Lloyd Center: Portland's Forgotten Historic Mall #rumble #video #history

The ideas for Lloyd Center Mall, located in Portland, Oregan were conceived in the 1920s. However, the mall wasn't built until 37 years later, due to major events such as the Great Depression and World War II, as well as Portland's conservative anti-development attitude.

The mall opened August 1, 1960 in a 100-store, open-air configuration. At the time, it was the largest shopping center in the Pacific Northwest and claimed to be the largest in the country. 

The original anchor stores were Meier & Frank, Best's, Nordstrom's Shoes, J. C. Penney, Woolworth, and J. J. Newberry's The Newberry store was the national chain's largest at the time of its opening.

As of 1971, Lloyd Center's five largest stores were, from largest to smallest, Meier & Frank (314,000 square feet), Newberry's (100,000 sq. ft.), Penney's (97,370 sq. ft.), F. W. Woolworth (62,734 sq. ft.) and Nordstom Best (52,891 sq. ft.).

In 1972 the Lloyd Center did its first expansion since it opened in 1960, adding six stores. The 75,000-square-foot expansion included the addition of a 50,000-square-foot Lipman's store. In 1973, the JC Penney store was remodeled and expanded to 144,000 square feet.

Frederick & Nelson acquired the Lipman's chain in 1979, and the Lloyd Center Lipman's store was renamed Frederick & Nelson. In 1988, Nordstrom moved into the old Lipmans/Frederick and Nelson building.

Nordstrom ended up demolishing the Lipmans store and opening an entirely new location on its space in August 1990. The former Nordstrom spaces had been gutted and refitted as inline stores, followed by a mall-wide renovation around late 1990-early 1991 which fully enclosed the mall and added a food court. The remodeled shopping hub was rededicated in August 1991.

J. C. Penney closed in June 1998 and was replaced by Sears in November 1999. The Newberry's store, the last in Oregon, closed in 2001, when the entire chain went out of business. As Newberry's was once a two level store, Dollar Tree eventually occupied the space as a one floor retail store which is stilll open to this day. Macy's replaced Meier & Frank in 2006.

In February 2014, it was announced that Nordstrom would be closing its Lloyd Center store effective January 10, 2015.

An 18-month, $50 million renovation began in March 2015, alongside the closure of the Regal 8 cinema, which was Portland's first indoor mall theater.

In August 2016, Sears sold its 143,000-square-foot space to the mall's owners, who were reported to be planning a major remodeling of its upper floors, demolishing the fourth floor and expanding the third floor. On January 4, 2018, Sears announced that its Lloyd Center store would be closing in early April 2018 as part of a plan to close 103 stores nationwide.
Marshalls closed in January 2019.
Macy's closee January 2021. After the closure of Macy's, no traditional anchor stores remain in the mall.  Old Navy closed in January 2021. After the Old Navy closure, the first floor of the mall from the former Sears and the former Marshalls to the former Payless Shoe Source would be completely empty with vacant storefronts.

On August 6, 2021, a two-alarm fire started in the mall's basement, damaging the mall's electrical system. The mall was closed for over three weeks while repairs were made.

On November 1, 2021, it was reported that Lloyd Center would be foreclosing by the end of the year due to payments on its $110 million debt loan not having been made since October 2020.

Several small, art-focused local businesses relocated into the mall in 2022, citing lower rent and greater influence over the future of the location.

In September 2023, Urban Renaissance Group announced a plan for the mall that would add 5000 residences into the space while keeping the local landmark ice rink but did not include a cost estimate, nor any announcement of closure for

The mall continues to host community events in 2024.