Once considered a community hub and popular shopping center, the Westminster Mall in Orange County will soon close its doors.
Most of the shops in the mall will close on Oct. 29, when leases expire, Westminster City Manager Christine Cordon told the L.A. Times.
The mall’s three largest stores —Best Buy, Target, and JCPenney —will remain open past that deadline. Best Buy and Target are expected to remain for a few more years, but JCPenney, the mall’s oldest anchor store, is set to close by Nov. 21.
In 2022, the Westminster City Council approved a specific plan with rules and guidelines that could turn the 100-acre property into 3,000 housing units and at least 600,000 square feet of upscale retail space.
The plan also sets aside 9.5 acres for parks and requires that 10% of any home project be affordable housing.
Community members gathered at the mall for a farewell karaoke party, hosted by Alexis Malatesta, who frequented the mall as a teenager and now runs a Westminster Mall fan account on Instagram.
According to city documents, the Westminster Mall opened in 1974 on the former site of the world’s largest goldfish farm.
In 1986, the mall was Orange County’s second-highest-grossing retail center.
The mall underwent major renovations in the 1980s and in 2008. Four companies —Kaiser Permanente, Shopoff Realty, True Life Cos., and Washington Prime Group —now share ownership of the property.
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