Bella Terra is an outdoor

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 ...

in Huntington Beach, California. It was built on the site of the former Huntington Center. The center's current anchors are;

Kohl's Kohl's (stylized in all caps) is an American department store retail chain, operated by Kohl's Corporation. it is the largest department store chain in the United States, with 1,165 locations, operating stores in every U.S. state except Haw ...

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 i ...

, Barnes & Noble, Cinemark Theaters,

Whole Foods Market Whole Foods Market IP, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon, is an upscale American multinational supermarket chain headquartered in Austin, Texas, which sells products free from hydrogenated fats and artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives. A US ...

, and

Costco Wholesale Costco Wholesale Corporation (doing business as Costco Wholesale and also known simply as Costco) is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only big-box retail stores (warehouse club). As of 2022, Costco i ...

History

Huntington Center opening

The Huntington Center was the first enclosed, all-weather mall in Orange County. It opened in 1966 at a cost of $20,000,000 with 55 retailers occupying a total of of retail space on a lot, and parking for 3,700 cars. Department store anchored the center: *

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 ...

2 stories, on a lot,

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 *

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 ...

2 stories, plus a auto service center *

Montgomery Ward Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a world-pioneering mail-order business and later also a leading department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001. The curren ...

2 stories, plus a auto service center on a lot * Barker Brothers a 2 story furniture store (built with the same architectural style as The Broadway) across the parking lot and an unenclosed strip of several shops adjacent. Additional tenants at opening included

Lerner's New York & Company, Inc. (NY&C) is an American workwear retailer for women. New York & Company apparel and accessories are sold through a nationwide network of retail stores, and through its e-commerce site. New York & Company was founded ...

Judy's Judy's was a chain of clothing stores, based in Van Nuys, Los Angeles. Marcia Israel (Mrs. Lawrence Israel, later Marcia Israel-Curley) founded Judy's in 1946 and ran it until 1989 when she sold it to Laws International of Hong Kong for $31 milli ...

, Harris & Frank, Leed's,

Kinney Shoes The G.R. Kinney Company was an American manufacturer and retailer of shoes from until . Its listing on the New York Stock Exchange, symbol KNN, began in March 1923. The shoe concern was started by George Romanta Kinney whose father ran a genera ...

Thom McAn The surname Thom is of Scottish origin, from the city of Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Angus, and is a sept of the Clan MacThomas. Thom is also a first name variant of the abbreviation " Tom" of "Thomas" that holds the "h". People with the surnam ...

, Security First National Bank, Crocker-Citizens National Bank

Food Fair Food Fair, also known by its successor name Pantry Pride, was a large supermarket chain in the United States. It was founded by Samuel N. Friedland, who opened the first store (as Reading Giant Quality Price Cutter) in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in ...

supermarket and

Thrifty Drug Stores Thrifty PayLess Holdings, Inc. was a pharmacy holding company that owned the Thrifty Drugs and PayLess Drug Stores chains in the western United States. The combined company was formed in April 1994 when Los Angeles-based TCH Corporation, the p ...

. An eight-ton statue from Budapest, Hungary was installed in the center of the mall.

Later developments

* 1986: New wing was built with Mervyn's added as its fourth anchor store and a new food court added and all opened in November. * 1993: JCPenney closed in November and relocated to Westminster Mall. * 1995: Burlington Coat Factory replaced JCPenney. Barnes & Noble opened in October, moving into the long-vacant former Barker Bros. building. * 1996: The Broadway closed in August due to the company being purchased by

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 ...

and liquidated and the wing between the closed The Broadway building and Burlington Coat Factory was closed and sealed off shortly thereafter as the mall's business begins to decline rapidly.

Closedown

* 2000: Burlington Coat Factory sued mall owners, claiming they are being "forced out" during the mall's redevelopment. * 2001: Montgomery Ward closed in March due to liquidation making it the last original anchor store to close. * 2003: Mall closed, except for Mervyn's and Burlington Coat Factory, which closed shortly after the mall closed. The mall was demolished soon afterward, except for Burlington Coat Factory, Mervyn's and the empty Montgomery Ward and The Broadway.

Rebirth as Bella Terra

* 2006: Bella Terra opened with Kohl's in the old The Broadway building. The empty Montgomery Ward building was left standing and was demolished in 2010. * 2008: Mervyn's and Circuit City closed, Mervyn's due to liquidation and Circuit City due to bankruptcy. * 2010: The vacant Montgomery Ward and Mervyn's buildings were demolished.

replaces former Circuit City. * 2012:

Costco Costco Wholesale Corporation (Trade name, doing business as Costco Wholesale and also known simply as Costco) is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only Big-box store, big-box retail stores (warehouse c ...

opened in May. * 2013: The Residences at Bella Terra, a 467-unit apartment complex with retail space on the ground level, opened on the site of the former Montgomery Ward. * 2021: New stores such as Sephora, Hummus Republic, Fogo de Chao, Dog Haus,

J.Crew J.Crew Group, Inc., is an American multi-brand, multi-channel, specialty retailer. The company offers an assortment of women's, men's, and children's apparel and accessories, including swimwear, outerwear, lounge-wear, bags, sweaters, denim, dr ...

, and Sender One opened in Bella Terra.

References

External links

* of Bella Terra
DJM Capital Partners, Inc.
(mall owners and managers) {{Shopping malls in California Shopping malls in Orange County, California Shopping malls established in 2006 Art Deco architecture in California