Arrowhead Towne Center is the only regional mall for a large region of over 1 million shoppers in sprawling northwest Maricopa County, comprising parts of Phoenix, Glendale, Sun City, Surprise, and Goodyear.  Its market area is not only large, but economically and ethnically diverse as well, drawing both from extremely upscale, mostly white, brand new enclaves to the north and west  to an economically diverse group with a significant amount of Mexican-Americans to the south and east.  The average household income in the trade area is over $64,000.

Arrowhead Towne Center opened in October 1993 in a former orange grove located along Bell Road near the brand new Loop 101 freeway, Phoenix’s first belt freeway, connecting this formerly remote section of northwest Phoenix to Interstate 10 to the south and Interstate 17 to the east.  Loop 101 intensified the already-explosive growth in the Phoenix area which was occurring during the 1980s and 1990s, focusing it along this circumfrential route, which for the first time allowed accessibility to all parts of the metro.  Arrowhead was developed by Phoenix-area Westcor, and opened with five major anchors – Dillard’s, Robinsons-May, Mervyns, JCPenney, and Montgomery Ward - with an empty pad for an eventual sixth anchor.  Anchor Ward became Sears in 2001 following Ward’s bankruptcy.  

In many ways, Arrowhead Towne Center is your average, middle-of-the-road suburban mall.  This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as the parking lot is still crowded on weekends - but, if an area shopper wants something more upscale, she has to head east to Scottsdale or northeast Phoenix.  Arrowhead offers stores like Gap, Apple, Forever 21, Tilly’s, Dillards, and Sears; there’s no Neiman Marcus or Saks here, but neither are there many vacancies nor a dirty, drab shopping environment, following a 2003-04 rehab of the entire mall. 

In 2003, owner Westcor has sought to bring a more upper-mid tier range of stores like Hollister and Godiva to the ten-year-old mall, as well as maintaining a nice esthetic.  Much of the decor featured “outdated, chunky pieces of artwork” from 1993, so Westcor solved this by revamping the mall with muted tile floors and modern wood trim. 

The revamped tenant list came with slightly more upscale stores such as Apple, Sephora, Coach, Papyrus, and Swarovski.  The outside of the mall also got touch-ups and a new paint job, and all of these changes took place right after mall owner Westcor became absorbed by L.A.-based Macerich. 

More changes have taken place since the renovation.  In 2006, Robinsons-May became Macys as part of a national nameplate consolidation, and in 2008 Mervyns closed as that chain folded.  In March 2009, the former Mervyns space became one of the first anchor-sized locations for Forever 21, a clothing retailer for young men and women.  And, in 2009, the sixth anchor pad finally filled with Dick’s, a two-level Pennsylvania-based sporting goods retailer. 

The design of Arrowhead Towne Center is a somewhat winding two-level straight shot between Dillards and Macys, with over 1 million square feet of space.  The mall was visited by over 11 million shoppers in 2007, and we visited in March 2009.  In fact, we visited the day of Forever 21’s soft opening; in the pictures you can see the Forever 21 sign going up.  When we arrived, it was about half done and the Mervyn’s labelscar was still visible, but by the time we left the sign was done.  Also while we were there, someone had apparently modified one of the mannequins outside Hollister…

Tucson Mall, opened in 1982, is located on the north side of town along Oracle Road.  With a central location, it is strategically positioned against the Tucson area’s other large, successful mall – Park Place Mall on the east side.  With 1.3 million square feet of retail space on two levels and five anchor pads, Tucson Mall recently went through a major expansion project which demolished the largely unnecessary sixth anchor pad, replacing it with a roofless collection of stores in 2009.

Throughout Tucson Mall’s history, several anchor changes have taken place on the mall’s 6 anchor pads, with only JCPenney and Sears remaining open in the same location the entire time.  Dillard’s was the next currently-operating anchor to arrive on the scene, taking over Phoenix-based Diamond’s in 1984.  Texas-based Foley’s was swapped out for LA-based Robinson’s-May in 1993, and eventually became Macy’s in 2005.  The Broadway, another LA-based department store, folded to Macy’s in 1996 and operated as Macy’s until 2005, when the Macy’s “moved” to the former Robinson’s-May location and is still in operation there.  The Broadway/Macy’s space remained dark until it was demolished in 2007 and replaced with a set of roofless stores which will open in 2009.  Finally, Tucson Mall’s Mervyn’s closed in 2008 when that chain folded and was promptly replaced with an anchor-sized Forever 21 store.  This Forever 21 store is part of a regional rollout of anchor-sized, apparel-based formats for Forever 21, combining all of their brands under one roof.  Many of these first jumbo Forever 21s replaced dead Mervyns, but their size and product mix could also easily replace many of the dead Steve and Barry shells sitting across the country. 

In terms of design and decor, Tucson Mall features a mosly modern design with small elements of datedness.  For example, the food court’s side corridor has relatively low ceilings and is more dimly lit, in comparison with the rest of the mall’s wide open spaces.  Also, other dated features which have remained through renovations in 2002-2004 and 2007-2009 include huge pillars and a giant, mirrored JCPenney facade.  In addition, the mall features a long two-level design with a slight turn, and the food court exists on an interesting alternate hallway on the first level. 

We visited Tucson Mall around closing time in March 2009 and took the photos featured here; however, not without resistance.  At the Macy’s end of the mall we were “caught” by a security guard who informed us that taking pictures in the mall is forbidden, and not to take a camera in the mall.  Since the mall was closing anyway, we left through the same entrance we came in, and were speedily encountered by one of the security vehicles which sped up to us as we exited the mall into the parking lot, with its yellow lights blaring.  The driver of the security vehicle then leaned out of his open window and barked something like, ”Don’t bring your camera back here if you visit this mall again!  We have you on tape taking pictures and it has been recorded!”  He sure was mad.  He then drove off to a nearby section of parking lot and waited for us to leave, and that was that.  I wasn’t too ensconced by the whole ordeal, and in fact I actually kind of laughed at them.  Whoops.  \

We’ve encountered various levels of enforcement to this rule, with certain security guards looking the other way and others simply giving us an empathetic and polite warning.  Yet others choose to use their positions for apparent power-tripping or maybe even boredom as we’re singled out and read the riot act.  We understand they’re just doing their jobs, but one time a group of them followed us onto an interstate shouting and screaming at us after taking pictures.  Inside a mall.  The horror… 

Once again, the age-old debate emerges regarding conduct in private spaces meant for public use.  Obviously these malls have the legal right to prohibit photography, and these security officers are doing their jobs to enforce them, but to what end?  We think these policies are incredibly short-sighted, especially when the ostensible reason for prohibiting photography inside malls is to prevent financial gain from said photos.  Clearly, archival sites such as this one are meant for preserving whever history resides with these retail centers, and by taking pictures here we’re literally taking snapshots of time, for whoever is interested.  And we think that’s a good thing, and many others agree with us.  So we soldier on.

At any rate, enjoy the pictures.  P.S. Security Guard Anti-Photo Enforcer #1 is pictured in the middle of picture #17.

Billed as the first air-conditioned mall west of the Mississippi, Chris-Town Mall opened with huge fanfare in 1961.  Originally, the mall opened with four anchors: JCPenney, Montgomery Ward, local Phoenix department store Korrick’s, and UA Theatres.  Bullocks, a department store chain from Los Angeles, was added soon after the mall opened.  In the late 1960s, the entire Korrick’s chain became The Broadway, another chain from Los Angeles.  The mall chugged along into the early 1970s as a regional destination.  People from all over the entire southwest came to the mall to shop in the cool climes and some even thought the mall reminded them of New York.  JPB Publishing has created an excellent website dedicated to the early days of Chris-Town Mall.  Check out the different courts, especially the court of birds in cages which hung down into the mall.  Truly amazing.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, traffic declined markedly at the mall.  Other, newer, brighter centers with more impressive features opened in the Phoenix area and the mall’s trade area made it just another mall.  A dated mall, at that.  Rather than keeping up with renovations, citing lower traffic, stores began to leave in droves.  In 1985, the Bullock’s at this mall was sold to Dillard’s.  In 1995, The Broadway was purchased by Federated Stores.  Rather than converting the location to a Macy’s, Federated chose to close the store.  In 2000, the Montgomery Ward location closed when the chain went bust.

Chris Town Mall in the 1960s

Losing a mall’s anchors is usually a death sentence, forcing rapid redevelopment or worse yet, abandonment and blight.  Not so in the case of Chris-Town Mall.  After The Broadway closed its store and Federated chose not to replace it with their Macy’s brand, the mall’s management quickly enticed Wal-Mart to build on that site.  In 2002, the former Montgomery Ward space was divided into PetsMart and a Ross clothing store.  Also in 2002, longtime anchor JCPenney closed and was quickly replaced by a Costco warehouse store.  The UA Theatre closed, but also quickly reopened as the Phoenix Spectrum Cinemas.  Wal-Mart expanded its store into a supercenter, and the mall was also renamed Phoenix Spectrum Mall.  Dillard’s also closed in 2004.

The mall seems to have died, but quickly reinvented itself as an alternative, ancillary mall.  It no longer has the top-tier of anchors or in-line stores, but it does okay mostly as a neighborhood and discount center.  In 2006, plans were announced to replace the empty Dillard’s and JCPenney announced it would be returning to Spectrum Mall.  How often does an anchor leave and want to come back?  The mall’s occupancy currently stands at about 88 percent.

We stopped at the mall during some free time we had in Phoenix during a cross-country road trip in July 2004 and took the pictures below.  We were amazed at the decor of the mall, and how the mall had placed “alternative” anchors such as Costco and Wal Mart, and how successful it seemed to work.  We also particularly enjoyed the antics of one of the mall’s maintenance workers, a lively middle-aged woman who wore a bee hive bufant hairstyle with a white stripe in the middle (like a skunk).  Watching her bark into her walkie-talkie became one of the running jokes of that trip, and we won’t soon forget her.