Northridge Fashion Center is a large

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 ...

located in

Northridge, Los Angeles Northridge is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles. The community is home to California State University, Northridge, and the Northridge Fashion Center. Originally named Zelzah by settlers in 1908, the ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. It opened in 1971. It was severely damaged during the

Northridge earthquake The 1994 Northridge earthquake affected Greater Los Angeles, California, on January 17, 1994, at 04:30:55 PST. The epicenter of the moment 6.7 () blind thrust earthquake was beneath the San Fernando Valley. Lasting approximately 8 seconds a ...

in 1994, but renovated extensively in 1995, 1998, and 2003. The mall features J. C. Penney,

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 ...

, and Macy's Furniture Gallery,

Dick's Sporting Goods Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc. (stylized in all caps as DICK'S Sporting Goods) is an American chain of sporting goods stores founded in 1948 by Richard "Dick" Stack. It is the largest sporting goods retailer in the United States and is listed ...

, in addition to 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 ...

History

The mall’s original anchors were

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

, and

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 ...

. The first store to open at the mall was a Bullock's department store, in September 1971.

followed in October, and

in November; after the rest of the mall opened in 1971, J. C. Penney was added as a fourth anchor in 1972. An expansion was announced in 1985, comprising J. W. Robinson's and

May Company California May Company California was an American department store chain founded in 1881 as A. Hamburger & Sons by Asher Hamburger. It was renamed after its acquisition by The May Department Stores Company in 1923. Its flagship store and headquarters wer ...

. Both stores were the anchors to two new wings added in 1988. When those chains merged in 1993, they both operated as Robinsons-May. In January 1994, the mall was damaged by the

. The earthquake severely damaged several parking structures, caused damage to the interior mall, and all six anchor stores, including the Bullock's store, which was condemned soon afterward. Although The Broadway and Sears reopened in late 1994, renovation was further delayed through mid-1995. By June 1995, J. C. Penney was gutted and rebuilt. Bullock's was completely demolished and rebuilt from the ground up as a result of the earthquake. Inside Northridge Fashion Center

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 ...

, then-owners of the Bullock's and Broadway chains, converted the Bullock's to Macy's in 1996 and closed the Broadway, although it was planned to become a

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, ...

. A year later, Robinsons-May consolidated its two stores into the store at the southwest corner of the mall. The Robinsons-May at the northwest end was demolished for a movie theater, while the former Broadway store was subdivided for smaller mall shops. General Growth Properties acquired the mall and began construction on the outdoor promenade that replaced the former Broadway. It opened in 1999 with

Borders Books & Music Borders is an international book and stationery retailer. Borders was founded in the United States in 1971 by brothers Tom and Louis Borders, the first bookshop opened in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In October 1992, it was purchased by Kmart, and was ...

and several restaurants. When Macy's acquired Robinsons-May in 2006, the Robinsons-May store became a Macy's Home Store. The mall was renovated in 2013, including new tile and paint throughout the mall concourses, redesign of the common spaces, upgrades to the main courts, food court and an outdoor patio expansion. The entire mall was brought up to ADA standards. Borders closed and became

Sports Authority Sports Authority, Inc. (formerly The Sports Authority) was an American sports retailer based in Englewood, Colorado. At its peak, Sports Authority operated 463 stores in 45 States and Puerto Rico. The company's website was on the GSI Commer ...

in 2011, but it too went out of business in 2016 and the space was taken over by

Dave & Buster's Dave & Buster's Entertainment, Inc. (stylized in all caps) is an American restaurant and entertainment business headquartered in Dallas. Each Dave & Buster's location has a full-service restaurant, full bar, and a video arcade; the latter of w ...

. In 2013,

Ross Stores Ross Stores, Inc., operating under the brand name Ross Dress for Less, is an American chain of discount department stores headquartered in Dublin, California. It is the largest off-price retailer in the U.S.; as of July 2024, Ross operates 1, ...

took over the space vacated by

Circuit City Circuit City Corporation, Inc., formerly Circuit City Stores, Inc., is an American consumer electronics retail company, which was founded in 1949 by Samuel Wurtzel as the Wards Company, operated stores across the United States, and pioneered th ...

. In 2015,

Sears Holdings Sears Holdings Corporation was an American holding company headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. It was the parent company of the chain stores Kmart and Sears and was founded after the former purchased the latter in 2005. It was the 20th-l ...

spun off its 235 properties, including the Sears at Northridge Fashion Center, into Seritage Growth Properties. Sears closed this location on January 5, 2020, after an announcement in November 2019 that the chain would be shutting down 96 stores nationwide. The former Sears was replaced in May 2021 by a new

store on the lower level and a Curacao store on the upper level. Other tenants that now occupy the former space are

Gold's Gym Gold's Gym International, Inc. is an American chain of international wikt:co-ed, co-ed fitness centers (commonly referred to as gyms) originally started by Joe Gold in Venice, Los Angeles, Venice Beach, California. Each gym offers a variety of ca ...

and Blaze Pizza. On April 7, 2022, two robbery suspects ran through the mall after a report of a robbery was received by the

Los Angeles Police Department The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly referred to as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the th ...

. On April 12, 2022,

Porto's Bakery Rosa Porto (September 19, 1930 – December 13, 2019) was a Cuban-American baker and businesswoman, founder of Porto's Bakery & Café chain of restaurants in Southern California. Early life Porto was born in Manzanillo, Cuba. Her mother was bo ...

took over the space vacated by Sears Auto Center.

In popular culture

In the 1987 sci-fi comedy film ''

Innerspace ''Innerspace'' is a 1987 American science fiction comedy film directed by Joe Dante and produced by Michael Finnell, inspired by the 1966 film ''Fantastic Voyage''. The film stars Dennis Quaid, Martin Short, Meg Ryan, Robert Picardo, and Kevin ...

'', the mall's interior was used as the fictional "Santa Clara Fashion Square" in which the climax of a chase sequence took place early in the film. The mall appeared in the 2020 film '' The Prom''. The scene takes place in the center of the mall along with the fountain.

Anchors

(formerly

Pacific Theatres Pacific Theatres was an American chain of movie theaters in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of California. Pacific Theatres was owned by The Decurion Corporation which also owned and operated ArcLight Cinemas. In 2008, it sold its store loca ...

and

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 ...

and J.W. Robinson's) *

Women’s / Children’s (formerly

) *

Men’s / Home (formerly

and May Company) *

(formerly

, and

) *

(formerly

(lower level)) * Curacao (formerly

(upper level))

References

External links

Northridge Fashion Center
{{Shopping malls in California Shopping malls in the San Fernando Valley Brookfield Properties Northridge, Los Angeles Shopping malls established in 1971 Shopping malls in Los Angeles 1971 establishments in California