Fashion Valley (also referred to Fashion Valley Mall) is an upscale, open-air

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

in Mission Valley in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

. The shopping center has of leasable floor area, making it the largest mall in San Diego and one of the largest in California. It is managed by the 50% owner

Simon Property Group Simon Property Group, Inc. is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping malls, outlet centers, and community/ lifestyle centers. It is the largest owner of shopping malls in the United States and is headquartered in In ...

History

Launch (1969)

Fashion Valley, developed by Ernest W. Hahn at a cost of $50 million, opened on October 12, 1969, (September 8 soft launch) on a site part of which had held the baseball stadium

Westgate Park Westgate Park was a baseball stadium located in San Diego, California. The ballpark was home to the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League from 1958 to 1967. The ballpark was located in the largely undeveloped Mission Valley region of San Die ...

. Aiming to be the leading shopping center in the

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

region, it opened with 3 full-line department store anchors: * J.W. Robinson's - architects

William Pereira William Leonard Pereira (April 25, 1909 – November 13, 1985) was an American architect from Chicago, Illinois, who was noted for his futuristic designs of landmark buildings such as the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco. Remarkably pr ...

and Associates * Buffum's - architects Killingsworth, Brady and Associates * The Broadway— designed by Charles Luckman and Associates and stated to have been the biggest Broadway opening of the 20 years up to that time. Broadway subsequently closed its

Downtown San Diego Downtown San Diego is the city center of San Diego, California, the eighth largest city in the United States. In 2010, the Centre City area had a population of more than 28,000. Downtown San Diego serves as the cultural and financial center and ...

store, the former

Marston's Marston's plc is a British pub and hotel operator. Founded by John Marston in 1834, it is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Marston's disposed of its brewing operations in 2020, selling the assets to a newly formed joint venture with the Ca ...

flagship. Within a year, the center would add a two-story

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 ...

(, opened Fall 1970), a

Joseph Magnin The Joseph Magnin Company was a high-end specialty department store founded in San Francisco, California, by Joseph Magnin, 4th son of Isaac Magnin founder of the I. Magnin department store. Joseph Magnin Co. and I. Magnin Co. were rivals. Hist ...

specialty department store and a Woolworth

discount store A discount store or discounter offers a retail format in which products are sold at prices that are in principle lower than an actual or supposed "full retail price". Discounters rely on bulk purchasing and efficient distribution to keep down cost ...

five and dime A variety store (also five and dime (historic), pound shop, or dollar store) is a retail store that sells general merchandise, such as apparel, automotive parts, dry goods, toys, hardware, home furnishings, and a selection of groceries. It ...

(opened March 1970). At opening, the center had around a of gross leasable area, parking for 6,000 cars and a Spanish architectural theme, with quarry and red Spanish-style tile and a -high tower by sculptor Jerry Mahoney. Since its opening, the mall has undergone several expansions and changes.

1980s

The first major renovation was in August 1981 added

Nordstrom Nordstrom, Inc. () is an American luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original Wallin & Nordstrom store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and ...

and

Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. is an American integrated luxury retailer headquartered in Dallas, Texas, which owns Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Horchow, and Last Call. Since September 2021, NMG has been owned by a group of investment compani ...

, establishing Fashion Valley as the fashion leader in the valley. The

chain went out of business in 1984.

1990s

In 1991, Buffum's closed, and their location was reopened in 1992 by upscale specialty

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

department store

I. Magnin I. Magnin & Company was a San Francisco, California-based high fashion and specialty goods luxury department store. Over the course of its existence, it expanded across the West into Southern California and the adjoining states of Arizona, Oregon ...

. However, the upscale company eventually closed all stores in the mid-90s, and the Fashion Valley location was replaced by

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 Washingt ...

in 1995. Robinson's became a

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 cha ...

in 1993, while The Broadway was 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 ...

in 1996, rebranding it as a Macy's store with fashion departments only (chain's home and furniture departments are found at Westfield Mission Valley's location, formerly

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 special ...

). In October 1997,

Gene Kemp Gene Kemp née Rushton (27 December 1926 – 4 January 2015) was an English author known for children's books. Her first, ''The Pride of Tamworth Pig'', appeared in 1972. She won the British Carnegie Medal for her school novel '' The Turbulent ...

led a $110 million renovation project, enlarging the Macy's, Nordstrom and Robinsons-May stores. It increased the mall size to , 200 stores, and added 5 parking structures to accommodate 8,000 cars. In 2001, the owner of the property, Lend Lease Prime Property Fund, brought in Simon Property Group as half-owner and manager of the property.

2000s

Due to the merger of

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 c ...

and

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 ...

in 2006, Robinsons-May closed their store in March of that year, and the location was replaced by San Diego's first

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 di ...

on November 18, 2006.

2010s

Due to underperformance, Saks Fifth Avenue closed its Fashion Valley location on July 17, 2010. The space was replaced with and still houses a

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 ...

. In 2019, the

announced another renovation inspired by 'San Diego's relaxed lifestyle' that would add public spaces, landscaping, a broader selection of dining, outdoor "lounges" and water features. This would be the largest renovation done to the center since the 90's and is expected to be finished by November 2021.

Anchors

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, Gi ...

Mexican customer base

Fashion Valley is one of many shopping centers in the San Diego area which has customers from both

Tijuana Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and < ...

(a city of more than 2 million bordering the City of San Diego, 20 miles to the south of Fashion Valley), and visitors from the interior of Mexico (such as Mexico City), as an important part of its customer base. In 1977, 10% of transactions were with Mexican nationals. In 2019 Simon Malls again reiterated the importance of its customers visiting from Mexico.

Legal issues

Fashion Valley Mall was involved in a legal case involving the quasi-public nature of some private property. The printers union wanted to distribute leaflets in the mall encouraging patrons to boycott Robinsons-May, because Robinsons-May was an advertiser in the San Diego newspaper with which the printers union was negotiating. The court held that this activity was protected and allowed on the property, even though the action was contrary to the business interests of the targeted tenant.Fashion Valley Mall, LLC v. NLRB, 172 P. 3d 742 - Cal: Supreme Court 2007
/ref> The decision is based on article 1 section 2 of the California Constitution.

References

{{Shopping malls in California Shopping malls in San Diego County, California Buildings and structures in San Diego Mission Valley, San Diego Shopping malls established in 1969 1969 establishments in California Tourist attractions in San Diego