Santa Fe Springs, California Santa Fe Springs (''Santa Fe'', Spanish for "Holy Faith") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is one of the Gateway Cities of southeast Los Angeles County. The population was 19,219 at the 2020 census, up from 16,22 ...

has been home to two regional malls and one open-air shopping center, anchored by department stores. Today, all three operate as conventional open-air shopping centers.

Santa Fe Springs Mall / Gateway Plaza

Santa Fe Springs Mall was a regional mall built in 1985, which included 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 ...

(relocated to Whittwood Mall in 1996) and an 8-screen

Mann Mann may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Mann'' (film), a 1999 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama * Mann (chess), a variant chess piece * ''Mann'' (magazine), a Norwegian magazine * Mann (rapper), Dijon Shariff Thames (born 19 ...

multicinema. It is now the site of the Gateway Plaza power center, anchored by

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 ...

, Ross Dress for Less (formerly

OfficeMax OfficeMax is an American office supplies retailer founded in 1988. As an independent chain, it was the third-largest office supply retailer in the United States. Following a 2013 merger, it is currently a brand and subsidiary of Office Depot. ...

and

Marshalls Marshalls, Inc. is an American chain of discount store, off-price department stores owned by TJX Companies. Marshalls has over 1,000 American stores, including larger stores named Marshalls Mega Store (stores operating with HomeGoods combined), ...

), El Super, and

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

. The shopping center is located at the intersection of Telegraph Road and Carmenita Road.

Whittier Downs / Santa Fe Springs Marketplace

Whittier Downs Shopping Center was a shopping center that served the community of

West Whittier-Los Nietos, California West Whittier-Los Nietos () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Los Angeles County, California, United States, near the San Gabriel River and the San Gabriel River (I-605) Freeway. The population was 25,540 at the 2010 census, up from 25,129 ...

from the 1950s through the 1980s, anchored by

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 ...

. The center is at Washington and Norwalk boulevards and within the city limits of

Santa Fe Springs Santa Fe Springs (''Santa Fe'', Spanish for "Holy Faith") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is one of the Gateway Cities of southeast Los Angeles County. The population was 19,219 at the 2020 census, up from 16,22 ...

, despite the shopping center's name associated with the adjacent city. Pereira & Luckman were the architects. The center opened in 1955 with parking for 740 cars. Unusually, shops faced both a pedestrian mall as well as the parking lot. In the late 1980s, the mall was demolished and the site was redeveloped into the Santa Fe Springs Marketplace, a neighborhood center anchored by a

Food 4 Less Food 4 Less is the name of several grocery store chains, the largest of which is currently owned by Kroger. It is a no-frills grocery store where the customers bag their own groceries at the checkout. Kroger operates Food 4 Less stores in the ...

& Farm Fresh supermarket and large

Rite Aid Rite Aid Corporation is an American drugstore chain based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1962 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, by Alex Grass under the name Thrift D Discount Center. Prior to its first bankruptcy in 2023, it was the th ...

pharmacy (formerly Thrifty Drugs).

Santa Fe Springs Shopping Center / Promenade

The former Santa Fe Springs Shopping Center, opened in 1954 with W. T. Grant,

Market Basket A market basket or commodity bundle is a fixed list of items, in given proportions. Its most common use is to track the progress of inflation in an economy or specific market. That is, to measure the changes in the value of money over time. A ...

, and David's Department Store, is now the Santa Fe Springs Promenade, a neighborhood shopping center with anchored by

Dollar Tree Dollar Tree, Inc. is an American multi-price-point chain of discount variety stores. Headquartered in Chesapeake, Virginia, it is a ''Fortune'' 500 (sometimes referred to as Fortune 200) company and operates 15,115 stores throughout the 48 ...

(formerly

99 Cents Only Stores 99 Cents Only Stores LLC (also branded as The 99 Store) was an American price-point retailer chain based in Commerce, California. It offered "a combination of closeout branded merchandise, general merchandise and fresh foods." The store initial ...

). The dedication of a 40-foot-tall sign spelling out "Santa Fe Springs" at the center in 1956 was celebrated with a three-day city festival.

References

{{Shopping malls in California Demolished shopping malls in the United States Shopping malls in Southeast Los Angeles County, California Santa Fe Springs, California History of Los Angeles County, California