Mershops Antelope Valley Mall is a single-level, regional enclosed shopping mall in Palmdale, California, United States, in the Antelope Valley. It is managed by Spinoso Real Estate Group and owned by Mershops.[1] Its buildings take up around 1 million square feet (93,000 m2). Its physical main building, parking lots, and ring road businesses encompass an area a bit less than 0.5 by 0.5 miles (800 by 800 m).[2]
 The Mershops Antelope Valley in the foreground. | |
 | |
| Location | 1233 Rancho Vista Boulevard Palmdale, California 93551 |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 34°36′17″N 118°09′09″W / 34.60472°N 118.15250°W |
| Opened | September 1990 |
Previous names | Antelope Valley Mall |
| Developer | Forest City Enterprises |
| Management | Spinoso Real Estate Group |
| Owner | Mershops |
| Stores | 140 |
| 6 (4 open, 1 vacant, 1 coming soon) | |
| Floor area | 1,000,000 sq ft (93,000 m2) |
| Floors | 1 (2 in Dillard's) |
| Parking | 10,000 spaces |
| Website | www.av-mall.com |
The mall currently has about 140 stores, with four anchor stores: Macy's, JCPenney, Dillard's, and Dick’s Sporting Goods. There is one vacant anchor, Sears, and one anchor under renovation, a former Forever 21, which is set to reopen as Round 1 in 2026. Old Navy, H&M, and SkyZone are junior anchors.[3] Three other anchors, Bullock's, The Broadway, and J. W. Robinson's, were planned, but never built.
History
editConstruction of the $75 million, 750,000-square-foot, Antelope Valley Mall, developed by Forest City Enterprises,[4] began in May 1989,[5] and the mall opened on September 24, 1990. There were originally four anchor stores - JCPenney (which opened before the mall on August 30, 1990), Sears, Harris and Gottschalks. Before the mall had even opened, the developers announced a planned expansion, that would have doubled the mall's size to 1.5 million square feet and added four more anchors.[6] The new wing began construction in 1992, but on a smaller scale, with only two more anchors eventually added. Mervyn's opened that same year,[7] and the first Dillard's in Southern California opened in 1999 in a 2-story building.[8]
Gottschalks bought Harris in 1998, and their anchor store was rebranded first as Harris-Gottschalks, and later Gottschalks, leaving the mall with two Gottschalks stores.
In 2007, Mervyn’s closed, when the chain went bankrupt.[9] Forever 21 opened in their anchor building soon after.
Both Gottschalks anchor stores closed in 2009, when the chain went bankrupt.[10] In 2010, Macy's opened in the original Gottschalks anchor.[11] In 2014, the second Gottschalks anchor store (originally Harris) was subdivided into multiple stores, with Dick’s Sporting Goods taking the majority of the space and H&M, SkyZone, and eight other businesses, including restaurants, stores, and services in the remainder.[12]
In 2019, Forever 21 closed, when the chain went bankrupt.[13]
Sears closed their anchor store on September 6, 2020, as part of a plan to close 28 stores nationwide.[14]
In 2022, Bridge Group Investments acquired the mall for $60 million.[1]
In August 2025, it was announced that Round 1 would open in the vacant Forever 21 anchor store.[15]
Around this time, Antelope Valley Mall was rebranded as Mershops Antelope Valley Mall, when Bridge Group Investments rebranded as Mershops, a portfolio-wide change across all of their properties.[16]
It was also announced that the mall would undergo a $10 million renovation, enhancing the common areas, food court, and entrances, and adding more security.[17] This renovation will potentially start in 2026 / 2027.
References
edit- 1 2 Welk, Hannah Madans (December 12, 2022). "Joint Venture Buys Antelope Valley Mall for $60 Million". San Fernando Valley Business Journal. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
- ↑ Chandler, John (December 2, 1991). "Palmdale's Growth Leaves Downtown Behind : Development: In search of more customers and to escape crime, businesses move to newer parts of the city while the center withers". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
- ↑ "Retail Stores". Mershops Antelope Valley website.
- ↑ Bullard, Stan. "Forest City Realty Trust sells California mall". Crain’s Cleveland Business.
- ↑ https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-05-23-me-487-story.html
- ↑ https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-09-12-me-153-story.html
- ↑ https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-01-11-me-1596-story.html
- ↑ https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-aug-19-fi-14420-story.html
- ↑ Coit, Michael. "RETAILER CALLING IT QUITS: 59-YEAR-OLD MERVYNS UNABLE TO PULL ITSELF OUT OF BANKRUPTCY". The Press Democrat.
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20150710184557/https://theavtimes.com/2013/11/13/dicks-sporting-goods-coming-to-av-mall/
- ↑ https://www.macysinc.com/newsroom/news/news-details/2010/Macys-to-Open-New-Store-in-Palmdale-California-04-26-2010/default.aspx
- ↑ Dilworth, M (November 13, 2013). "Dick's Sporting Goods coming to AV Mall". The Antelope Valley Times.
- ↑ Meyersohn, Nathaniel; Isidore, Chris. "Forever 21 files for bankruptcy and will close up to 178 US stores". CNN Business.
- ↑ Shoulberg, Warren. "Total Sears And Kmart Store Count Going Down To Just 95". Forbes.
- ↑ Reams, Joey. "ROUND1 Bowling & Arcade and YUU Japanese Food Hall Coming to Palmdale". What Now Los Angeles.
- ↑ Steerpoint Capital. "Bridge Group Investments Rebrands as Mershops". PR Newswire.
- ↑ Bertman, Chris. "AV Mall renovations are OK'd with amendments". Antelope Valley Press.