Plaza West Covina (formerly Westfield West Covina, and before that Plaza at West Covina, West Covina Fashion Plaza, and West Covina Plaza) is a large regional

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...

West Covina, California West Covina is a suburban city in Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most popul ...

, owned by the

Starwood Capital Group Starwood Capital Group is an investment firm headquartered in Miami Beach, Florida. It is managed by Barry Sternlicht. It was co-founded by Sternlicht and Robert Faith in 1991. In 1993, Faith left Starwood to found Greystar Real Estate Partners ...

. Its

anchor stores In retail, an "anchor tenant", sometimes called an "anchor store", "draw tenant", or "key tenant", is a considerably larger tenant in a shopping mall, often a department store or retail chain. They are typically located at the ends of malls. Wit ...

are

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 ...

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 ...

XXI Forever 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 ...

Nordstrom Rack Nordstrom Rack is an American off-price department store chain founded in 1973. It is a sister brand to the luxury department store chain Nordstrom. As of 2021, Nordstrom Rack operates 352 stores in 41 U.S. states and three Canadian provinces ...

Best Buy Best Buy Co. Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was rebra ...

, and

Gold's Gym Gold's Gym International, Inc. is an American chain of international co-ed fitness centers (commonly referred to as gyms) originally started by Joe Gold in Venice Beach, California. Each gym offers a variety of cardio and strength training equipm ...

with one vacant space last occupied by

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 ...

. Westfield America, Inc., a precursor to

Westfield Group Westfield Group was an Australian shopping centre company that existed from 1960 to 2014, when it split into two independent companies: Scentre Group, which owns and operates the Australian and New Zealand Westfield shopping centre portfolio; ...

, acquired the shopping center in 1998 and renamed it "Westfield Shoppingtown West Covina", dropping the "Shoppingtown" name in June 2005. In October 2013, the Westfield Group sold the mall to Starwood Capital Group and the mall is now managed by Pacific Retail Capital Partners.

History

Penney's and West Covina Center (1954)

The history of what is now Plaza West Covina dates back to two original shopping centers. In 1954, plans were announced for the new 36-acre, 50-store West Covina Center at the eastern end of what is now the Plaza space anchored by a 50,000 square-foot

J. C. Penney 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, Girl ...

, with parking for over 2,000 cars. It was to cost $5 million, financed and built by Los Angeles financier Sylvan S. Shulman and associates. It was stated at the time that the Penney's would be "West Covina's metropolitan-type store".

Broadway/Desmond's "Plaza" (1962)

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 6, 1962 and

Desmond's ''Desmond's'' is a British television situation comedy broadcast by Channel 4 from 1989 to 1994. Conceived and co-written by Trix Worrell, and produced by Charlie Hanson and Humphrey Barclay, ''Desmond's'' stars Norman Beaton as barber Desmond ...

, a specialty retailer, opened April 30, 1962, anchoring a new West Covina Plaza, at the northwest end of what is now the Plaza. The complex would be incorporated into the later Plaza, but was demolished in 1974 except for The Broadway and Desmond's.

Deterioration

By 1968, the city of West Covina's general plan identified deterioration in the shopping centers district, such as poor traffic circulation, noting that it was one of the first cities in the country to identify deterioration in a modern planned shopping center district. Traffic circulation was poor, the Penney's-anchored "Center" was "poorly built and planned" and the Broadway-anchored "Plaza" while "built to a high standard of architectural and landscaping design", "could use some color to add to its appeal", according to the study.

Fashion Plaza (1975)

In 1973, plans were announced to build a new, large, enclosed mall to replace the two existing malls, to be known as "West Covina Fashion Plaza", which would open in 1975. Sylvan S. Shulman was the developer and Burke Kober Nicolais was the architect. The old centers would be demolished, except for The Broadway–Desmond's complex. *JCPenney moved from its old building at the "Center" at 1120 West Garvey into its new building which opened together with 40 mall shops on October 22, 1975 and measured including the freestanding auto center *

Bullock's Bullock's was a chain of full-line department stores from 1907 through 1995, headquartered in Los Angeles, growing to operate across California, Arizona and Nevada. Bullock's also operated as many as seven more upscale Bullocks Wilshire specialty ...

() opened on September 25, 1975 *The 1962 Broadway building () remained as an anchor of the new mall *Desmond's folded in the late 1970s and became a 2-story

Tower Records Tower Records is an international retail franchise and online music store that was formerly based in Sacramento, California, United States. From 1960 until 2006, Tower operated retail stores in the United States, which closed when Tower Records ...

location.

1990s

In 1991, then-named Sylvan S. Shulman Co. changed the official name of the mall to "Plaza at West Covina". In 1992–1993, a new wing anchored by

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. ...

was constructed east of the Bullock's store. The first major anchor changes didn't come until 1996, when

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 ...

sold The Broadway store to

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

, but due to lease issues, it became a

instead, and converted the Bullock's location to

. Sears opened their new location in 1996, moving from a nearby stand-alone location in Covina.

2000s and Expansion

On September 9, 2006, Federated renamed the old Robinsons-May store as Macy's and temporarily operated two stores at the mall. Tower Records closed in late 2006. The mall's parking lot was also home to the newest

Bob's Big Boy Bob's Big Boy is a restaurant chain founded by Bob Wian in Southern California in 1936, originally named Bob's Pantry. It is now part of Big Boy Restaurant Group, the current primary trademark owner and franchisor of the Big Boy system. At its ...

restaurant, which was located in the old Chevy's space (since closing) and a new concert venue known as Crazy Horse Live. In the late 2000s the mall was redeveloped: *Phase I was the expansion of the former Robinsons-May space into an Macy's. *Phase II consisted of: **Demolishing the vacant former Bullock's/Macy's building (closed since March 2008) into a mini-anchor space for

and the addition of approximately of retail and 5 restaurants along the northern façade of the mall. **Phase II includes the addition of the

, which relocated from an older location across from the mall, and remodel and flagship introduction of

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 ...

. *Phase III extended the lifestyle development of Phase II into the remaining northern façade of the mall between

Red Robin Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc., more commonly known as Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews or simply Red Robin, is an American chain of casual dining restaurants founded in September 1969 in Seattle, Washington. In 1979, the first franchised ...

and Sears, which included the addition of approximately and the reconfiguration of exiting mall space. This phase featured a second mini-anchor space of for a

as well as a

2010s

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 properties, including the Sears at Plaza West Covina, into Sertiage Growth Properties. On November 7, 2019, it was announced that Sears would be closing this location a part of a plan to close 96 stores nationwide. The store closed on February 16, 2020. In October 2020,

Spirit Halloween Spirit Halloween, LLC is an American seasonal retailer that supplies Halloween decorations, costumes, props and accessories. It is the country's largest Halloween retailer. It is currently owned by Spencer Gifts. It was founded in 1983 and began ...

opened up a temporary location in the vacant Sears space for the Halloween Season. As of November 2, 2020, Spirit Halloween moved out of the building, leaving the space now vacant.

Plaza West Covina Today

Plaza West Covina is a large regional mall with 185 shops, stores, and restaurants. The mall is two levels and is anchored by

() to the east,

() to the south, former

() to the west,

() to the north, the newly opened

flagship store (to the north) and

. There is a food court on the second level as well as other restaurants, and other food & drink kiosks. The Mall features many fashion shops such as; H&M,

Sephora Sephora is a French multinational retailer of personal care and beauty products. Featuring nearly 340 brands, along with its own private label, Sephora Collection, Sephora offers beauty products including cosmetics, skincare, body, fragrance, n ...

, M.A.C., Hollister,

Express Express or EXPRESS may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * '' Express: Aisle to Glory'', a 1998 comedy short film featuring Kal Penn * '' The Express: The Ernie Davis Story'', a 2008 film starring Dennis Quaid Music * ''Express'' ...

American Eagle Outfitters American Eagle Outfitters, Inc., also known as American Eagle, is an American lifestyle, clothing, and accessories retailer headquartered at SouthSide Works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1977 by brothers Jerry and Mark Silverma ...

, and

The Children's Place The Children's Place Inc. is a specialty retailer of children’s apparel and accessories headquartered in New Jersey. It also markets apparel under the Children's Place, Place, Baby Place, and Gymboree brand names. As of October 31, 2015, it o ...

References

External links

Official Plaza West Covina websiteAerial photo of the Broadway-Desmond's "Fashion Plaza" (front) and "Plaza" (back), 1962Photo of sign for West Covina Plaza shopping center 1960sPhoto of Penney's and Newberry's at West Covina Plaza, 1960sStore list of West Covina Fashion Plaza, September 1976
{{Shopping malls in California Shopping malls in the San Gabriel Valley Shopping malls established in 1975 West Covina, California Pacific Retail Capital Partners