South Bay Galleria

South Bay Galleria

Location	Redondo Beach, California
Opening date	1985
Developer	Forest City Development
Management	Forest City Enterprises
Owner	Forest City Enterprises
No. of stores and services	140[1]
No. of anchor tenants	2
Total retail floor area	955,000 square feet (88,700 m2)[1]
No. of floors	3
Website	Official Website

South Bay Galleria, formerly named Galleria at South Bay, is a mall in Redondo Beach outside of Los Angeles, California. It is anchored by Macy's, Kohl's and previously Nordstrom, as well as a 16-screen AMC Theatres multiplex.

History

Originally the site of a freestanding 5 story May Company department store, an "open air" shopping center, with additional retailers built around outdoor "breezeways" was opened in 1959 as the "South Bay Center" (later known simply as "SBC"). On November 1st, 1960, the Democratic nominee for President, John F. Kennedy, gave a speech at the newly completed shopping center during his campaign tour. Kennedy would win the general election just 8 days later, becoming the 35th President of the United States.^[2][3] During the 1960s and 1970s, many stores would open and thrive around the anchor May Company Store. Some of which were Woolworth's, Florsheim Shoes, Harris & Frank Men's Clothes, Thrifty Drug Store, Sunset House Gifts, Pier One Imports, Ralph's Super Market and Putney Station Restaurant. In the south parking lot, a car wash, theater, and bowling alley (containing a popular restaurant called "The Steak Knife") was opened. On August 26, 1985 Forest City Development built an attached fully enclosed indoor mall to replace the open-air shopping center, to become the "Galleria at South Bay." It included additional anchors Nordstrom and Mervyn's, which had opened a few months earlier.^[4]

In 1992 Forest City sold a half-interest in the center to CalPERS,^[5] before buying it back in 2001 and changing the official name to South Bay Galleria. In the meantime the May Company store had adopted the Robinsons-May name in 1993 and General Cinema had constructed a 16-screen multiplex cinema in 1997,^[6] before the company was sold to AMC Theatres in 2002. In September 2006, the Robinsons-May store was renamed Macy's.

In December 2008, the Mervyn's department store chain closed all of its stores due to bankruptcy, including the South Bay Galleria store. In December 2008, it was also announced that the Kohl's department store chain had bought 48 Mervyn's properties, including the South Bay Galleria property, and would take over the retail space that was formerly occupied by Mervyn's.

Four years later, on December 4, 2012, it was announced that Nordstrom is going to relocate to Del Amo Fashion Center, after nearly 30 years of service at the South Bay Galleria, as part of Del Amo's reconstruction project.^[7]

On August 24, 2015, the South Bay Galleria has announced that they will hold off on finding a replacement for its newly departed Nordstrom store, until the entire mall is renovated.^[8]

Anchors and major tenants

• Macy's (347,000 ft²; opened 1959 as May Company)
• Kohl's (84,000 ft²; opened 2009, previously Mervyn's)
• TBA (161,000 ft²; opened 1985 as Nordstrom, closed 2015)^[9]

In movies and television

The South Bay Galleria has been used as a backdrop for several movie and television productions, including Fat Albert.

References

External links

• Official website
• South Bay Galleria discussion at SouthBayChat.com

Coordinates: 33°52′16″N 118°21′18″W / 33.87111°N 118.35500°W / 33.87111; -118.35500