Del Amo Fashion Center is a three-level regional luxury shopping mall in Torrance, California, United States. It is currently managed and co-owned by Simon Property Group.
With a gross leasable area (GLA) of 2.6 million ft², it is one of the largest shopping malls in the United States. The mall features a food court, several anchor stores, including two Macy's locations, Nordstroms, JCPenney and Sears, more than 200 retailers, multiple full-service restaurants, a fitness center, and an AMC Theatres multiplex.
In 2013, plans were introduced by Simon Property Group for a 200 million dollar complete overhaul of the north side of the mall. A new food court opened in the Fall of 2013, while the newly redesigned "Fashion Wing" on the north side officially debuted in October 2015 with Nordstrom being the new mall anchor.
Del Amo Fashion Center has evolved from an amalgamation of several developments on the eastern side of the intersection of Hawthorne Boulevard and Carson Street in Torrance, California by Guilford Glazer (#384 on Forbes Richest 400). From 1981 to 1992 it was the largest shopping mall in the US, reaching 3 million ft² in size at its largest. It was eclipsed as the largest with the opening of Mall of America on August 11, 1992.
In 1959, The Broadway opened the first store at what was then the open-air Del Amo Shopping Center south of Carson Street.The actual mall itself, as well as J.C. Penney and Sears, opened in 1961 at the southeast corner of Sepulveda Boulevard and Hawthorne Boulevard. In 1966, Bullock's opened at a small open-air shopping center it had developed north of Carson Street called Fashion Square (Bullock's developed several similarly named Fashion Squares, including ones in Sherman Oaks, La Habra and Santa Ana). I. Magnin, an affiliate of Bullock's opened a store in 1967 at Fashion Square, before the center was acquired in 1971 by Guilford Glazer and a major redevelopment begun.
Overview after the merger of the Del Amo Fashion Square (north) and the Del Amo Center (south).
In 1971, Del Amo Fashion Square, as the center on the north side of Carson Street was now called, reopened as a second mall and included additional anchors Montgomery Ward and Ohrbach's as well as an expanded I. Magnin. Glazer acquired neighboring Del Amo Center in 1978.
In November 1981 the two formerly separate centers were officially merged in the "marriage of the malls" to form the Del Amo Fashion Center, with the opening of a concourse over Carson Street that linked the Del Amo Fashion Square to a new J. W. Robinson's built at the northern end of the Del Amo Center. The existing infrastructure was also renovated at this time and included a food court (the "International Food Court") and a then-state-of-the-art computerized help system. Del Amo became the largest indoor shopping center in the world.
The center continued to evolve over the years as Ohrbach's closed in 1987 and became Swedish style furniture retailer STØR. When STØR went out of business in the early nineties, the property was used as a clearance center for STØR merchandise before being subdivided into Marshall's and TJ Maxx. I. Magnin followed in 1989 with part of their store eventually occupied by Old Navy, while Burlington Coat Factory opened in the basement of the former Del Amo Center. J. W. Robinson's became Robinsons-May in 1993.
In 1996, following the merger of Bullocks and The Broadway into Macy's, the former Bullock's became Macy's Apparel store, while the Macy’s south store (where the Broadway resided) was closed. At first the company attempted to sell the building, but after three years reopened it in July 1999 as a home and furniture gallery, its largest stand-alone home furnishing store in Southern California. The 50,000 square foot ground floor became a Jo-Ann’s fabric and crafts store.
Faced with a change in consumer shopping patterns, the consolidation of the department store industry, the existence of too many malls fragmenting the greater Los Angeles retail marketplace, lack of highway access and competition from the neighboring Nordstrom-anchored South Bay Galleria that opened in 1985, Del Amo began to suffer. Montgomery Ward dealt another blow when it closed following the chain's bankruptcy. This resulted in the closure of an entire wing of the mall.
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