Carson's revamped SouthBay Pavilion mall strikes a chord with community

You can’t walk far into Carson’s SouthBay Pavilion without seeing the signs of change.

Construction workers behind temporary facades are readying revamped Vitamin World, Wingstop and Mrs. Fields stores while shoppers peruse newly opened tenants with nationwide popularity: Sephora cosmetics, Payless Super Store, Chuck E. Cheese’s, Kay Jewelers and others.

It’s part of a $28 million renovation at the 1970s-era, 73-acre complex best known to greater Los Angeles as home to a regional Ikea off the 405 Freeway on Avalon Boulevard. Other anchor tenants include Sears, JCPeey, Target and a 13-screen Cinemark movie theater that opened last year. The theater increased foot traffic into the mall by 25 percent, owners said.

But one of the most anticipated new offerings is still being built — Forever 21’s new lower-cost retailer, F21 RED, which will debut in the spring.

Business is booming

The mall, long seen as an out-of-the-way, run-down shopping center despite several earlier remodels, is booming. Since Vintage Real Estate bought SouthBay Pavilion in 2009, sales have doubled from $220 to $433 per square foot, said John Desco, executive vice president of Vintage.

“In our industry, this is a significant tu,” Desco said. “When we bought it, business was slow. There were a lot of temporary tenants, and national tenants weren’t excited about coming into the mall. It was not performing well in the market.”

Now, tenants who previously rebuffed the mall’s advances — like Kay Jewelers and Bath & Body Works — have new shops there. Bath & Body Works is even opening a new prototype candle retailer called White Ba.

In addition to attracting brands with nationwide appeal, SouthBay Pavilion has boosted its popularity with locals in Carson, Long Beach, Torrance, Inglewood and elsewhere by offering hundreds of community events a year and surveying customers about what changes they want.

Mall managers take surveys of customers to lea their shopping habits and needs, and that information is shared with retailers.

“We really want to be the center of the community,” Desco said. “We have 300 events a year and we gear a lot of things to the local market.”

This multipronged strategy is one followed nationwide by mall developers who are trying to keep up with rapidly changing technologies, a growing online marketplace and changing trends among milleials.

Changing mall trends

Shopping centers are being redefined as “cultural hubs” that go beyond retail offerings, according to the Inteational Council of Shopping Centers forward-looking report on emerging trends called “Envision 2020.”

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“As they vie for the attention of time-starved, tech-savvy consumers, shopping centers are coming to look, feel and function differently than the retail fortresses of yesteryear,” the Envision 2020 report states.

“(Mall) landlords are keen to add so-called experiential retailers and restaurants, including popular local and regional concepts that appeal to milleials. Hotels, health clubs and other nontraditional tenants are becoming more prevalent, as are thoughtfully designed public spaces for recreation and entertainment.”

SouthBay Pavilion’s free Saturday moing Zumba workout classes an hour before the mall opens are among its most popular initiatives. For children, there are robot-buildling classes; movie, dance and book clubs; arts and crafts events; and financial literacy classes and other offerings as part of the mall’s “Cool Kids” campaign.

Adults can go to the mall for free weekly dance classes and workouts. Cesar Chavez Day, Easter, Mexican Independence Day, Black History Month and Philippine Inteational Film Festival are just a handful of dozens of 2016 community celebrations at the mall.

“We tried to figure out what the market needs,” Desco said. “It starts with our security guards. If they see someone searching for something, they’re trained to ask what they’re looking for. There’s a reporting process if a shopper is looking for something we don’t have.”

A major demand from the community for new sit-down restaurants was answered with Olive Garden, Buffalo Wild Wings and Pieology Pizzeria. But, soon, there will also be an Applebee’s, Chipotle and Smashburger.

Smaller eateries include Panda Express, Chile Verde, Five Guys Burgers and Fries, Yogurtland, Sansai sushi, Panera and Subway.

Popular SouthBay Pavilion stores include Children’s Place, rue21, Sheikh Shoes, Daniel’s Jewelers, Big 5 Sporting Goods, Old Navy and Beauty Lounge & Spa, which recently opened a second store called Brow Lash Studio.

The mall serves a pool of 2.5 million residents and is in the center of a region with a daily workforce of about 150,000 people, according to mall representatives. There are about 600,000 residents living within a five-mile radius of the mall and average household income is nearly $70,000.