Almanac / SHOPPER SHORTAGE : County Malls Look to Christmas Future

As retailers look ahead to the coming Christmas season, new figures show that last year Orange County malls were hit by a double-barreled blast of recession and overexpansion.

In terms of total sales, stores in malls did better than the average retail outlet, which saw a 2.9% drop in the fourth quarter, the largest decline since the last recession. Mall sales fell less than 1%, but that’s not the whole story.

Four of the county’s malls made major additions in 1990, so there were 114 more stores competing for virtually the same pool of revenue as in 1989. As a result, sales per store dropped 8.1%.

The county’s smaller malls suffered most, with Mall of Orange and Anaheim Plaza reporting declines of 19.6% and 15.6%, respectively.

Mall Sales Total for 12 major Orange County malls, in thousands of dollars

Number of Stores Total for 12 major Orange County malls

Sales Per Store Percent change from year-earlier quarter

The Ghost of Christmas Past Sales were flat for most of the larger shopping centers, although Brea Mall managed a gain of 10.3% and Westminster Mall, 8.5%, over the previous Christmas. In both cases, however, remodeling during 1990 had added 25 or more new stores. Sales in thousands Percentage change between fourth quarter 1989 and fourth quarter 1990 taxable sales: Mall of Orange: -19.6 Anaheim Plaza: -15.6* Huntington Center Mall: -5.5 The City Shopping Center: -4.4 Mission Viejo Mall: -4.0 Laguna Hills Mall: -0.5 MainPlace/Santa Ana: 0.0 * South Coast Plaza: +0.1 * Fashion Island Newport Center: +0.1 * Buena Park Mall: +0.6 Westminster Mall: +8.5 * Brea Mall: +10.3 * * The number of stores in these malls changed significantly between the 4th quarters of 1989 and 1990. Anaheim Plaza lost 13 stores. Westminster Mall added 38 stores; Fashion Island Newport Center, 25; Brea Mall, 25; Mainplace/Santa Ana, 24, and South Coast Plaza, 12. Source: State Board of Equalization