The Outlets at Orange

The Outlets at Orange
A fanciful water fountain at The Outlets at Orange
Location Orange, California
Coordinates m,
Address 20 City Boulevard West
Opening date November 19, 1998 (November 19, 1998)
Previous names The Block at Orange (1998-2011)
Developer Simon Property Group 2007-present
Owner Simon Property Group
Architect D’Agistino Izzo Quirk
No. of stores and services 115 (as of 2018)
Website http://www.theoutletsatorange.com

The Outlets at Orange (formerly known as The Block at Orange) is one of Orange County, California's outlet shopping centers. It is an open-air shopping mall developed by The Mills Corporation and now owned jointly by The Mills, A Simon Company (Simon Property Group), and KanAm, in Orange, California, a few miles southeast of Disneyland near the heart of the Orange Crush interchange. It was built on the former site of the City Mall.

History

From 1970[1] to 1996,[2] the site was home to an enclosed mall called The City Shopping Center, featuring anchor stores May Company California[3] and JCPenney, anchoring The City edge city complex.[4] The access roads around the mall have "City" in their names because they were built as part of that complex. Mills purchased the site, originally considering converting the City mall to one of their Mills malls named "City Mills," but instead built an outdoor lifestyle center with outlets, restaurants, and entertainment facilities most likely because there was another Mills mall in Southern California (Ontario Mills) already under development. The center's old slogan was The Block at Orange... It Ain't Square. It was The Mills Corporation's first outdoor mall not to have the "Mills" name. The Block officially opened in November 1998.[5]

Ron Jon Surf Shop closed in 2008 and was replaced by Neiman Marcus Last Call. Virgin Megastore, Hilo Hatie and Steve & Barry's closed in 2009. These anchors were replaced with Off Broadway Shoes, H&M, Thrill It Fun Center and Guitar Center. Borders closed in 2011 due to the chains liquidation, and was replaced by Sports Authority, but Sports Authority at the mall was liquidated along with the rest of the company's stores starting May 18, 2016 due to Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. Furniture & Beyond briefly occupied the former Sports Authority space but closed less than a year later. The mall has one of the few remaining Vans Skateparks in the country, as most of the other skateparks closed or were sold to another brand in the early 2000s.

Like other Mills properties, The Block at Orange was acquired by the Simon Property Group in 2007.

In 2011, The Block at Orange was renamed The Outlets at Orange.[6]

The Outlets at Orange underwent two phases of expansion on the east side of the mall. The first phase included a new Nordstrom Rack store which was completed in 2013. The second phase was completed in 2016 which included five new stores such as Gap Factory Store, Polo Ralph Lauren, and Orange County's first Bloomingdale's Outlet. The second phase was supposed to bring 12 new stores but only 5 came because stores such as Bloomingdale's wanted larger spaces.[7]

Outlets at Orange was for a long time the only outlet mall in Orange County with the next nearest outlet malls being Citadel Outlets in Los Angeles, about 23 miles away, and Ontario Mills in Ontario, about 39 miles away. But it received its first competition when the Outlets at San Clemente opened in 2015. Despite the new outlet mall being further away (32 miles) than Citadel, it is more competition because it removes The Outlets at Orange's title of being the only outlet mall in Orange County.[8][9]

The former Virgin Megastore was featured in Borat where Borat attempts to kidnap Pamela Anderson.

References

  1. ↑ "$30 Million Shopping Center Set in Orange". Los Angeles Times. February 22, 1970. p. J26. (Subscription required (help)). Alternate Link via ProQuest.
  2. ↑ Johnson, Greg & Wright, Lesley (October 4, 1995). "The City Shopping Center to Be Razed and Replaced : Development: Theaters and restaurants will be a big part of the new $150-million complex, scheduled to open in 1998". Los Angeles Times.
  3. ↑ "Retail Briefs". Women's Wear Daily. 126 (117). June 14, 1973. p. 28. The May Co. of Calif. will open a store in The City, a shopping center in Orange County next Spring. The two level, 160,000-sq.-ft. store will replace a unit operated by Walker Scott of San Diego. Link via ProQuest.
  4. ↑ Young, Karen Newell (November 27, 1987). "City Shopping Center in Orange Offers Wide Range of Gift and Specialty Stores". Los Angeles Times.
  5. ↑ Garvey, Megan (November 20, 1998). "The Block Gets Off to Rousing Start as Big Crowds Show Up: Entertainment: Huge complex in Orange offering movies, shops, restaurants opens with manageable traffic". Los Angeles Times.
  6. ↑ Nguyen, Hang (October 11, 2011). "The Block at Orange changes its name". Orange County Register.
  7. ↑ "Outlets at Orange adds 5 more stores in time for Black Friday". Orange County Register. 2016-11-23. Retrieved 2017-08-10.
  8. ↑ "Outlets at Orange on track to open six stores by Black Friday". Orange County Register. 2016-10-07. Retrieved 2017-08-10.
  9. ↑ "12 new stores on the way as Outlets at Orange expansion begins". Orange County Register. 2016-03-09. Retrieved 2017-08-10.

Coordinates: 33°46′58″N 117°53′35″W / 33.782644°N 117.893076°W / 33.782644; -117.893076

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