Bayshore Mall

The Bayshore Mall is an indoor shopping mall located in Eureka, California owned and managed by Rouse Properties,^[2] a former division of General Growth Properties,^[3] one of the largest mall owners in the United States. It is named for its close proximity to Humboldt Bay. The large shopping facility is the only major mall located on the coast north of the San Francisco Bay Area, securing Eureka as the trading center for the entire far North Coast.

History

The mall was built in 1988 as demand for shopping grew in the North Coast Region of California. The original anchors were Mervyn's on the south end, Gottschalks on the west end, JCPenney on the east end, and Sears on the north end. Currently, Sears is the only original anchor still at the mall. Longs Drugs also operated a store at the mall, which was closed (having been relocated to the PayLess store purchased by Longs at the Eureka Mall nearby) and most of that space was converted to Petco in 2004.^[4]

In the early 2000s, JCPenney downsized into an outlet store, then left the mall entirely. Bed, Bath, and Beyond, along with Borders Books, came in soon after and split the anchor space. Then, in late 2008, Mervyn's filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy,^[5] and in turn, closed their Eureka store in December of that year. Gottschalks closed in July 2009, after filing Chapter 11 Bankruptcy,^[5] leaving just one anchor space filled. Kohl's officially opened up their new store at the old Mervyn's location^[5] on September 27, 2009. Old Navy and the Gap closed^[5] before The Movies, a branch of a local cinema entertainment company with other sites scattered over the region, closed in December 2009.^[5] Borders Books closed in September 2011 following bankruptcy.^[5] Following the purchase, plans to remodel the 73,000 square foot Gottschalks space were submitted to the City of Eureka by a contractor for Walmart during the summer of 2011, and opened June 12, 2012.^[6]

In late summer 2013, TJ Maxx went into the mall where Borders was. The same year ULTA Beauty and Sports Authority went where The Movies were, and in 2014, Sbarro closed amid bankruptcy issues, while a value clothing store came in with Ms. Clothing. The Avenue and Wet Seal closed in January 2015, though Avenue never showed signs of a closeout/going out of business sign. A localized pizza place entered the mall in January 2015 in the former Sbarro's place, later to be known as Hot Slice Pizzaria, with a clothes store, Salt Tree going in a vancant lot (but left just a few weeks later along with long-time tenant RadioShack), with Planet Fitness opening later in the year (though was delayed until early 2016).

2010 Eureka Earthquake

On January 9, 2010, a 6.5 earthquake struck off the coast of Eureka, about 27 miles out at sea, at 4:27 pm.^[7] The mall was among the buildings damaged by the quake, with loosened floor and ceiling tiles, as well as water damage from the sprinklers, but engineers found no structural damage.^[3]

Bayshore Mall today

Currently, the Bayshore mall has over 80 stores available with 70, and it is the largest shopping complex for over 200 miles. Anchor stores are Sears, Kohl's, and Walmart, which opened June 13, 2012, and TJ Maxx, which opened August 25, 2013. Sports Authority is a new store that opened in 2013, along with ULTA Beauty. Ray's Food Place, a full-service supermarket, was located in a separate building directly south of the Kohls entrance on the same property, but closed at the end of 2013 when parent company C&K Markets declared Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. Other major stores include Ross Dress for Less, Bed Bath & Beyond, Petco, and Pier 1 Imports. The mall is served by the Eureka Transit Service and Redwood Transit Service.

References