Mall Lot Demolished; Store Starts Merger

As part of the Northridge Fashion Center’s continuing renovation effort, Robinsons-May has started to merge its home and apparel divisions on the southwest end of the mall.

After the merger of Robinson’s and May Co., the chain had stores at opposite ends of the mall. Its Home Store merchandise, on the northwest end, will now be moved to occupy 38,000 square feet on the top of a two-tier parking structure adjacent to the apparel department on the southwest end, said Annette Beathers, the mall’s marketing director.

A 10-screen, 50,000-square-foot movie theater, which is scheduled to open next summer, will be built in the vacant Robinsons-May store. The parking lot renovation is already underway and the Home Store demolition will begin Aug. 1, Beathers said.

Meanwhile, an empty Broadway store that was bought by the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores last July will be broken up into several retail spaces, she said.

The Northridge Broadway is located in the mall’s mostly vacant west wing, which MEPC America Properties, the shopping center’s owner, hopes to renovate into a entertainment zone, she said.

The wing will reopen next spring with a bevy of specialty retail shops, theme restaurants, and a large bookstore, she said.

Although Beathers said that Claim Jumpers steak restaurant, which touts an Old West theme, is planning to open a franchise in the wing, she declined to name other potential retailers.

The mall was closed for 18 months after the 1994 Northridge earthquake and only 58% of the stores reopened for business after the renovation.

The idea for the new recreation/shopping area was born from market research done since the mall’s reopening.

“Consumers are very interested in having more theaters and more dining options . . . so we gave it to them,” she said.