HILLTOP MALL

'Hilltop Mall Shopping Center' is a mall in the Hilltop neighborhood of Richmond, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. Hilltop is managed and co-owned by The Mills Corporation, and is anchored by longtime tenants JC Penny, Macy's, Sears, and lastly Wal-Mart, a 2007 addition. ^[3]

Contents

History

Wal-Mart controversy

Anchors

Mall Stores

Notes and references

External links

History

Hilltop Mall opened in September of 1976, built on land previously occupied by the Hilltop Drive-In outdoor movie theater. The mall was developed by the A. Alfred Taubman, who also developed several other shopping malls in the East and South Bay Area, including Eastridge Mall in San Jose, Stoneridge Shopping Center in Pleasanton and Sunvalley Mall in Concord. Originally it was anchored by a bright red-tiled Capwell's, JCPenney and Sears. Macy's soon followed, closing their neighboring store in downtown Richmond at the same time.^[4] Capwell's changed its name to Emporium-Capwell in 1979, before becoming simply Emporium in 1990.
Once opened the mall attracted the major anchors of Ricmond's downtown, which became deserted with nearly all stores closing.^[5][6]
The mall remained largely unchanged until 1996 when the Emporium store closed following its merger with Federated, who owned Macy's. The store remained vacant until October 1998, when Macy's refurbished and relocated their existing store into the former Emporium space. However, Federated chose not to have two Macys at Hilltop (unlike SunValley, Stoneridge, and others) and closed the original store. That building would remain vacant until WalMart took it over in the Spring of 2007.
The Taubman shopping center interests, which had become a publicly traded real estate investment trust in 1992, were reorganized in 1998 and the GM Pension Trust assumed full-ownership of Hilltop Mall at this time, retaining Taubman Centers as manager.^[7] In its turn, in 2004 the GM Pension Trust sold a half-interest in a portfolio of shopping centers, including Hilltop to The Mills Corporation, which also assumed management of the center. After several years of delay, Wal-Mart opened on April 11, 2007 on the site Macy's vacated in 1998.

Wal-Mart controversy

The Wal-Mart has been met with intense and fervent community opposition. In response to at least one community concern, Wal-Mart officials have indicated they are willing not to sell guns at this location.^[8] The mall's Wal-Mart is a more upscale version of that chain.

Anchors

★ JCPenney (207,600 ft²)

★ Sears (135,000 ft²)

★ Macy's (190,700 ft²)

★ Wal-Mart (150,000 ft²)

★ 24-Hour Fitness Magic Johnson Sport (37,383 ft²)

Mall Stores

Hilltop also has dozens of smaller clothing boutiques for men, women, teens, and children. It has shoe stores including Foot Locker, Lady Foot Locker and Kids Foot Locker, electronics stores such as EB Games, and Ritz Camera, and athletic stores such as Champs Sports and Finish Line. Hilltop also has a Disney Store, and features many other mainstream retailers such as The Body Shop, Anchor Blue, Claire's, Forever 21, Zumiez and many more. Hilltop has several big name places to eat or snack, such as Maggie Moo's Ice Cream, Mrs. Fields Cookies, Auntie Anne's Pretzels, Subway, and Great Khan's Mongolian BBQ.
There are also jewelry stores, bookstores, stationers, luggage shops, music, video, gift and toy stores. There are also restaurants, mostly fast food, that include Burger King, McDonalds and others. Miscellaneous services include a hair salon, manicurist, portrait studios, a dentist and optometrists. There is a wide range of catering facilities and a health bar at the 24-Hour Fitness Magic Johnson Sport gym.

Notes and references

Oakland Tribune (Richmond area edition), Sept. 3, 1976, page 13
1. [1]
2. [2]
3. [3]
4. [4]
5. Richmond History, retrieved 09-08-07
6. Images of America: Richmond (Paperback) by Donald Bastin, Arcadia Publishing (SC), November 2003
7. [5]
8. "Richmond Wal-Mart Fought" by J. Douglas Allen-Taylor, Berkeley Daily Planet, Dec. 12, 2003 [6]

External links

★ Hilltop Mall official website

★ Hilltop Mall official store directory map

★ SF Station