Westfield Eastland

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Mall facts and statistics
Westfield Eastland

Location	West Covina, California, USA
Opening date	1957
Developer	May Centers, Inc.
Management	The Westfield Group
Owner	The Westfield Group
No. of anchor tenants	3
Total retail floor area	800,000 ft²
Website	http://westfield.com/santaanita

Westfield Eastland, formerly Eastland Shopping Center, is a power center in West Covina, California, owned by The Westfield Group. Its anchor stores are Mervyn's, Target and Burlington Coat Factory.

Westfield America, Inc., a precursor to The Westfield Group acquired the shopping center in 1998, and renamed it "Westfield Shoppingtown Eastland", dropping the "Shoppingtown" name in June 2005.

Once a fashionable department store-anchored regional shopping mall, in 1997 it was converted to a power center, as the nearby Plaza at West Covina became the dominant area center. It was once anchored by a five story May Company department store, where the Target now stands. Uniquely, the power center is two levels, with parking for the lower level on south side of the center and parking for the upper level on the north side. Corridors connect both the upper and lower levels.

The Plaza is now known as Westfield West Covina and is owned by The Westfield Group as well.

[edit] History

Eastland Center was designed by architect Albert C. Martin and opened in 1957 as an outdoor mall on the eastern end of the San Bernardino Freeway (I-10). It opened with a 5 level May Company on the east end of the mall, and 2-Level WT Grants on the West end. This mall was unique as it had a regular mall on the upper level, and a strip center on the lower level facing the freeway. The mall was enclosed and expanded in the 1970's with a Roberts Department Store (local chain) being added to the center of the mall. WT Grants closed up and was converted into shops on the upper level. An area called the street shops was added along Workman Ave with Lucky Market, Longs Drugs, and some mom and pop shops.

In the early 80's, Mervyn's Department Store added on to the west end of the mall, next to the old WT Grants location. This brought out the first of the big box locations on the lower level, with Office Depot moving into the WT Grants lower level, and Marshalls taking lease to the center shops. Later down the line, Ross Dress for less and Famous Footwear finished off the lower level. In the mid 80's, Sportmart opened up in the Basement level of the May Company store, and May used the basement for bargains only.

In the early 1990's, May closed their Eastland Center location and moved to the nearby West Covina Fashion Plaza. The ex-May location stood empty for years, with the Sportmart continuing to operate in its former basement. In 1997, the upper level of the mall was closed for good. The Sportmart was closed and ex-May location was torn down, except for the basement level, and the entire center was big boxed. Target took up spot where the May was located, Mervyns continued, and other national chains like Levitz (replacing Loehmann's, Bed Bath & Beyond, Babies "R" Us took up spots in the upper level. Local sporting goods Chick's is also on the second level. Burlington Coat Factory took up shop in the former basement of the May Co.

Today, the center is thriving still.