South Coast Plaza is a regional shopping mall in Costa Mesa, California. The largest shopping center on the

West Coast of the United States The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast, Pacific states, and the western seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous ...

, its pre-COVID sales of over $1.5 billion annually were the highest in the United States. Its 275

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and th ...

ers represent the highest concentration of design fashion retail in the U.S., with the second highest sales-volume in California at —second only to Westfield Valley Fair in San Jose-Santa Clara, at . The national average is . The mall is anchored by three

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 ...

stores, Nordstrom,

Bloomingdale's Bloomingdale's Inc. is an American luxury department store chain; it was founded in New York City by Joseph B. and Lyman G. Bloomingdale in 1861. A third brother, Emanuel Watson Bloomingdale, was also involved in the business. It became a divi ...

, and

Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (originally Saks & Company; colloquially Saks) is an American luxury department store chain headquartered in New York City and founded by Andrew Saks. The original store opened in the F Street shopping district of Washing ...

. The South Coast Plaza is the largest shopping mall in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

and the 4th largest in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

History

In March 1967, members of the Segerstrom family, most notably, Harold (Hal) T. Segerstrom, Jr. and cousin, Henry Segerstrom opened a shopping center called "South Coast Plaza" in one of the family's

lima bean A lima bean (''Phaseolus lunatus''), also commonly known as the butter bean, sieva bean, double bean, Madagascar bean, or wax bean is a legume grown for its edible seeds or beans. Origin and uses ''Phaseolus lunatus'' is found in Meso- and Sou ...

fields in rapidly growing Orange County. Originally anchored by a May Company that had opened in late 1966 and

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 ...

, the initial phase of the center was designed by Victor Gruen. It was built the same year as The Irvine Company's nearby Fashion Island in

Newport Beach Newport Beach is a coastal city in South Orange County, California. Newport Beach is known for swimming and sandy beaches. Newport Harbor once supported maritime industries however today, it is used mostly for recreation. Balboa Island draws v ...

. The success of the center brought rapid expansion: an additional wing with Bullock's in 1973, I. Magnin in 1977, Nordstrom in 1978, and

in 1979. The opening of the Nordstrom store is considered a seminal event as it was the first Nordstrom store outside of the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

and marked the West Coast and later the nationwide expansion of its chain. In 1986, the center began opening its largest expansion, with Nordstrom replacing its store with a new location twice the size of the original in May, and the addition of a free-standing wing across Bear Street, identified as "Crystal Court" and anchored by The Broadway and

J. W. Robinson's J. W. Robinson Co., ''Robinson's'', was a chain of department stores operating in the Southern California and Arizona area, previously with headquarters in Los Angeles, California. History Joseph Winchester Robinson was a merchant from Waltham, ...

, which opened in the Fall. These two stores were anchors at nearby Fashion Island, but were willing to cannibalize sales at that location due to the strong drawing power of South Coast Plaza. This signified South Coast Plaza's elevation from a regional shopping center to a national shopping destination. The expansion continued in fall 1987 with an enlargement of Bullock's and the redevelopment of the former Nordstrom as additional center space, including a Tiffany's that opened in fall 1988. The Crystal Court standalone wing never performed as well as the original center, its separation due both to land restrictions and the fact that May Co. and The Broadway routinely refused to allow each other to build stores at their existing centers, which explains the proximity of so many competing malls throughout Southern California. In 1991, the I. Magnin location was closed by I. Magnin's new owner, Federated Department Stores and reopened as the first standalone Bullock's Men's store, also owned by Federated. May Co. and Robinson's merged in 1993 to form Robinsons-May, retaining both locations as separate full-line stores, while the two Bullock's locations and Broadway store were all renamed

in early 1996, with again like Robinsons-May, separate stores being maintained on either side of Bear Street. In 1995, prior to 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 Shilli ...

/ Broadway Stores merger,

was in negotiations to build a location at South Coast Plaza, but other anchor tenants would not give permission for its construction. When Federated merged all the stores into its Macy's West division in 1996, it opted to not convert Broadway's Crystal Court location to Bloomingdale's. South Coast Plaza (2013) 31

Another $100,000,000 renovation and reconfiguring of the center came in 2000, with Robinsons-May closing its Crystal Court location and expanding the original May Co. store. The separate Crystal Court name was dropped and the free-standing wing, now called the west wing, was joined to the original center by a -long pedestrian bridge across Bear Street. The west side was reoriented toward home furnishings, anchored by the former Broadway store, which was refurbished as Macy's Home and Furniture. The former J. W. Robinson's store was redeveloped as center space at the time, housing primarily Crate & Barrel, Borders Books and Music, and

Sport Chalet Sport Chalet was a sporting goods chain with 47 stores in Southern & Northern California, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. Most stores were over in size, with many including dive pools and offering SCUBA classes. Sport Chalet stores usually featured la ...

. In March 2006, the Robinsons-May store, historically the first store at South Coast Plaza as the May Company, was closed as part of its merger with

and re-opened as

in May 2007. South Coast Plaza is still privately held by the Segerstrom family (and the second largest family-owned center in the United States behind the

Mall of America Mall of America (MOA) is a large shopping mall located in Bloomington, Minnesota, United States. Located within the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, the mall lies southeast of the junction of Interstate 494 and Minnesota State Highway ...

), and so is one of the few shopping centers in the United States that have not been purchased by a

Real estate investment trust A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of commercial real estate, including office and apartment buildings, warehouses, hospitals, shopping ce ...

/REIT. Sandra (Sandy) Segerstrom Daniels a Managing Partner of C. J. Segerstrom & Sons, founded the Festival of Children Foundation in 2002. The foundation hosts the annual Festival of Children at South Coast Plaza each September.

Festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival co ...

of Children coincides with the foundation's efforts to recognize September as National Child Awareness Month.

Architecture

South Coast Plaza has always had a strong design element in its building. One of the most striking additions to the mall was the angular 1973 Bullock's wing designed by

Welton Becket Welton David Becket (August 8, 1902 – January 16, 1969) was an American modern architect who designed many buildings in Los Angeles, California. Biography Becket was born in Seattle, Washington and graduated from the University of Washingt ...

and the 1977 I. Magnin wing designed by

Frank Gehry Frank Owen Gehry, , FAIA (; ; born ) is a Canadian-born American architect and designer. A number of his buildings, including his private residence in Santa Monica, California, have become world-renowned attractions. His works are considere ...

. In 1982, Henry Segerstrom commissioned the sculptor, Isamu Noguchi, to design a small plaza at one end of the South-Coast facility. The result, "California Scenario" was an international prizewinner and is enjoyed by visitors and workers from the surrounding office buildings alike. The 1986–1987 expansion introduced

postmodern architecture Postmodern architecture is a style or movement which emerged in the 1960s as a reaction against the austerity, formality, and lack of variety of modern architecture, particularly in the international style advocated by Philip Johnson and Henry ...

to the mall with a recurring

pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrila ...

motif Motif may refer to: General concepts * Motif (chess composition), an element of a move in the consideration of its purpose * Motif (folkloristics), a recurring element that creates recognizable patterns in folklore and folk-art traditions * Moti ...

. Chandeliers took the shape of inverted pyramids, and the escalator atrium leading to the center's third floor is loosely modeled after the Grand Gallery of the Pyramid of Khufu. The original Mid-Century modern exteriors of Sears and May Company were redesigned shortly thereafter. In 2000, the pedestrian bridge, known as Bridge of Gardens, and accompanying Garden Terrace were completed by landscape architect Kathryn Gustafson. There are also carousels placed in wide rest areas. In 2006, Anton Segerstrom decided that the center was well overdue for a remodeling and brought in Bentley Management Group as the project manager and Gruen Associates as the architect. Howard S. Wright was selected as the general contractor and construction began in summer 2006 on a $30 million remodeling project to update the center. South Coast Plaza underwent an intense makeover, with Italian ivory

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorpho ...

replacing the original burgundy tile floors, and

travertine Travertine ( ) is a form of terrestrial limestone deposited around mineral springs, especially hot springs. It often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, cream-colored, and even rusty varieties. It is formed by a pro ...

to surround new water and fountain features. Modern and contemporary oil-rubbed bronze replaced the dated

brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wit ...

side railings and all door/elevator hardware including a glass elevator. Construction began in the

wing, and was completed in time for the 40th anniversary of South Coast Plaza, in the Fall of 2007, just one year later. This is the largest remodel for the center since the construction of the Bridge of Gardens connecting the main building with the Crystal Court in 1999, and the exterior/interior remodel of the West building.

Today

South Coast Plaza continuously brings in approximately 24 million visitors annually. The shopping center has about of

gross leasable area In architecture, construction, and real estate, floor area, floor space, or floorspace is the area (measured as square feet or square metres) taken up by a building or part of it. The ways of defining "floor area" depend on what factors of the buil ...

and over 270 stores, making it one of the largest shopping centers in the United States. Its stores generate revenue of nearly 1.5 billion dollars per year, making it the highest-grossing center in the United States. In 2004, South Coast Plaza received the Federal Trademark as "The Ultimate Shopping Resort". A number of luxury brands have chosen South Coast Plaza as one of their few (and for some brands, their only) store locations. Zara made its debut in the California market opening their first California store in South Coast Plaza in 2004. In 2005, French luxury design house Chloé opted to open their second United States boutique at South Coast Plaza. In 2009, Chloe opened its second Southern California boutique on Melrose Place in Los Angeles, and to this day still with Rodeo Drive in

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. ...

notably absent. Watch Manufacturer Rolex opened their flagship U.S. location at South Coast Plaza. Purveyor of modern furniture

Room & Board Room & Board is an American modern furniture and home furnishings retailer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in wa ...

also opened a showroom in 2002. South Coast Plaza (2013) 24

Since 2007, South Coast Plaza has held "Fashion Plates", an annual 10-day Restaurant Week-like promotion of its high-end restaurants at discounted rates. In 2016, Italian designer brand, WEEKEND MaxMara, opened its freestanding store in California. In July 2017, the

store was sold to the mall owners. On October 15, 2018, it was announced that

would be closing as part of a plan to close 142 stores nationwide. The Sears anchor was closed permanently on January 1, 2019, making it the last original anchor store to close in the mall. In 2019, Furla opened a new store at South Coast Plaza. This is the first store in the company to open in California. In August 2020, South Coast Plaza reopened after an extended closure due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

with additional safety measures, including social distancing requirements and more frequent cleaning of this. In 2021, new stores that opened this year include Thom Browne, Ganni, Untuckit, Louis Vutton California Dream, Psycho Bunny, Loewe, Sock harbor, and Nectar Bath Treats. “''Canstruction Orange County''”, a design-and-build competition food truck fundraiser, contains eight huge displays of stacked canned foods that take a variety of forms, which is an inspiration. OC Food Bank tend to serve a lot of individuals.

Location

The center is adjacent to Interstate 405 in an area called

South Coast Metro The South Coast Metro is a district in Orange County, California within the cities of Santa Ana and Costa Mesa. The area is a dense mix of residential, office, and retail developments that spreads out from the South Coast Plaza mall. It forms pa ...

, which includes portions of the cities of Costa Mesa and Santa Ana.

References

External links