The Shoppes at Carlsbad, born enclosed
You step in from the bright coastal sun into a comfortable indoor space, and everything becomes just hallways, lights, and choices.
The Shoppes at Carlsbad has always given people that simple pleasure: shopping as a kind of walk inside, a place made up of rented stores.
It opened in March 1969 as Plaza Camino Real. At the time, it was described as San Diego County's sixth mall, but the larger point was the roof.
It was the metro area's first fully enclosed, regional-class shopping center, nearly three times the size of the earlier enclosed Escondido Village Mall.
The first phase delivered about 548,000 square feet of leasable space and sixty-three stores across two retail levels.
Its main stores, May Company California and JCPenney, gave a sense of stability. They reflected the old belief that a department store could be a community fixture, just with parking outside.
Over the years, the mall has changed and adapted, but it has always kept its promise of being worth the trip.
Salted ground, a freeway, and a North County bet
Before it became a place for stores, the site was seen as a warning. The ninety-acre piece of land could not be used for farming because salt from the sea had ruined the soil.
But it did have a good location, and that became the most important thing once the road was built.
In April 1962, the Vista Way part of California Route 78 opened, giving North County a faster main road and making it easier for developers to plan.
May Centers, a branch of the May Department Stores Company, built Plaza Camino Real as its second mall in the San Diego area.
It was about thirty-two miles north of downtown San Diego, mostly in Carlsbad, with a parking lot that would later stretch into Oceanside.
The goal was to attract people from the whole region: a mall big enough to make a weekend visit worthwhile and comfortable enough for people to enjoy their trip.
The formula was classic for the era - freeway access plus suburban growth plus a roof that kept the weather out and the customers in.
Two levels, Woolworth, and Cinema Plaza
The first phase was set up like a two-story invitation to look around. May Company California took up about 148,200 square feet on two floors.
JCPenney had about 154,000 square feet, also on two floors. In between, smaller stores filled both levels, and escalators made moving around easy.
On the lower floor, F.W. Woolworth was the practical choice, where you might buy something small but feel surprisingly happy about it.
Plaza Camino Real also realized early on that shopping needed something extra. In August 1969, Cinema Plaza opened across Marron Road as a separate building, initially as a single-screen theater.
It helped make the mall an evening destination, proof that shopping centers were becoming places to spend more than an afternoon.
Watching a movie made the visit feel worthwhile, and being at the mall made the movie feel like an extra treat. The mall was encouraging a new routine: come for one thing, stay because there is plenty to do.
1979-80: five anchors and county swagger
A decade later, the mall expanded with the confidence of an era that equated size with security.
The second phase added about 500,000 leasable square feet to the west side, and the enlargement was officially dedicated on October 24, 1979.
The new wing followed the prevailing strategy: add anchors, add gravity.
The Broadway opened as a three-story department store from Los Angeles with about 152,000 square feet, adding a touch of city style.
Sears had two floors and covered about 148,900 square feet. It sold appliances and tools, reminding shoppers to focus on their everyday needs.
Bullock's finished the group on October 2, 1980, opening a two-story store of about 115,000 square feet and giving the mall a more high-end feel.
With five department stores anchoring it, Plaza Camino Real reached about 1,148,400 square feet. Briefly, it became San Diego County's largest shopping center until Fashion Valley expanded in 1981.
1989 gloss: tile, clocks, fountains, glass
By 1989, Plaza Camino Real needed to look newer than it really was. The changes included new tile floors, up-to-date escalators, and a glass elevator added in Penney's Court, making a regular ride feel a little special.
The Broadway Court got a unique mechanical clock, making time part of the decoration in a place meant to make you forget about it.
Water fountains were put in front of the May Co. and Sears entrances, bringing sound and movement to spots that used to be just doors.
The renovation was also a way to deal with stronger competition. North County Fair had opened in Escondido in 1986, and shoppers naturally compared the two when deciding where to shop.
Plaza Camino Real entered 1989 intent on polishing the indoor case: movement was easier, the atmosphere brighter, and the mall could be taken as still up-to-date.
The campaign was not ordinary maintenance dressed up with paint. It was a calculated effort to matter.
Consolidation: Robinsons-May to Macy's
The nineties changed the mall through business decisions that appeared as new signs. In February 1993, May Company California became Robinsons-May, showing that the May Department Stores were joining together.
A year later, Westfield Holdings bought the property, starting a long period of new names and changes.
Late in 1998, the mall was renamed Westfield Shoppingtown Plaza Camino Real, a name that tried to make a shopping center sound more like a community place.
The Forum shopping center opened in Carlsbad in 2004, with outdoor shopping that made the indoor mall feel a little outdated.
In June 2005, Westfield removed the word "Shoppingtown," as if the word had gotten old faster than the building. The main stores changed, too.
After Federated bought The Broadway, it became a Macy's Women's Store in 1996; Bullock's became a Macy's Men's and Home Store in May 1996.
The building stayed the same, but the big department stores became more national, more alike, and more at risk if something went wrong.
For shoppers, it felt like nothing changed; for store owners, it was all about joining together.
Robinsons-May vacancy to Westfield Carlsbad redevelopment
In May 2006, Robinsons-May shut its doors, leaving a vast empty anchor. Macy's considered moving in, then reused only the first level, where Steve and Barry's University Sportswear opened in September 2006.
The chain filed for Chapter 11 in July 2008, was liquidated, and the Carlsbad store closed in late 2008.
Westfield announced a revitalization plan in 2009: convert the vacant box into a megaplex cinema, add a "Dining Terrace" food court, build new specialty shops and three freestanding restaurants, and upgrade the aging interior and exterior, with work aimed for early 2011.
The recession delayed those ambitions, and Westfield invested more heavily in other San Diego properties, including Westfield UTC and Westfield North County.
In January 2013, a revised plan leaned into experience.
24 Hour Fitness took 40,000 square feet for a Super-Sport club with a basketball court, training areas, a lap pool, and an exterior aquatic facility; the rest would become a twelve-screen Regal multiplex.
The mall began rebranding as Westfield Carlsbad.
Rouse and Brookfield remake the tenant mix
In November 2015, Westfield sold Westfield Carlsbad for $170 million to Rouse Properties, a REIT focused on secondary-market malls.
They rebranded the center as The Shoppes at Carlsbad after purchase.
In 2016, Brookfield acquired Rouse and folded the property into its management. What followed kept the enclosed format while changing its center of gravity.
After an earlier overhaul reported at around $100 million, subsequent upgrades through 2016–2017 continued pushing the tenant mix toward food, film, and experience.
Dave & Buster's opened in February 2017. In 2017, Zara arrived with a 30,000-square-foot lower-level store; The Cheesecake Factory opened across from it.
Yard House took a 10,000-square-foot second-level space near the twelve-screen Regal Cinemas. H&M joined the fashion roster, along with Pandora and Francesca's.
The Islands added more dining, and Victoria's Secret and American Eagle Outfitters renovated and expanded.
After Sears: new owners and a bargain buy
Sears, an anchor since 1979, finally succumbed to national decline. On August 31, 2019, it was announced that the Carlsbad Sears would be among ninety-two closures, and the store shut on December 15, 2019.
JCPenney and Macy's remained anchors, but the center listed only about 100 stores and services, and it was dubbed a "high-end dead mall," the kind of phrase that sticks because it is mean and specific.
In September 2025, the mall changed hands again. A joint venture between Steerpoint Capital and SteelWave acquired 727,000 square feet for $71.5 million, excluding the separately owned anchors.
The deal used a $42.9 million loan, with $4 million for entrance upgrades, seating, digital signage, and bathrooms. Occupancy was about 74 percent.
Steerpoint had already purchased the North County Mall in Escondido in February 2023, and the Carlsbad deal was another wager.
They pointed to draws: Dave & Buster's, Sephora, Zara, Yard House, The Cheesecake Factory, and Regal Cinemas.
Two operators, one former Sears box
After Sears closed, the old building at The Shoppes at Carlsbad started being used in two new ways that make it feel more like a big event space than a regular store.
Alternative Retail uses the space for changing warehouse sales. It does not work like a normal store with the same products all the time.
Instead, it holds short-term sales for certain brands or groups of brands, setting up temporary racks, tables, and checkout lanes for each event, then getting ready for the next sale.
Ads show the Carlsbad location holding these planned events by late 2022, and this way of doing things continues through 2025, including multi-day sales like a Cuts warehouse sale planned for December 18-23, 2025.
For customers, the experience is simple: come during the listed dates, shop for discounted items from the featured brand or brands, and the event ends.
NinjaXchange Collectible Expo uses the space as a regular collectibles market. It opened on May 13, 2023, and is set up with rows of separate vendor booths instead of one big store.
Vendors sell things like trading cards, comics, toys, and other collectibles from their own tables.
The expo is open every week on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, and closed the rest of the week. For customers, it is a weekend-only indoor market where what is for sale depends on each seller and changes every week.
Hotels, buffers, and the creek's leverage
Just a few minutes from The Shoppes at Carlsbad, plans for the future are measured by how many hotel rooms there will be and how far buildings must be from the creek.
The Inns at Buena Vista Creek is set for 12.5 acres at the southeast corner of State Route 78 and Jefferson Street, where Oceanside and Carlsbad meet and take turns deciding what is allowed.
JENNA Development's plan looks like a small hotel village: an Embassy Suites with 179 rooms in a six-story building, a five-story Hampton Inn with 135 rooms, and a four-story Homewood Suites with 114 rooms, for a total of 426 rooms.
There will also be a four-level parking garage with 432 spaces, a building for meetings and parties, and the key piece that makes it all work: a three-lane bridge over Buena Vista Creek.
The creek, of course, has its own rules.
The plan requires restoring a natural area along the creek: 50 feet for plants and wildlife, and another 50 feet as a planning space, making a 100-foot border that is bigger than the old 25-foot rule from a 1982 agreement.
The project was approved by Oceanside in 2020 and Carlsbad in 2021, but by 2025, it still had not started construction.
This slow progress matters because the mall's own long-term changes depend on the same area.
Carlsbad's planning documents show there could be at least 990 new homes on the mall property, with the city owning 67 acres of parking lots around the mall area.
Brookfield tried to buy or rent that land, since every plan to rebuild the area has to figure out the boring details of parking and traffic flow.
Former mayor Matt Hall's favorite idea also focuses on the creek: homes ranging from affordable to luxury, a walkway by the water, and three to four-story buildings along Marron Road, turning a shopping area into more of a real neighborhood.
As of 2025, The Shoppes at Carlsbad looks taken care of but strangely empty.
It is usually safe, clean, parking is easy, and the places that still attract people, like the restaurants, the theater, and a few bigger stores, make it worth going for something specific.
But as a mall, it can feel worn out: too many empty areas, not much excitement between shops.
It is not terrible, but it is not a place people go just for the mall experience. It is best as a quick stop, not somewhere you would choose just to hang out.
