Coronado Center is a

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 ...

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

, United States. Built in 1965 by the Homart Development Company, a defunct real-estate division of the department store

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...

, the mall has undergone several renovations and expansions in its history which have led to it becoming the largest building by area in New Mexico. Its

anchor store In North American, Australian and New Zealand 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 ...

s include

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 ...

, J. C. Penney, Dick's Sporting Goods, Round One Entertainment, with two vacancies formerly occupied by Sears and Kohl's. Other major tenants include

Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. The company operates approximately 600 retail stores across the United States. Barnes & Noble operates mainly through its B ...

, H&M,

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 ...

The Container Store The Container Store Group, Inc., is an American specialty retail chain which offers storage and organization products, and custom closets. History The Container Store was founded in Dallas by Garrett Boone and John Mullen. With the backing of th ...

The Cheesecake Factory The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated is an American restaurant company and distributor of cheesecakes based in the United States. It operates 348 full-service restaurants: 215 under the Cheesecake Factory brand, 42 under the North Italia brand, a ...

, and Boot Barn. The mall features over 130 stores, including a

food court A food court (in Asia-Pacific also called food hall or hawker centre) is generally an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food Vendor, vendors and provides a common area for self-serve di ...

, and is managed by

Brookfield Properties Brookfield Properties is a North American subsidiary of Commercial property, commercial real estate firm Brookfield Property Partners, which itself is a subsidiary of Alternative investment, alternative asset management company Brookfield Corpor ...

Background

Coronado Center opened in March 1965 as an open-air mall, and was developed by Homart Development Company, the mall-building subsidiary of

. It was remodeled in 1975-1976 (when it became an enclosed mall), 1984, 1992, and 1995.

History

When Coronado Center first opened in 1965, the mall's original anchor tenants included

and Rhodes Brothers. Sears was the first store to open, opening in September 1964. Rhodes Brothers opened in October 1965. The mall and its anchors were designed by a group of architects consisting of Lobel, Schlossman & Bennett of Chicago, George L. Dahl of Dallas for Sears and Wood & Sibeck of Dallas with Chaix & Johnson of Los Angeles for Rhodes. George A Rutherford, Albuquerque was general contractor. In 1974, Rhodes Brothers was re-branded as Liberty House. In the mall's 1975-1976 expansion, two new anchor stores ( Goldwater's and The Broadway) were added. The new stores were designed by Chaix & Johnson for Goldwater's and Chaix, Pujdak, Bielski, Takeuchi, Daggett Associated Architects & Planers for The Broadway, with George A. Rutherford Inc. and Bradbury & Stamm Construction Co. serving as general contractors for Goldwater's and The Broadway respectively. In 1984 a fifth anchor store ( Sanger-Harris) was added. In the late 1970s, Liberty House closed and was replaced by

Mervyn's Mervyn's was an American middle-scale department store chain based in Hayward, California, and founded by Mervin G. Morris (1920–2021). It carried national brands of clothing, footwear, bedding, bath products, furniture, jewelry, beauty product ...

shortly afterward. Goldwater's re-branded as May D&F in 1989. Sanger-Harris was re-branded as

Foley's Foley's was a regional chain of department stores owned by Federated Department Stores (1947–1988, 2005–2006), later owned by May Department Stores (1988–2005) and headquartered in Downtown Houston, Texas. On August 30, 2005, the divisi ...

in 1987, but in 1988, Foley's closed this location. In 1990,

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 ...

opened at the former Sanger-Harris/Foley's store area. May D&F was re-branded as

in 1993, signifying Foley's return to the mall. The Broadway was re-branded as

in 1996. In 2006, Foley's was rebranded as Macy's, and Macy's vacated the former The Broadway store area, which has now been taken over by Gordmans upstairs and Dick's Sporting Goods downstairs. Mervyn's closed all stores due to bankruptcy in 2008, and the store area was remodeled for

Kohl's Kohl's Corporation (Kohl's is stylized in all caps) is an American department store retail chain store, chain. currently has 1,165 locations, operating stores in every U.S. state except Hawaii. The company was founded by Polish immigrant Maxwe ...

, which opened in 2010. In 2014, parts of the mall were remodeled in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the mall and the opening of the popular European clothing retailer H&M. In the following years, the shopping center has seen the addition of more popular food and entertainment enterprises, including California-based eateries such as

and Blaze Pizza. Other restaurants and sweets shops include Albuquerque-based Boba Tea Company, Jimmy Johns, Cinnabon, Lolli and Pops, Sees Candies, Seasons 52 Grill, and

Fuddruckers Fuddruckers (sometimes abbreviated as Fudds) is an American fast casual, franchised restaurant chain that specializes in hamburgers. As of 2019, Fuddruckers had 49 company-operated restaurants and 107 franchises across the United States and ar ...

. In 2017, Dallas-based specialty retail chain

opened its doors at Coronado Center. Also in 2017, Gordmans closed its store after filing for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

. The former Gordmans is now Round 1. On October 15, 2018, it was announced that Sears would be closing as part of a plan to close 142 stores nationwide. In 2019, the Albuquerque location of the hipster clothing retailer

Urban Outfitters Urban Outfitters, Inc. (URBN) is a multinational lifestyle retail corporation headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Operating in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, select Western European countries, Poland, the United Arab Em ...

left their previous

Nob Hill Nob Hill is a neighborhood of San Francisco, California, United States that is known for its numerous luxury hotels and historic mansions. Nob Hill has historically served as a center of San Francisco's upper class. Nob Hill is among the highe ...

premises to a new space on the main upper level of the shopping center. Other notable businesses include

T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand of telecommunications by Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (, ; often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a partially state-owned German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn and the largest telec ...

Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with a significant global presence. The company operates in 35 countries and serves over 70 million customers worldwide. It is a systemically important fi ...

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (Bank of America) (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in ...

, Yankee Candle, Escape the Room, The Buckle,

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

, Bath & Body Works, Hollister Co.,

Hot Topic Hot Topic, Inc. is an American fast-fashion company specializing in counterculture-related clothing and accessories, as well as licensed music. The stores are aimed towards an audience interested in rock music and video gaming, and most of the ...

American Eagle Outfitters American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. is an American clothing and accessories retailer headquartered at SouthSide Works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1977 by brothers Jerry and Mark Silverman as a subsidiary of Retail Ventures, Inc ...

Sephora Sephora is a French multinational retailer of personal care and beauty products, offering nearly 340 brands alongside its own private label, the Sephora Collection. Its product range includes cosmetics, skincare, fragrance, nail color, beauty t ...

, and

. In September 2023, it was announced that Kohl's would shutter. On November 24, 2023, a gunshot was heard outside of the mall after an altercation between two teenage boys. Albuquerque Police Department was alerted and investigated the scene. They determined that there were no injuries, and proceeded to evacuate the building. After a short investigation, 14 year old Isaiah Montoya was identified and charged as the suspect.

Legal Issues

In 1999, Coronado Center was among three New Mexico shopping malls (the two others being Winrock Town Center and Cottonwood Mall) involved in a

free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recognise ...

lawsuit. Their policies on activity regulation were challenged by the SouthWest Organizing Project and

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. ...

after protesters attempted to hand out leaflets at the malls. This case was dismissed. The 1972 case ''Lloyd Corp. v. Tanner'' states that shopping malls may limit speech activities (such as distribution of pamphlets) on premises.

References

{{Brookfield Properties Brookfield Properties Shopping malls in New Mexico Shopping malls established in 1965 Buildings and structures in Albuquerque, New Mexico Tourist attractions in Albuquerque, New Mexico