The Shops at Mission Viejo has set out to strengthen its appeal as a family-oriented option in a retail market that ranges from high-end South Coast Plaza and Fashion Island to the downtown feel and nighttime draw of the Irvine Spectrum.
The Mission Viejo center, which is owned by Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group Inc. and Institutional Mall Investors LLC in Skokie, Ill., is investing a “significant dollar figure” to renovate
its food court and make it more attractive and convenient for families to gather there.
“You have to keep changing and updating, or you get stale,” said Patsy Sanquist, The Shops’ director of marketing and business development. “We live in a great place where there are a lot of options. We have to constantly be looking at what our customers are telling us they want from a store perspective, from a restaurant perspective, from amenities.”
The “cosmetic” remodel will incorporate new flooring and lighting and communal seating to accommodate children’s birthday parties spilling over from the Build-A-Bear Workshop at the mall. A new, middle-of-the-court walkway layout was designed to improve the flow of foot traffic and visibility throughout the dining area, Sanquist said.
“The majority of our guests are families with kids,” she said. “We want to make it convenient for them to stay there for a bit, relax and enjoy a meal.”
The plans also call for more electronic device charging stations so that shoppers—some coming from nearby Saddleback Community College—can work on their laptops or charge their phones while eating.
The renovation has been in the planning stages for the past 18 months, Sanquist said, and is scheduled to be completed by mid-November. All construction is performed at night so that it doesn’t interrupt shoppers or restaurant owners.
The goal is that the food court investment will spill over to the retail end.
“It will bring more people, and we are hoping that they stay longer and enjoy the environment and come more often,” Sanquist said.
The mall, built in 1979, is Orange County’s seventh-largest shopping center by sales and the county’s largest center south of Irvine, according to Business Journal records.
It had about $349 million in sales for the 12-month period ending June 2013 and collects rent from about 150 stores and restaurants with an average occupancy rate of nearly 96%. It’s anchored by Nordstrom; Macy’s; a Macy’s men’s, children and home store; and Forever 21.
Retail Additions
Recent retail additions include Wet Seal Inc., Sperry Top-Sider, and the just-announced J.Jill, which is scheduled to open its doors this winter. The Quincy, Mass.-based women’s apparel, accessories and footwear retailer will move into a 3,757-square-foot space vacated in August by Coldwater Creek Inc., which filed for bankruptcy this past spring.
The food court was built in the old Robinson-May department store when Simon Property acquired The Shops in 1999. The largest owner and operator of malls in the U.S. signed a deal in February to transfer 49% ownership of the 1.2-million-square-foot center to Institutional Mall Investors, which is backed by the $240 billion California Public Employees’ Retirement System. Simon Property continues to manage the property.
The food court facelift follows other recent family-friendly updates.
The mall replaced a second-floor playground structure and added maternity parking and two “lullaby” lounges.
“If my children are happy, then I’m going to want to stay longer and enjoy the environment,” Sanquist said.
The Shops also welcomed a store by Palo Alto-based Tesla Motors at the end of last year and converted six spots in its parking garage off Marguerite Parkway for cars used in test drives.
“It’s amazing,” Sanquist said. “More men are coming to the mall and having something to do while their wives are shopping.”
