The El Monte Shopping Center was a major shopping center, for decades the largest shopping center in

El Monte, California El Monte is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city lies in the San Gabriel Valley, east of the city of Los Angeles. El Monte's slogan is "Welcome to Friendly El Monte" and is historically known as "The End of the San ...

, at 400 Peck Road just north of the

San Bernardino Freeway Interstate 10 (I-10) is a transcontinental Interstate Highway in the United States, stretching from Santa Monica, California, to Jacksonville, Florida. The segment of I-10 in California, also known as the Pearl Harbor Memorial Highway, ru ...

. It opened in phases in 1958 and 1959 and was initially anchored by a

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 ...

plus its automotive center as well as a Food Giant supermarket, a

F. W. Woolworth Frank Winfield Woolworth (April 13, 1852 – April 8, 1919) was an American entrepreneur, the founder of F. W. Woolworth Company, and the operator of variety stores known as "Five-and-Dimes" (5- and 10-cent stores or dime stores) which featured a ...

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 ...

, and a Bond's clothing store. In 1989 Katersky Financial bought the center and at that time tenants included a Home Club home improvement superstore (later

HomeBase Homebase was a British Home improvement center, home improvement and garden centre retailer that operated across the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was founded by British supermarket chain Sainsbury's and Belgian retailer GIB Group, GB-Inno ...

/Longo

Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota, Toyota Motor Corporation. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked amon ...

dealership),

Tianguis A is an open-air market or bazaar that is traditionally held on certain market days in a town or city neighborhood in Mexico and Central America. This bazaar tradition has its roots well into the pre-Hispanic period and continues in many cases ...

(later

Big Kmart Kmart ( ), formerly legally registered as Kmart Corporation, now operated by Transformco, is a department-store chain and online retailer in the United States and its territories. It operates four remaining Kmart big-box department stores — ...

/Sears Essentials/ Outlet), the Longo

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

dealership,

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 ...

(later Dearden's Furniture),

Sizzler Sizzler USA Restaurants, Inc., doing business as Sizzler, is a United States–based restaurant chain with headquarters in Mission Viejo, California, with locations mainly in California, plus some in the nearby states of Arizona, Nevada, New M ...

, and

Big 5 Sporting Goods Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation is a sporting goods retailer headquartered in El Segundo, California, with 434 stores in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. Steven G. Miller is ...

. The Sears Outlet store closed in 2012. The vacant Dearden's and Sears Outlet buildings are now a

Target Target may refer to: Warfare and shooting * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artille ...

store. The location now functions as a

community shopping center A neighborhood shopping center (Commonwealth English: neighbourhood shopping centre) is an industry term in the United States for a shopping center with of gross leasable area, typically anchored by a supermarket and/or large drugstore. Versus ...

with some vacant anchor stores.

References

{{coord, 34.0729196, -118.0266374, display=title El Monte, California Shopping malls in the San Gabriel Valley Community shopping centers