightfeldt still cares about the Kirkland business community, including the rundown malls.

“We owned four stores in downtown Kirkland and then one in Totem Lake,” said Lightfeldt. “A lot of downtown merchants moved because it was a new mall. It was exciting.”

Lightfeldt was not your typical women’s boutique store owner. He worked for years at the Boeing Co. before retiring early to open Shady Lady.

“It was just updating and more catchy,” said Lightfeldt about the difference in the store’s names. “We kind of adopted the turn-of-the-century decor.”

He and Betty owned an entire building in downtown Kirkland at the corner of Lake Street and Kirkland Avenue, which housed Betty’s Apparel.

“We were the first pants shop in the Seattle area for women,” said Lightfeldt. “At that time no one wore them.”

But through the years styles came and went and transformed into Betty’s styles.

“When they started everyone was wearing the same thing,” Lightfeldt’s daughter, Karen, said about fashion in the 1960s. “You have to change with the times. By the time we closed everyone was wearing the same thing again.”

Betty’s Apparel was approximately 2,000 square feet in downtown, while Shady Lady was at about 2,500 square feet.

“It was pretty stable the first 10 years and pretty profitable at Totem Lake,” said Lightfeldt, who became the first Totem Lake Malls Association President.

Totem Lake Malls was a boon for many of the stores during the early years. Promotion was the key.

Lightfeldt recalled helping to organize every type of promotion possible – moonlight sales, bed races and even events to tie into the malls’ Native American theme.

“There was this Swedish fellow who was married to an Indian princess who would set up the teepees,” Lightfeldt recalled. “We would dream up all sorts of promotions.”

The malls became an alternative to Bellevue Square and other larger shopping areas.

“It was a magnet,” said Karen. “One-stop shopping. There was just an upbeat feeling in the malls.”

One of the biggest advantages for Shady Lady was being next door to Lamont’s. The two stores carried clothes – but that was where the similarities ended.

“We were fashion and they were more mainstream,” said Karen.

After 10 years of profitability in the space, the Lightfeldts’ decided to sign a five year lease with Totem Lake Malls.

But Lamont’s helped to hasten the end of Shady Lady and other stores in a different way, according to Karen. Renovation of the front of Lamont’s resulted in windows being replaced by a rock wall. The wall darkened one end of the mall and made visibility difficult for shoppers.

“We can’t know for sure, but it definitely took away from the light,” said Karen. “It also did a lot to change the feel of the entire malls.”

The aesthetic change affected many things. The lack of light contributed to other declines.

“The restrooms became a drug hangout and not considered safe,” said Karen.

Mall management also began to take a turn.

“They weren’t doing anything for promotion towards the end,” said Lightfeldt.

But it wasn’t just promotion that the management faltered on, says Karen.

“It was always full,” said Karen. “They had good management in the early days, but towards the end there was nothing.”

The declining malls also had other issues that were harder to fix.

“The traffic problem was so bad,” said Lightfeldt. “That exit took a lot of lobbying. It was horrible, 405 was two lanes at that time.”

One big feature that put businesses like Shady Lady and Betty’s Apparel out of business was the rise of the box store.

“It changed what a small store could do,” said Karen.

But the Lightfeldt’s changed with the times. Despite shuttering Betty’s Apparel and eventually Shady Lady, the family found new success at Factoria Mall with two stores, including Satin Lady, an independent lingerie store during the 1980s.

Those stores have since closed and Lightfeldt visited Totem Lake Malls last year. He was disappointed at the demise of the malls, but the man who will celebrate his 93rd birthday in February still has great memories of the once-bustling economic engine of Kirkland.