SouthBay Pavilion, formerly Carson Mall, is a partially enclosed

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 ...

Carson, California Carson is a city in the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay and the Los Angeles Harbor Region, Harbor regions of Los Angeles County, California, located south of downtown Los Angeles and approximately away from Los Angeles International ...

. Opened in 1973, it features as its anchor retailers Burlington,

IKEA IKEA ( , ) is a Multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in Sweden that designs and sells , household goods, and various related services. IKEA is owned and operated by a series of not-for-profit an ...

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 ...

Ross Dress For Less 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 1,795 ...

, and

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 ...

. SouthBay Pavilion has been recognized by and award from the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) for its innovative marketing and event programs focused on community service and social responsibility.

History

The mall development was announced in 1972 with participation by

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 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 ...

and J. J. Newberry dime stores. By 1985,

Toys "R" Us Toys "R" Us is an American toy, clothing, and baby product retailer owned by Tru Kids (doing business as Tru Kids Brands) and various others. The company was founded in 1948 in Washington, D.C.; its first store was built in April 1948, with i ...

was added. It was the first Toys "R" Us to be located in a shopping mall. The mall was sold to

Macerich The Macerich Company ( ) is a real estate investment trust that invests in shopping centers. It is the third-largest owner and operator of shopping centers in the United States. As of December 31, 2020, the company owned interests in 52 propert ...

in 1987, and to MacDonald Group only five months later. Although it was renovated in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including the addition of public restrooms,

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 ...

, and a food court, it continued to have low traffic and vacancies. The Broadway closed its store in 1991. That same year, Carson city council approved a financing package that would allow

to move into the space being vacated by The Broadway. Also, the mall was renamed Southbay Pavilion. Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre was added in 1983. Toys "R" Us closed its store in 2002.

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 ...

has no plan to open this door in the formerly occupied by Toys "R" Us in 2003. Target instead replaced Toys "R" Us. In May 2003, the mall was sold to Hopkins Real Estate of

Newport Beach Newport Beach is a coastal city of about 85,000 in southern Orange County, California, United States. Located about southeast of downtown Los Angeles, Newport Beach is known for its sandy beaches. The city's harbor once supported maritime indu ...

. Renovation plans began on the mall, including demolition of the IKEA/Toys "R" Us wing for a

store, which opened in 2005.

24 Hour Fitness 24 Hour Fitness is a privately held and operated fitness center chain headquartered in Carlsbad, California. It is the second largest fitness chain in the United States based on revenue after LA Fitness, and the fourth in number of clubs (behin ...

also opened on an outparcel. Other additions included

Old Navy Old Navy is an American clothing and accessories retailing company owned by multinational corporation Gap Inc. It has corporate operations in the Mission Bay, San Francisco, Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The largest of t ...

and a relocation of Big 5. Vintage Real Estate purchased the mall in 2009. In 2005,

Chuck E. Cheese's Chuck E. Cheese (formerly known as Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre, Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza, and simply Chuck E. Cheese's) is an American entertainment restaurant chain founded in May 1977.Cinemark Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (stylized as CineMark from 1998 until 2022 and in all caps since 2022) is an American movie theater chain that started operations in 1977 and since then it has operated theaters with hundreds of locations throughout the A ...

would be opening a movie theater within the mall. As a result, Old Navy was relocated. Chuck E. Cheese's would close on January 5, 2014 and moved over to the former Old Navy store on January 16, 2014 with a new look. In May 2015, the state-of-the-art 13 screens Cinemark Theatres officially opened its doors at SouthBay Pavilion. Following this great achievement, Kay Jewelers opened its doors in 2015 and Sephora (inside JCPenney) opened in May 2016. 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 235 of its properties, including the Sears at SouthBay Pavilion, into Seritage Growth Properties. In June 2016, a press release was published b
KTGY Architecture + Planning
unveiling the further expansion for SouthBay Pavilion with

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 ...

's F21RED which opened in early 2017. On April 21, 2017, it was announced that Sears would be closing after originally announcing it would downsize it's store. The Sears closed on July 3, 2017 with portions of the building becoming

Ross Dress for Less 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 1,795 ...

and Burlington, while the former auto center became

Chipotle Mexican Grill Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. ( ), often known simply as Chipotle, is an American multinational chain of fast casual restaurants specializing in bowls, tacos, and Mission burritos made to order in front of the customer. As of March 31, 2025, C ...

, Smashburger,

Jersey Mike's A Sub Above, limited liability company, LLC, trade name, doing business as Jersey Mike's Subs, is an American multinational submarine sandwich chain headquartered in Manasquan, New Jersey. The Jersey Mike's Franchising, franchise has about 3,500 l ...

and Norms.

Payless Shoesource Payless ShoeSource Worldwide, LLC (formerly known as Payless ShoeSource Inc.), was an American multinational discount footwear chain. Established in 1956 by cousins Louis and Shaol Pozez. Payless was a privately held company owned by Blum Capit ...

closed in early 2019. In Summer 2019, Burlington and Ross Dress For Less opened up their locations in the former Sears space.

Transit access

The Mall is accessible by

LACMTA The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA), branded as Metro, is the county agency that plans, operates, and coordinates funding for most of the public transportation system in Los Angeles County, California, the m ...

Metro Local The Los Angeles Metro Bus is the transit bus service in Los Angeles County, California, operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro). Metro Bus operates in the Los Angeles Basin, the San Fernando Valley, and th ...

Lines 205, 246, &

Long Beach Transit Long Beach Transit (LBT) is the operator of public transit bus and ferry services in Long Beach, California and its surrounding cities. Long Beach Transit operates 37 bus routes, serving the Gateway Cities region of Los Angeles County. In additi ...

Lines 1, 2.

References

External links

SouthBay Pavilion
{{Shopping malls in California Shopping malls in the South Bay, Los Angeles Buildings and structures in Carson, California Shopping malls established in 1973 1973 establishments in California Tourist attractions in Carson, California