Plaza del Norte is a

shopping center A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre (Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof. The first known collec ...

located in

Hatillo, Puerto Rico Hatillo () is a town and municipality located in Puerto Rico's north coast, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north, Lares and Utuado to the south, Camuy to the west, and Arecibo to the east. According to the 2000 US Census Hatillo is sprea ...

currently owned and managed by Retail Value, Inc.It is the largest

in northwestern

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

, with over 130 stores and

fast food Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheated or precooked ingredien ...

restaurants.

History

Plaza del Norte opened its doors in 1992. In 2005 the mall was acquired by

DDR Corp. SITE Centers Corp. (formerly DDR Corp. and Developers Diversified Realty, Inc.) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that invests in shopping centers. Founded in 1965 by Bert Wolstein, the company is headquartered in Beachwood, Ohio ...

from a $1.15 billion portfolio deal with Caribbean Property Group (CPG) which included the mall. During the mid to late 2000s, the mall started to lose many of its tenants. The Cinevista Theatre and

Pueblo Supermarkets Pueblo is a Puerto Rican supermarkets chain. It has been one of Puerto Rico's major supermarket chains since 1955. History The brainchild of brothers Harold Toppel and George Toppel, sons of Russian immigrant parents, Pueblo began as a single s ...

were closed after their respective parent companies went bankrupt.

Party City Party City Holdco Inc. is an American publicly traded retail chain of party stores founded in 1986 by Steve Mandell in East Hanover, New Jersey. Party City’s parent organization is Party City Holdings Inc. Based in Woodcliff Lake, NJ, the compa ...

and Pitusa, which, along with Pueblo, occupied the strip mall area, also left . This led to that part of the mall becoming nearly fully vacant, as the smaller stores and Casa Febus relocated to the enclosed mall. The opening and later expansion of the Puerto Rico Premium Outlets in Barceloneta, led to many stores to open in this outlet mall than in Plaza del Norte. In the

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 ...

wing, several formerly small stores were combined into a

Circuit City Circuit City is an American consumer electronics retail company, which was founded in 1949 by Samuel Wurtzel as the Wards Company, operated stores across the United States, and pioneered the electronics superstore format in the 1970s. After m ...

in 2008, but the chain's bankruptcy led to the store being closed a year later. The space was temporarily used by Casa Febus, until it moved to a new building outside the mall. In 2011,

announced a significant interior and exterior renovation of the mall, including a 10,000-square-foot expansion and renovation of the existing J.C. Penney Co. store, which now occupies part of the JCPenney wing, including the former Circuit City. The project included the addition of a Rooms To Go, the combination of three small retail-space units to accommodate a

PetSmart PetSmart is a privately held American chain of pet superstores, which sell pet products, services, and small pets. It is the leading North American pet company, and its direct competitor is Petco. Its indirect competitors are Amazon, Walmart, ...

, several other new stores and outparcels, a new

Caribbean Cinemas Caribbean Cinemas is a chain of movie theaters in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. It is the only major chain in Puerto Rico following CineVista's bankruptcy. The chain has expanded into Dominican Republic, Panama, St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Maa ...

movie theater and new carts and kiosks through the entire mall. The project was completed in mid-2013. In early October 2015,

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

left the mall for a Supercenter. In 2017

spun off its Puerto Rican shopping centers to RVI ( Retail Value Inc.) due to struggles they had after the

Hurricane Maria Hurricane Maria was a deadly Saffir–Simpson scale#Category 5, Category 5 Tropical cyclone, hurricane that devastated the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly Dominica, Saint Croix, and Puerto Rico. It is regarded as the wo ...

, making Retail Value Inc. the new owner of the mall at the time. Plaza del Norte Burlington

In November 2019 an Econo supermarket opened a store in Plaza del Norte. On October 30, 2020, a new

Burlington Coat Factory Burlington, formerly known as Burlington Coat Factory, is an American national off-price department store retailer, and a division of Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corporation with more than 1,000 stores in 40 states and Puerto Rico, with it ...

opened in the former space of

. In February 2021, it was announced that

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 ...

would be closing in April 2021, along with the locations at Mayaguez Mall,

Las Catalinas Mall Las Catalinas Mall is an enclosed shopping mall located in Caguas, Puerto Rico. The mall opened in 1997, and is currently anchored by Sector Sixty6 Entertainment Center. A former anchor tenant, Sears, closed their store in February 2021. The stor ...

and

Plaza Carolina Plaza Carolina is an enclosed shopping mall located in Carolina, Puerto Rico. Anchored by JCPenney, TJ Maxx, Caribbean Cinemas, Burlington and Forever 21, it features 161 stores, making it the second largest mall in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. ...

. In August 2021 Developers Diversified (

) came back to the PR retail landscape with a $550 million deal with RVI which Plaza del Norte was included in, making DDR the owner of the mall once again.

Current Anchors

TJ Maxx TJ Maxx (stylized as T•J•maxx) is an American department store chain, selling at prices generally lower than other major similar stores. It has more than 1,000 stores in the United States, making it one of the largest clothing retailers in ...

Supermercados Econo Supermercados Econo is a Puerto Rican supermarket chain. As of 2021, it has 64 stores in 49 municipalities across the country. Singer Bad Bunny previously worked at an Econo supermarket. History Supermercados Econo started operations in 1970 and ...

Office Max OfficeMax is an American office supplies retailer founded in 1988. It is now a subsidiary of The ODP Corporation, which is headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida. As of December 2012, OfficeMax operated 941 stores in 47 states, Puerto Rico, the U. ...

* Rooms To Go

Former Anchors

* A'GACI *

Gallery

Plaza del Norte the room.jpg, Center Court at Plaza del Norte in 2011 Food court at Plaza del Norte in Hatillo, Puerto Rico.jpg, Food court at Plaza del norte in 2011 Sears PDN.jpg, The mall entrance to the former

store In 2011

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plaza Del Norte Shopping malls in Puerto Rico Shopping malls established in 1992 Hatillo, Puerto Rico