Montclair Place is a indoor

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 ...

Montclair, California Montclair is a city in the Pomona Valley, in southwestern San Bernardino County, California, east of downtown Los Angeles. The population was 37,865 in the 2020 United States census. History The earliest known inhabitants of the area were f ...

. The mall was known as Montclair Plaza until 2015. The mall features

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 ...

, and

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 addition to an AMC DINE-IN Theatre .

History

At opening

The mall opened on November 5, 1968, at a cost of $50 million, with 69 stores on a single level, representing over of retail space, on a lot of with parking space for 6,000 cars. Montclair Plaza was developed by contractor Ernest W. Hahn; the architect of the overall mall and shops was Burke, Kober, Nicolais & Archuleta. Three department stores anchored Montclair Plaza at, or shortly after its opening: *

, ; Burke, Kober, Nicolais & Archuleta, architects *

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 ...

at the east end, ;

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 * May Company at the west end, ;

Welton Becket Welton David Becket (August 8, 1902 – January 16, 1969) was an American modern architect who designed many buildings in Los Angeles, California. Biography Becket was born in Seattle, Washington and graduated from the University of Washingt ...

and Associates, architects Other stores open at the Plaza's launch included branches of the junior department stores: *

Silverwoods Silverwoods, originally promoted as F. B. Silverwood, after its founder, was a men's clothing store chain founded in Los Angeles in 1894 by Francis Bernard (F.B. "Daddy") Silverwood, a Canadian-American originally from near Lindsay, Ontario. He was ...

(Burke, Kober, Nicolais & Archuleta, architects), as part of an expansion at the time that also included stores Las Vegas,

La Habra Fashion Square La Habra Marketplace, formerly La Habra Fashion Square, is an open-air regional mall in La Habra, California, built by the Bullock's department store chain. Welton Becket and Associates were the architects. It was the last and largest of the "Fa ...

, and Palm Springs. *

Mullen & Bluett Mullen & Bluett was a Los Angeles-based department store specializing in men's clothing. Founding It was founded by Andrew Mullen and W. C. Bluett in the 1880s, at the corner of First and Spring streets in Downtown Los Angeles. Arthur R. Mul ...

There was a

General Cinemas General Cinema Corporation, also known as General Cinema, GCC, or General Cinema Theatres, was a chain of movie theaters in the United States. At its peak, the company operated about 1,500 screens, some of which were among the first theaters ce ...

theater complex. A United California Bank, Crocker Bank,

Van de Kamp's Holland Dutch Bakery Van de Kamp's Holland Dutch Bakeries was a brand of breads and assorted pastry products, frozen fish entrees, and prepared dinners formerly owned by General Baking. Established by one of the founders of both Los Angeles' iconic Tam O'Shanter Inn ...

, drugstore, and supermarket were located across from the mall in a

strip mall A strip mall, strip center, strip plaza or simply plaza is a type of shopping mall, shopping center common in North America and Australia where the stores are arranged in a row, with a footpath in front. Strip malls are typically developed as a ...

on the northeast of the property.

Later development

The mall was renovated and expanded with a second level that opened on October 30, 1985.

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 ...

was added to the mall the same year, which relocated from the

Indian Hill Mall Indian Hill Village is a former shopping mall in Pomona, California. It has been redeveloped into a multi-use retail, commercial, and educational facility and is now known as The Village @ Indian Hill, comprising on . History The original, open ...

. The first

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 ...

store in

San Bernardino County San Bernardino County ( ), officially the County of San Bernardino and sometimes abbreviated as S.B. County, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of th ...

opened at the Montclair Plaza on May 2, 1986. May Company was converted to

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. The Broadway became a

in 1996. Macy's relocated to the Robinsons-May space in 2006 after the chains merged. In February 2014,

CIM Group CIM Group invests in commercial property on behalf of large institutions such as pensions. As of December 31, 2020, the company owned $29.2 billion worth of commercial property. History The company was founded in 1994 by Shaul Kuba, Richard Ressl ...

acquired the mall. In November 2015, the mall was renamed "Montclair Place" and renovations were announced. On March 1, 2018, AMC DINE-IN Theatre announced that it will replace the Broadway building with a new 55,000-square-foot dine-in movie theatre, the city's first indoor theatre in nearly twenty years. Multiple new stores were added, including

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 ...

and Spectrum. Kids Empire, an 11,000-square-foot indoor playground was added. A Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar opened in December 2019 in the former

Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is an American multinational tire manufacturer headquartered in Akron, Ohio. Goodyear manufactures tires for passenger vehicles, aviation, commercial trucks, military and police vehicles, motorcycles, recreati ...

. A WinWings restaurant opened next to the

Panda Express Panda Express is an American fast food restaurant chain that specializes in American Chinese cuisine. With over 2,400 locations, it is the largest Asian-segment restaurant chain in the United States, and is mainly located in North America and Asi ...

restaurant. The original Broadway outpost was razed for an

AMC Theatres AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (doing business as AMC Theatres, originally an abbreviation for American Multi-Cinema; often referred to simply as AMC) is an American movie theater chain founded in Kansas City, Missouri, and now headquartered ...

which opened during 2021. The dawn of the early 2020s saw several storied traditional department store retailers update its brick-and-mortar formats after being encroached upon to a degree by several digital retailers in recent years in addition to the

COVID pandemic Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fev ...

. On November 7, 2019, it was announced Sears would shutter as part of an ongoing decision to eliminate its traditional brick-and-mortar format. On May 7, 2020, Nordstrom, which also maintains several additional outposts nearby, announced plans to shutter along with several additional locations as a direct result of pulling back because of the COVID-19 pandemic.Both the previous Sears and Nordstrom outposts are being considered for a future enhanced development expected to take place soon. Main Event, which opened in January 2025, is a family entertainment center offering a variety of attractions, including bowling, laser tag, virtual reality experiences, and arcade games. The venue also features a full-service restaurant and bar, providing dining and beverage options for guests. Other recently opened tenants include Pandora, Miniso, Two Hands Fresh Corn Dogs and Charleys Cheesesteaks.

Crime

*On May 19, 2022, a 16-year-old girl was non-fatally stabbed by an 18-year old assailant as she was walking through the parking lot. *On August 19, 2022; a trio of burglars robbed a jewelry store in the mall, stealing an estimated $200,000 of merchandise. *On February 2, 2023, a 17-year old teenager was stabbed during an altercation in the mall's parking lot. A 15-year-old boy was also shot and killed by the trio of teenagers.

Transit Connections

Metrolink has a station located two city blocks north of the mall at 5091 Richon Street, with connections to

Foothill Transit Foothill Transit is a public transit agency that is government funded by 22 member cities in the San Gabriel and Pomona valleys. It operates a fixed-route bus public transit service in the San Gabriel Valley region of eastern Los Angeles Cou ...

Omnitrans Omnitrans (stylized as OmniTrans) is a public transportation agency in San Bernardino County, California, United States. The largest transit operator within San Bernardino County, it serves the San Bernardino Valley. The agency was established in ...

, Silver Streak, and

Riverside Transit Agency The Riverside Transit Agency (RTA) is the main transit agency for western Riverside County, California, United States. RTA provides both local and regional services throughout the region with 32 fixed-routes ,3 CommuterLink routes, Micro Transit ...

Express Line 204 buses.

References

{{Shopping malls in California Shopping malls in San Bernardino County, California Montclair, California Shopping malls established in 1968 Burke, Kober and Nicolais buildings