Manhattan Village reopens, but with only 8 stores
The Manhattan Village Shopping Mall reopened Monday 6/8, and reminded customers to wear face coverings. Photo
The 44-acre Manhattan Village shopping mall, which had been closed since March 19 because of the coronavirus, reopened quietly Monday, but with only eight stores out of 27 open for business.
Missing in action: the mall’s most popular tenant, the Apple Store, as well as the Walking Company, Ann Taylor, Sephora and Chico’s. Open for business: Macy’s, the Hallmark Store, Gap, Williams & Sonoma, Pottery Barn Kids, Janie and Jack and the Islands restaurant, where customers are greeted by servers in protective face masks. The Pottery Barn is open by appointment only.
Mall management said most of the closed stores will be reopen by the end of next week, (June 19), though See’s Candy won’t reopen until the end of June, and that will be for curbside pickup only.
There were few customers on Monday, with most of them by Island’s, the popular burger restaurant, where patrons could sit on the patio or inside.
Inside the mall, customers are reminded to wear face coverings and stay six feet apart from each other.
“We have removed some common area seating in the interior of the center and spaced apart remaining furniture for effective social distancing,” Don Ziss, the senior general manager of the mall said in a statement. “Signage is in place to remind shoppers to keep a safe distance and stores will be limiting capacity to 50 percent, following LA County
guidelines.”
The Manhattan Village Shopping Mall has reopened, but on Monday, only 8 of 27 stores were open.
The mall has been in the midst of a two year, $250 million remodel that was scheduled to be completed this year, but that date has been pushed back to 2021.
The mall is owned by RREEF, a unit of Germany-based Deutsche bank, and managed and leased by the commercial real estate firm JLL.
To make room for more stores and to be more competitive with neighboring centers, like the Point across the street, RREEF has removed open air parking and put in two new parking structures, one by Macy’s and the other by the main entrance, the South Deck. It was completed in March and has 500 spaces on 3 levels. The structures have 31 chargers for electric cars and a bike center that can park to 32 bicycles.
The South Deck is intended to “feed” The Plaza, the outdoor common area space that Ziss calls “our outdoor living room… Water and fire features, unique seating with phone charging abilities and lawn space for events are just some of the amenities that visitors will enjoy.”
The greenery will be surrounded by the new stores that will be in place in 2021. The Plaza is scheduled to be finished at the end of the month, according to JLL.
Imagine an Apple Store with no customers? This is what it looked like Monday.
Currently closed: Walking Company, Victoria’s Secret, Pink. Loft, Kiehl’s, Stein Optometry, Sephora, Godiva Chocolate, Origins, Apple Store, Chico’s, Diane’s Beach, Bath and Body Works, Beyond the Soap, and J. Jill.
Tacone, which had served as the one fast-casual place to eat inside the mall, is no longer a tenant.
JLL said six new tenants scheduled to open.
- Sweetgreen, a fast-casual restaurant, will open in winter, in the space where Talbot’s was.
- Vans, well known for skateboard shoes and related apparel, will open this summer, next to the Apple Store.
- Cyclebar, an indoor cycling studio, plans to open a 2,300-square-foot studio by the south parking garage, which is where Coreology Fitness will also be. Posters outside the mall advertise a June, 2020 opening.
- Corepower Yoga will open this fall, replacing the Destination Maternity shop inside the main building.
- Sidecar Doughnuts, a specialty doughnut and coffee shop, will occupy a 1,147-square-foot space in the South Village Shops this fall. ER