Lakewood Center
Lakewood Center is a super-regional shopping mall in Lakewood, California and the oldest shopping mall in the United States that is now enclosed, having first opened to the public in 1951 and being enclosed in 1978. (The first enclosed mall in California was Topanga Plaza, having opened in February 1964.) It is anchored by 24 Hour Fitness Super Sport, Albertsons, Best Buy, Burlington, Costco, Forever 21, The Home Depot, JCPenney, Macy's, Pacific Lakewood 16, Round One Entertainment, and Target, with one vacant anchor last occupied by Nordstrom Rack, which relocated in 2018. At , the Lakewood Center  is ranked among the largest retail shopping malls by gross leasable area in the United States. In 2004, the Lakewood Center's sales amounted to $393 per square foot with an approximate 11.2 million shoppers. The mall is owned and operated by Macerich and is part of its trifecta of "Shop One Shop All" malls in southeast Los Angeles County along with the Los Cerritos Center in Cerritos and the Stonewood Center in Downey. History. Lakewood Center opened in 1952 on 259 acres, located 21 Miles southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The mall included 18 stores including a 4  Level (347,000 sq ft) May Company store & a 3 Level (88,000 sq ft) Butler Brothers department store. Large department stores were built which were part of the shopping center, but not connected with the mall proper. A 4-level (250,000 sq ft) Bullock's store opened in 1965, with a 2-level (80,000 square foot) Buffums' store beginning business on August 2 of the same year. In the mall proper, JCPenney opened a 2-level (173,000 sq ft) store, at the mall's south end, on January 25, 1967. Montgomery Ward opened a 2-level (155,000 sq ft) store to  the mall later in 1975. The refurbishment and expansion continued. In September 1982, construction was completed on a new mall corridor, added east of May Company. This new East Wing extended to a 2-level (80,000 sq ft) Mervyn's store. A 3-screen multiplex, the Pacific Theatres Lakewood Center South 1-2-3, was installed in a vacant store adjoining the Buffums' building. This venue showed its first features on June 12, 1981. Buffums' closed its doors in 1991 and Bullock's a year later (now the site of The Home Depot). Its space was renovated into 6 auditoria . A new 9-screen complex, known collectively as the Lakewood Center South 9, premiered on December 11, 1992. In February 1993, May Company rebranded its store as Robinsons-May. Meanwhile, a turn of the century renovation had reconfigured the mall's East Wing. During the 36 million dollar project, a new 1-level (80,000 sq ft) Mervyn's store was built, which was dedicated in August of the year 2000. The original Mervyn's was gutted and sectioned into an extended mall corridor, with stores on either side. That allowed a new 2-level (210,000 sq ft) Macy's store  to be built at the east end of the extended East Wing. It opened for business November 2000 as the chain's first newly-built store in Southern California. The new mall wing was officially dedicated in April 2001. In that same year, Montgomery Ward closed its doors in March 2001. The store, and its Auto Center, were demolished and replaced by a 2-level (160,000 sq ft) Target store, which opened in October 2003. The Robinsons-May store was rebranded as the new Macy's in 2006. The original Macy's, at the end of the East Wing, was  abandoned. The former Macy's building was demolished and replaced by a new 1-level (159,000 sq ft) Costco warehouse, which opened on February 2009. After the demise of the Mervyn's chain, in 2009, the former location became a large-format Forever 21. This store also began business on February 2009. Transit access. The mall is accessible by LACMTA Metro Local Lines 265 and 266, and Long Beach Transit Lines 91, 93, 103, 111, 112 and 191. Line 91 only runs to the mall on weekends as Line 93 does not run on weekends or holidays. Line 191 stops  along Del Amo Boulevard.