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

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is 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, but in the late 1960s, i ...

Mission Valley Mission Valley is a wide river valley trending east–west in San Diego, California, United States, through which the San Diego River flows to the Pacific Ocean. For planning purposes the City of San Diego divides it into two neighborhoods: Mi ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, California. The shopping center hosts 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 Indian ...

History

Launch (1969)

Fashion Valley, developed by Ernest W. Hahn at a cost of $50 million, opened on October 12, 1969, (after a soft launch on September 8) on a site, part of which had held the baseball stadium Westgate Park. Aiming to be the leading shopping center in the

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 Futurist architecture#Post-modern futurism, futuristic designs of landmark buildings such as the Transamer ...

and Associates * Buffum's — architects Killingsworth, Brady and Associates *

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 ...

— designed by

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 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 central business district of San Diego, California, the eighth largest city in the United States. It houses the major local headquarters of the city, county, state, and federal governments. The area comprises seven d ...

store, the former

Marston's Carlsberg Britvic is a British subsidiary of Carlsberg Group, created in January 2025 by the merger of Carlsberg's UK business (including the former Marston's plc breweries) and Britvic, acquired by Carlsberg Group in 2024. History In 2020, ...

flagship. Within a year, the center would add a two-story J. C. Penney (, 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. Hi ...

specialty department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of Final good, consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department ...

and a Woolworth

discount store Discount stores offer 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 costs. Types (Uni ...

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, auto parts, dry goods, toys, hardware, furniture, and a selection of groceries. It usually sells th ...

(opened March 1970). At opening, the center had around 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, adding

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

and

Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus is an American department store chain founded in 1907 in Dallas, Texas by Herbert Marcus, his sister Carrie Marcus Neiman, and her husband Abraham Lincoln Neiman. It has been owned by Saks Global, a Corporate spin-off, spin-o ...

, 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, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

department store I. Magnin. 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 (Colloquialism, colloquially Saks) is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain founded in 1867 by Andrew Saks. The first store opened in the F Street and 7th Street shopping districts, F Street shopping distric ...

in 1995. Robinson's became a

Robinsons-May Robinsons-May was an American department store chain founded in 1993 with the merger of J. W. Robinson's and May Company California. It retained the former May headquarters in Los Angeles, California, and operated in Southern California, Arizo ...

in 1993, while The Broadway was purchased by

Macy's Macy's is an American department store chain founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. The first store was located in Manhattan on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, south of the present-day flagship store at Herald Square on West 34 ...

in 1996, rebranding it as a Macy's store with fashion departments only (the chain's home and furniture departments are found at

Westfield Mission Valley Mission Valley (formerly Westfield Mission Valley) is a retail complex consisting of a traditional open-air shopping mall owned by Real Capital Solutions and Lowe, and a power center (retail), power center owned by Sunbelt Investment Holdings In ...

'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 specialt ...

). In October 1997, Gene Kemp led a $110 million renovation project, enlarging the Macy's, Nordstrom, and Robinsons-May stores. It increased the mall size to and 200 stores, and added 5 parking structures to accommodate 8,000 cars. In 2001, the owner of the property, Lend Lease Prime Property Fund, sold a 50% shareholding to Simon Property Group who manage the property.

2000s

Due to the merger of

May Department Stores The May Department Stores Company was an American holding company of department stores founded in 1877 by David May. It operated several regional department stores throughout the United States, which were managed as distinct business divisions ...

and

Federated Department Stores Macy's, Inc. (previously Federated Department Stores, Inc.) is an American holding company of department stores. Upon its establishment in 1929, Federated held ownership of the regional department store chains Abraham & Straus, Lazarus (departm ...

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 founded in 1861 by Joseph Bloomingdale and Lyman Bloomingdale. It was acquired by Federated Department Stores in 1930, which purchased the Macy's department store chain in 1994, ...

on November 18, 2006.

2010s

In 2010,

Forever 21 F21 OpCo LLC, trade name, doing business as Forever 21, was a multinational fast-fashion retailer. It was originally founded as Fashion 21 in Highland Park, Los Angeles, Highland Park, Los Angeles in 1984.Forever 21History & Facts, n.d. Retrieved ...

Opened next to Saks fifth Avenue 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 1990s. RDC provided architectural design services. Renovations were estimated to be completed by November 2021, but due to the

Covid-19 lockdown During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions), were implemented in numero ...

, renovations are yet to be completed as of Winter 2023. On May 20, 2024, it was announced that the JCPenney location would be replaced with luxury apartments and JCPenney is slated to close its Fashion Valley location in Fall 2025. In March 2025, Forever 21 closed permanently.

Anchors

JCPenney Penney OpCo LLC , Trade name, doing business as JCPenney (colloquially Penney's and abbreviated JCP) is an American department store chain store, chain with 649 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. It is managed as part of the Catalys ...

(closing Fall 2025 to be replaced with luxury apartments) *

Mexican customer base

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

Tijuana Tijuana is the most populous city of the Mexican state of Baja California, located on the northwestern Pacific Coast of Mexico. Tijuana is the municipal seat of the Tijuana Municipality, the hub of the Tijuana metropolitan area and the most popu ...

(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 Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

), 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