Fashion Fair Mall
| Location | Fresno, California 93710 |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 36°48′22″N 119°46′34″W / 36.806°N 119.776°WCoordinates: 36°48′22″N 119°46′34″W / 36.806°N 119.776°W |
| Address | 645 E. Shaw Avenue |
| Opening date | 1970 |
| Owner | The Macerich Company |
| No. of stores and services | 140+ |
| No. of anchor tenants | 4 |
| Total retail floor area | 963,000 sq ft (89,500 m2) |
| Parking | parking lot, valet |
| Website | www.fashionfairmall.com |
Fashion Fair Mall is a medium-sized, enclosed shopping mall in Fresno, California, anchored by JCPenney, Forever 21, Macy's Men and Children, and Macy's Women and Home. An extensive remodeling program was initiated in 2003, designed by F+A Architects, which included extensive interior renovations and the addition of an open-air walkway with additional shops and restaurants. This program added about 90,000 square feet (8,400 m2) of retail space to the mall upon its completion in November 2005.
Mall history
The mall was built in 1970 by the MacDonald Group with 500,000 sq ft (46,000 m2) and was sold in 1987.[1] In 1996, Gottschalks moved from its original store to a space previously occupied by Weinstock's.[2] The original Gottschalks store is now Macy's Men's & Children's, while the newer one is now Forever 21, uses all three floors of the building. The mall originally opened with Gottschalks, Weinstock's, and J. C. Penney, with a drive in movie theater in the area where Macy's is now. When the theater closed in 1980, the mall was expanded from J. C. Penney, converting one of the store's parking lot entrances into a mall entrance and creating another wing anchored by a new Macy's, along with a food court. This wing is only accessible from the original wing of the mall by walking through the first floor of the JCPenney store, which would be a problem if the store ever closed. In 1996, Weinstock's closed due to the merger of Broadway Department stores (which owned Weinstock's, The Emporium, and The Broadway) with Federated Department Stores, which rebranded the former The Broadway), Weinstock's, and Emporium stores as Macy's. While most of these stores became Macy's, this store closed, as Macy's alraedy had their own store at the mall and did not want to add a secondary store. After the closure of Weinstock's, Federated sold the space, along with the former Modesto store to Gottschalks, who then relocated their one story store off of center court into the former Weinstock's, more than doubling the size of the store. Macy's acquired the former Gottschalks space, remodeled it, and moved their Men's and Children's departments into the former Gottschalks space. The former Weinstock's store was not remodeled as Gottschalks relocated. The mall's anchors remained unchanged until 2009, when Gottschalks filed for bankruptcy and closed all of their stores. Forever 21 then said they would be relocating their small store into the former Gottschalks, as part of a plan to begin operating department store sized locations. Forever 21 spent over a year completely remodeling the inside, which included replacing the old escalators with a marble staircase and installing new escalators in the back of the store. The new Forever 21 store opened to a huge crowd in spring 2012. At the end of 2014, the store closed the third floor and consolidated merchandise into the first and second floors. In 2015, Urban Outfitters, one of the main anchors to the 2003 expansion, suddenly closed, leaving a junior anchor space vacant. .[3]
Eateries
Besides housing a mix of mid-tier and upscale tenants, the outdoor portion of the mall houses several eateries, including Flemings, BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse, Chick-Fil-A, and The Cheesecake Factory. The mall also has an indoor food court, housingWetzel's Pretzels, Mrs. Field's Cookies, Surf City Squeeze, Hot Dog on a Stick, Tommie's Hamburgers, Charley's Philly Steaks, Sarku Japan, Chipotle Mexican Grill, and Panda Express.
Competing Malls
- Manchester Center: The opening of Fashion Fair was the beginning of the end for nearby Manchester Center, which contained Liberty House, Gottschalks, and Sears. Today, Manchester Center is a mostly dead mall, although the Sears store as well as the mall interior remains open, along with a Regal Cinemas movie theater.
- Fulton Mall: This pedestrian mall in downtown Fresno contained Gottschalks, JCPenney, and Montgomery Ward, as well as several other big stores of the 1960s. JCPenney closed their store in favor of the Fashion Fair location in 1985. Today, the pedestrian mall is very run down with almost no chain stores, and construction is soon expected to begin to restore Fulton Mall into a street.
- River Park: This outdoor mall opened in 1996 with Target, Marshalls, Borders, Best Buy, JCPenney Home Store, and Edward's Cinemas. In 2005, a Gottschalks store opened, and became a Macy's soon after the company liquidation. In 2014, the Borders store became H&M. River Park and Fashion Fair are the two most successful shopping destinations of the Fresno area.
- Sierra Vista Mall: This enclosed mall opened in 1988 with Target, Mervyn's, Sears, and Gottschalks. The mall has fallen on hard times, with many inline store vacancies. It is currently anchored by Target, Sears, Kohl's, and an indoor racecar track in the old Gottschalks.
- Fig Garden Village: Located just down the street from Fashion Fair, this outdoor upscale shopping center is anchored by Whole Foods Market and CVS/Pharmacy. It was previously home to a Gottschalks department store, which closed and moved to River Park in 2005. This space was demolished and rebuilt as Banana Republic, Pottery Barn, Coldwater Creek, and several restaurants.
Recent Closures
- Ann Taylor Loft
- Cache (Liquidation)
- Takken's Shoes
- See's Candies
- Anchor Blue (Liquidation)
- Brookstone
- BCBG Max Azria
- Z Gallerie
- No Fear
- Sbarro
- Urban Outfitters
- Hallmark Gold Crown
- Frederick's of Hollywood (Liquidation)
- Gloria Jean's Coffee
Recent Openings
- Tilly's
- MAC Cosmetics
- Teavana
- Best Buy Mobile
- Lush Cosmetics
- Panda Express
- Chipotle
- Sarku Japan
- Charming Charlie
- Michael Kors
- Verizon Wireless
- Chick-Fil-A
- Chipotle
- The Limited
- De Colores
Current Anchors and Majors
- Macy's Women's and Home (3 levels, Opened 1983, 183,000 sq. ft.)
- Macy's Men's and Children's (1 level, Opened 1996, 80,000 sq. ft.)
- J. C. Penney (2 levels, Opened 1970, 217,000 sq. ft.)
- Forever 21 (3 levels, Opened 2013, 150,000 sq. ft.)
- Love Culture (Opened 2013 in former Forever 21 after relocation into former Gottschalk's)
- Apple Store
- Gap
- Anthropologie
Former Anchors
- Weinstock's (Opened 1970, closed 1996 due to Broadway-Federated merger)
- Gottschalks (Opened 1970, moved to former Weinstock's in 1996, closed 2009 due to company liquidation)
- Urban Outfitters (Opened 2005 with mall expansion, converted to outlet store in 2013, closed 2015)
See also
References
- ↑ "Sale of Fashion Fair Complete". Fresno Bee. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
- ↑ "GOTTSCHALKS ANNOUNCES FEBRUARY SALES RESULTS". The Free Library. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
- ↑ "Forever 21 Opening at Fashion Fair Mall - KGPE CBS47 Fresno - News, Sports & Weather for the Central Valley". Cbs47.tv. 2011-02-04. Retrieved 2013-10-03.
External links
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