Inland Center is a regional shopping mall owned and operated by

Macerich Macerich ( ) is a real estate investment trust that invests in shopping centers. It is the third-largest owner and operator of shopping centers in the United States. As of December 31, 2020, the company owned interests in 52 properties comprisi ...

, located in

San Bernardino, California San Bernardino (; Spanish for "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 cen ...

along the southwest border adjacent to Interstate 215 and the city of Colton. The mall is within one mile of three bordering cities on the southern end of San Bernardino ( Redlands, Colton, and Loma Linda). Inland Center is a single-level mall anchored by,

JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gir ...

Forever 21 Forever 21 is a multinational fast fashion retailer headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States. Originally founded as the store Fashion 21 in Highland Park, Los Angeles in 1984,Forever 21History & Facts, n.d. Retrieved 27 April 2014 ...

and

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

, plus 110 specialty shops and services.

History

Construction and grand opening

Originally constructed by

Homart Development Company Homart Development Company, a Chicago-based subsidiary of Sears, was one of the largest builders of shopping centers and malls in the United States from 1959 to 1995. Company history As retail development in the United States shifted away from d ...

and opened in 1966, Inland Center Mall was built on top of the former Urbita Springs lake. Three major department stores anchored the mall at or close to its opening date: *

The Broadway The Broadway was a mid-level department store chain headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1896 by English-born Arthur Letts Sr., and named after what was once the city's main shopping street, the Broadway became a dominant reta ...

opened August 29, 1966, 3 selling floors, .

Charles Luckman Charles Luckman (May 16, 1909 – January 26, 1999) was an American businessman, property developer, and architect known for designing landmark buildings in the United States such as the Theme Building, Prudential Tower, Madison Square Garden, ...

and Associates, architects. Its exterior was featured white pillars, as well as Portuguese marble in brown and champagne tones. It had interior murals by Charles Riggs, Ben Morris, Roy Little, Paul Sherman, and Ray Jacobs. * May Company opened September 6, 1966, three levels, *

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

opened September 28, 1966, 2 levels, plus an automotive center in an outbuilding The mall courcourse with approximately 70 stores, opened October 12, 1966. There was parking for 5,000 cars. The total lots size was .

1990s

The mall experienced a number of changes in the 1990s. In January 1993, the May Company store closed due to the chain merging with Robinson's to become Robinson's-May leaving the mall with only two anchors, The Broadway and Sears, which reduced overall traffic after merging with May Department Stores. In 1995,

Gottschalks Gottschalks (former NYSE ticker symbol GOT) was a middle-tier American department store that operated 58 department stores and three specialty apparel stores in six western states (California, Washington, Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Nevada); some ...

moved into the old May Co building. A year later,

bought out The Broadway, and converted its three-story building to a Macy's location. In 1998, a fourth anchor building was annexed in front of the mall's main entrance, along with a four-story parking structure. The store was

Robinsons-May Robinsons-May was a chain of department stores operating in Southern California, Arizona and Nevada, from 1993 until 2006. It was created when May Department Stores combined two of its chains, May Company California and J. W. Robinson's chains. ...

, returning to the mall after a five-year hiatus from doing business in San Bernardino since May Company's closure.

2000s

In 2000, the main entrances were renovated placing trees and benches at all entrances and a new mall sign along with a new remodeled Food Court next to Sears, where the old

Miller's Outpost Anchor Blue Laguna Hills. Anchor Blue Inc. (formerly Miller's Outpost) was an American clothing retailer which had over 100 stores in the western United States. It generally sold its own Anchor Blue brand name of youth-oriented denim, graphic T-s ...

was located. In 2006, Macy's bought out Robinsons-May, and since having two anchors on the same property was redundant, decided to close the old Broadway building in favor of the more modern built Robinsons-May building at its current location. The vacant Broadway building was sold to

Mervyn's Mervyn's was an American middle-scale department store chain based in Hayward, California, and founded by Mervin G. Morris (1920–2021). It carried national brands of clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics, ...

in 2007 for renovation and a proposed opening in September 2008, but the Mervyn's company was liquidated around that time after filing for Chapter 7. Also in October 2008, construction was made to seal off the vacant and smaller second level of the mall to public traffic. In 2009,

announced it would move into the vacant building that was partially renovated by Mervyn's. Gottschalks closed its doors in July 2009 after they too filed for

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...

liquidation. J. C. Penney announced that they would open at the former Gottschalks building.

2010s

In 2013, Macerich Corporation installed over 4,000 solar panels on the corridor rooftops to reduce their dependence on electricity during operating hours. EV Charging Stations were also installed in the parking lots at the major entrances. In 2015,

Sears Holdings Sears Holdings Corporation was an American holding company headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. It was the parent company of the chain stores Kmart and Sears and was founded after the former purchased the latter in 2005. It was the 20th-l ...

spun off 235 of its properties, including the Sears at Inland Center, into Seritage Growth Properties. In 2016,

opened a store in the former Gottschalks building. In summer 2018, it was announced that fashion retailer H&M would be opening a 20,000 square foot location inside the mall. The store opened later in fall 2018. On October 1, 2019, it was announced that Forever 21 would be closing as part of a plan to close 178 stores nationwide. However, there have been conflicting reports of this location closing, and as of June 2020, the store has remained open. On November 7, 2019, it was announced that Sears would be closing as part of a plan to close 96 stores nationwide. The store closed on February 2, 2020.

2020s

On June 4, 2020, it was announced that JCPenney would be closing as part of a plan to close 154 stores nationwide. However, as of August 2020, this store has been removed from the closing list and will stay open for now.

Structural features

In 2006, the original Macy's store which occupied a dated

location was closed and the more modern

was converted to Macy's as part of the

Federated Department Stores Macy's, Inc. (originally Federated Department Stores, Inc.) is an American conglomerate holding company. Upon its establishment, Federated held ownership of the regional department store chains Abraham & Straus, Lazarus, Filene's, and Shillito ...

merger with

May Department Stores The May Department Stores Company was an American department store holding company, formerly headquartered in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. It was founded in Leadville, Colorado, by David May in 1877, moving to St. Louis in 1905. After many ch ...

was to take over the old anchor space but failed to open after their bankruptcy finalized in 2009. Construction was also completed in 2007 to seal off the lower level, demolishing a staircase and glass elevator that took customers to the lower level of the mall that remained vacant after Oshman's Sporting Goods and a video arcade closed down in prior decades. After construction was completed, the upper-level floor was made solid and a Children's Play Area themed after US Route 66 was built near the old staircase location. In January 2008, parking lots adjacent to the parking structure and a small portion of the underutilized western parking areas of the mall were used in the recent SANBAG and

Caltrans The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is an Executive (government), executive department of the U.S. state of California. The department is part of the Government of California#State agencies, cabinet-level California State Tran ...

I-215 expansion project. The Inland Center Drive overpass reopened next to the mall in April 2010. During 2009, two adjacent pads to Inland Center owned by Macerich corporation were razed and placed for sale: On North Mall Boulevard and E Street (Formerly a

Citibank Citibank, N. A. (N. A. stands for " National Association") is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of financial services multinational Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, and later became First National City ...

branch) and South Mall Boulevard and E Street (Formerly Buffalo Ranch Restaurant).

Mall layout

A distinctive feature of Inland Center is the large cement vault in the center of the mall serving as its main entrance prior to 1988. The vault today serves as the walkway between

and

with smaller-format stores along each side and a perpendicular main walkway with full-size inline stores crossing the vault to reach

and the former

Anchors

Current anchors

*North Anchor: Vacant *South Anchor:

(2016–present) *East Anchor:

(2009–present) *West Anchor:

(2006–present)

Former anchors

* May Company (original tenant) (1966-1993) - Replaced by Gottschalks in 1995. *

(original tenant) (1966-1996) - Replaced by Macy's in 1996. *

(1998-2006) - Replaced by Macy's in 2006. *

(first location) (1996-2006) - Replaced by Forever 21 in 2009. *

(1995-2009) - Replaced by JCPenney in 2016. *

(original tenant) (1966-2020)

Canceled anchors

was originally going to open at the former Broadway Building in 2007 but the company filed for

Chapter 7 bankruptcy Chapter 7 of Title 11 of the United States Code (Bankruptcy Code) governs the process of liquidation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States, in contrast to Chapters 11 and 13, which govern the process of ''reorganization'' of a debtor. ...

protection in the same year and would close all stores in 2009.

References

External links

Inland CenterMacerichMacerich Floor Plan
{{Shopping malls in California Macerich Buildings and structures in San Bernardino, California Shopping malls in San Bernardino County, California Shopping malls established in 1966 Tourist attractions in San Bernardino, California