Grossmont Center
Grossmont Center is an outdoor shopping mall in La Mesa, California, a suburb in East County, San Diego. The mall opened in 1961 and is managed by Federal Realty Investment Trust. The anchor stores are Target, Macy's, RH Outlet, Walmart, Barnes & Noble, and Reading Cinemas. History The mall was built in 1961 by Del E. Webb Construction Company, with Welton Becket and associates as architect. It occupied of land and cost over $20 million to build. At the time, it was the largest development in La Mesa's history. Marston's (later The Broadway) and Montgomery Ward were the original two anchor stores. Marston's, which had a location in downtown San Diego, had begun consultations in 1956 to choose the site of the Grossmont Center store, their first branch location. The store design featured of moldings, gold leaf lettering, murals painted by five artists, and a Gothic-style canopy over its entry. Other major tenants included Longs Drugs, a barbershop, several shoe stores, a florist, a fabric shop, a jeweler, and two dime stores: S. H. Kress & Co. and F. W. Woolworth Company. Fifty thousand people attended the mall's opening ceremonies on October 5, 1961 – 20,000 more than the population