South Bay Galleria

South Bay Galleria
Location Redondo Beach, California
Opening date 1985
Developer Forest City Development
Management Forest City Enterprises
Owner Forest City Enterprises
No. of stores and services 140[1]
No. of anchor tenants 3
Total retail floor area 955,000 square feet (88,700 m2)[2]
No. of floors 3
Website Official Website

South Bay Galleria, formerly named Galleria at South Bay, is a mall in Redondo Beach outside of Los Angeles, California. It is anchored by Macy's, Kohl's and Nordstrom, as well as a 16-screen AMC Theatres multiplex.

History

Originally the site of a freestanding May Company store opened in 1959. Over the next decade it became an "open air" shopping center, with other stores built around open-air breezeways. The name "South Bay Center" (occasionally referred to as "SBC") was adopted and other stores opened around the May Company during the 1960s and 1970s. Some of which were Woolworth's, Florsheim Shoes, Harris & Frank Men's Clothes, Thrifty Drug Store, Sunset House Gifts, Pier One Imports, Ralph's Super Market and Putney Station Restaurant. In the south parking lot, a car wash, theater, and bowling alley (containing a popular restaurant called "The Steak Knife") was opened. On August 26, 1985 Forest City Development opened an attached mall, then known as "Galleria at South Bay". It included additional anchors Nordstrom and Mervyn's, which had opened a few months earlier.[3]

In 1992 Forest City sold a half-interest in the center to CalPERS,[4] before buying it back in 2001 and changing the official name to South Bay Galleria. In the meantime the May Company store had adopted the Robinsons-May name in 1993 and General Cinema had constructed a 16-screen multiplex cinema in 1997,[5] before the company was sold to AMC Theatres in 2002. In September 2006, the Robinsons-May store was renamed Macy's.

In December 2008, the Mervyn's department store chain closed all of its stores due to bankruptcy, including the South Bay Galleria store. In December 2008, it was also announced that the Kohl's department store chain had bought 48 Mervyn's properties, including the South Bay Galleria property, and would take over the retail space that was formerly occupied by Mervyn's.

Four years later on December 4, 2012, it was announced that Nordstrom is going to relocate to Del Amo Fashion Center, after nearly 30 years of service at the South Bay Galleria, as part of Del Amo's reconstruction project.[6]

Anchors and major tenants

In movies and television

The South Bay Galleria has been used as a backdrop for several movie and television productions, including Fat Albert.

References

External links

Coordinates: 33°52′16″N 118°21′18″W / 33.87111°N 118.35500°W