Los Arcos Mall

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Los Arcos Mall is a defunct shopping mall which was located on the Southeast corner of Scottsdale Rd. and McDowell Rd in Scottsdale, Arizona. It is slated to become the home of SkySong, Arizona State University's Scottsdale Center for New Technology and Innovation, which is currently under construction.

Los Arcos Mall opened in 1971 and was developed by Phoenix-based Westcor Partners. The cross-shaped enclosed mall was anchored by The Broadway on the east end, Sears on the south end, an entrance and a food court on the north end, and another entrance and a lower-level movie theatre on the west end. The mall was one of the largest and most modern in the Phoenix metropolitan area for its first decade or so. However, as newer and larger centers were built nearby, Los Arcos' drawing power began to fade.

[edit] Decline

The first sign of decline came in 1979 when the 1,000,000 square foot plus Fiesta Mall opened in Mesa with four major department stores. During the 1980's and 1990's, Scottsdale Fashion Square which is only three miles to the north went through several expansions and renovations and began to serve as Scottsdale's regional mall. While several retailers had locations at both malls, such as Sam Goody, Express, Structure, the choice for retailers began to shift to Fashion Square. In 1995 when Federated Department Stores purchased The Broadway, most stores were converted to Macy's. However, the Los Arcos location became a clearance store for a short time and then closed. In 1999, the mall's last remaining department store, Sears moved to a new location in the former Dillard's store at Fashion Square. (The Sears store lasted only 18 months in the upscale mall and is now a Macy's) This led to the closure of the mall with the exception of the Red Robin Restaurant on the outside of the mall which remained open until 2002.