Shopping malls react to cultural shifts by embracing their communities with goods, services and something special.
Families listen to music under the stars and admire the work of California artists at Montgomery Village in Santa Rosa. At Marin Country Mart in Larkspur, with Mt. Tamalpais as a backdrop, shoppers nibble on cheese samples and fill their totes with gourmet greens from farm stands, while kids ride ponies and check out ducks and hens. And at Santa Rosa Plaza, customers charge their electric cars and use an app to search for the latest deals. Shopping malls have evolved.
A simple beginning
Back in the 1950s, when shopping centers first started popping up in the North Bay, cars and convenience were the focus, and the goal, most often, was to provide the basics. One of the first in the North Bay was Montgomery Village in Santa Rosa. Now a center with high-end shops and attractive outdoor spaces, it opened in 1950 as the offshoot of a housing development, because residents needed a place to shop for groceries and mail their letters. Upscale wasn’t in the vocabulary, and concerts and art shows weren’t part of the plan.
It all began when the late Hugh Codding, who served with the U.S. Navy Seabees during World War II, started building houses in an unincorporated area east of Santa Rosa in the early years of the post-war boom. Named Montgomery Village in memory of Billy Montgomery, the first Santa Rosa resident to die in World War II, the self-contained community included 2,500 homes and had its own U.S. Post Office and zip code. “He was creating his own town,” says David Codding, Hugh’s son and now owner of the shopping center.
With all those families needing services, the elder Codding recognized residents needed an easy, accessible place to shop, so he built a shopping center that included a supermarket, a drugstore and a general department store. “He wanted to give basic services to people who lived there,” says Codding. More than 60 years later, original tenants Lucky, Village Cleaners and the U.S. Post Office are still in Montgomery Village Shopping Center, which retains the historic name, even though the community became part of Santa Rosa proper with annexation in 1955.
It served a purpose, but Hugh Codding was never very interested in the retail operation. His wife, Nellie, however, saw the potential and had a vision for making the shopping center upscale, and that’s the direction it took. “We wanted to keep it upper end,” says Codding, who’s managed the center for 30 years. Today, Montgomery Village is still providing basic services, retaining its original intent, but is up-to-date in meeting the demands of the middle and upper-income customers it attracts, with high-caliber stores as well as perennial favorites. “It’s trending toward keeping upper end,” says Codding, whose goal is to provide a unique and different experience through shops, entertainment and restaurants in a pleasing environment.
Aiming to please
Upscale is the trend for many of the North Bay’s shopping centers, and while they share that basic concept, they’re far from generic. Rather, each is distinctive, whether in the mix of stores it offers, its architecture or even its philosophy. Jim Rosenfield, a Ross resident who owns Marin Country Mart, sees the ideal shopping center as having three main components to meet customers’ needs: services such as a post office, shoe repair, barbershop and bookstore; eateries with artisan and locally sourced ingredients; and shops selling a variety of items such as clothing, toys and products for the home. The businesses might be nicer or more special than ordinary, but they’re still important to the community. He observes that people are smart and practical, regardless of affluence, so they want the basics. If they like a pair of shoes, they’ll get them resoled rather than buy a new pair, so they appreciate having a repair shop—in this case Larkspur Shoe Repair, one of the center’s oldest tenants—in a convenient location. “We’re taking this in an upscale direction, but we’re still a very democratic kind of village,” he says.
“I love the idea that these places, at their best, are community gathering places,” adds Rosenfield, who considers Marin Country Mart a spot where people can connect with each other and enjoy themselves. “It should be alive, cheerful and uplifting,” he says.
An open-air shopping center with a group of barn-like buildings around a central courtyard, Marin Country Mart hits the mark. It’s frequently hopping, with 500 to 600 events each year, including a Saturday farmers market, food trucks, a Folkish Festival (based loosely on folk music) on Sundays and jazz on Friday nights. With activities that capture the public’s interest, inviting public spaces and a pedestrian-friendly layout, the events draw crowds, but they support business, too, because the activity spills over into the stores and restaurants, as visitors merge entertainment with shopping.
Reinvention
Configured with roads and parking throughout the shopping center and strolling promenades for pedestrians, Strawberry Village in unincorporated Mill Valley resembles a small town. Some of its oldest tenants, such as Rims & Goggles, Ram Print & Communications and Strawberry Shoe Repair, offer services in proximity to national chains such as Safeway, Starbucks and new tenant West Elm. The selection of stores caters to the needs and tastes of local residents, some of whom live in Strawberry Village itself.
When the center underwent extensive renovation several years ago, it got more than a new look; it gained a new purpose with the addition of apartments. Sharon Gurewitz, senior property manager at Shelter Bay Retail Group in Mill Valley, which manages the sprawling mall for the owner, Massachusetts Pension Fund, says mixed use was a county requirement. Reminiscent of the days when retailers lived above their downtown stores, it’s a new concept in shopping centers and indicative of the ongoing evolution of retail centers.
Every mall has gone through various iterations over time. Northgate in Terra Linda, which opened in the mid-1960s, is perhaps the most dramatic in the North Bay. Originally an open-air shopping center, it was enclosed during an extensive remodeling in 1987, making it the only indoor mall in Marin County. Owned by Macerich, a Santa Monica-based owner of regional malls that also owns the Village at Corte Madera, it underwent renovation again in 2008 and 2009, this time recycling materials, focusing on energy efficiency and incorporating environmental elements that earned it LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certification in Core and Shell from the U.S. Green Building Council in 2012.
“One important goal Northgate and Macerich achieved was recycling much of the materials of the existing center in the top-to-bottom transformation, as well as a focus on energy reduction,” says marketing manager Brianna Thornton. “We know environmental stewardship is important to the Marin County community.” People in the North Bay also like open spaces, and Northgate went back to its outdoor roots, in a way, with a ventilation system to let in fresh air through clerestory windows, extensive skylights to let in natural light and the addition of an outdoor gathering space.
Environmental elements were a priority at Marin Country Mart as well, when it underwent a facelift in recent years, albeit in a much different way. When Rosenfield purchased the former Larkspur Landing Shopping Center in 2009, it presented a special set of challenges. Except for patrons of a handful of popular destinations such as Marin Brewing Company and 24-Hour Fitness, people tended to overlook the shopping center, in part because a foreboding line of trees created a barrier between it and Sir Francis Drake Boulevard.
Rosenfield contracted noted landscape architect Lawrence Halprin to redesign the plantings, and in a move that changed the ambiance dramatically, the late Halprin removed the trees, restoring the views of San Francisco Bay and Mt. Tamalpais, essentially making the back of the property the front. It’s now more approachable for people on the road, and a boardwalk along the edge is meant to resemble outstretched arms, welcoming people home, as they arrive by boat at the Larkspur Landing ferry terminal across the street after a day’s work in San Francisco.
Inside the mall, Rosenfield took West Marin’s rural character as inspiration and added organic, edible landscaping that’s used by tenant retailers in a variety of ways. “I think it’s beautiful and celebrates the food culture of Marin,” says Rosenfield, revealing that Rustic Bakery uses Meyer lemons grown onsite to make a wonderful croissant; the staff at Farmshop cuts the garden’s fresh herbs to season the restaurant’s dishes; and Marin Country Mart sells its homegrown sunflower seeds and fava beans at the weekly farmers market. While the changes have aesthetic value, they’re also meaningful. “Some of it’s about social responsibility,” says Rosenfield, who points to the removal of grass and addition of eucalyptus and mulch to the perimeter as a way to cut down substantially on water use.
Reaching people
When Santa Rosa Plaza, a regional mall belonging to Simon Property Group, Inc., of Indianapolis, underwent remodeling a year ago, one of the priorities was technology. It has free Wi-Fi, charging stations for electric cars and seating areas where shoppers can put down their bags and relax while they give their cell phones a boost. In addition, “Simon has its own app that gives a ton of information,” says Marketing Director Kim Hall, describing how shoppers can use it to locate a mall and get a directory of stores, find information on deals, get coupons and see a list of events. And like all shopping centers, it has a website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram presence. “We’re always looking for new ways to engage shoppers,” she says, and in the evolving world of shopping centers, high-tech features are a given.
Technology is often the carrot that informs customers and draws them in, but nothing is better than a firsthand experience, so the ultimate goal for shopping centers is to get potential customers offline and through the door. “Our forte is the shopping experience,” says Montgomery Village’s Codding, whose goal is to get people to visit the stores so they can get the sensory pleasures that come with shopping in-person and engaging with the merchandise. It’s more interesting for the customers, and it’s beneficial for retailers because people tend to select more when they go into a store.
Hands-on shopping also adds a friendly touch that’s unbeatable. Robyn Urvinitka, principal at Blend Marketing, describes Strawberry Village as “really very much a family-oriented center. It’s a very personal center,” she says.” Merchants know many local shoppers’ names.”
That kind of connection goes a long way in making friends in the community, and even more so when it involves altruism and causes close to people’s hearts. In September, Montgomery Village hosted Fine Arts Festival at the Village, an event that included music and related events that raised funds for local art programs, and during the center’s summer concerts, wine and beer sales benefit local nonprofit organizations.
Every shopping center does some kind of outreach. Coddingtown has a partnership with the Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and the Santa Rosa Men’s Garden Club. Santa Rosa Plaza hosts a fashion show, presented by Santa Rosa Junior College students, and works with the Mayor’s Gang Prevention Task Force and Double Punches Boxing Club to present an annual program designed to teach kids how to compete in activities that will keep them off the streets and out of gangs. A highlight is a celebrity boxing competition.
Sometimes, a mall will have a particular focus, as does Marin Country Mart, which works with the Canal Alliance in San Rafael. “We’ve picked charities that help children. The health and well-being of the children is important to all of us,” says Rosenfield, who observes that Marin is affluent, but some people within the community aren’t as fortunate. “We need to teach our children to be mindful,” he adds.
And at Town Center Corte Madera, GEM (Growing Excellence in Marin), a nonprofit that teaches gardening skills to people with a variety of health, social and developmental challenges so they can become self-sufficient, is a presence at the weekly Corte Madera Farmers Market, where program participants sell the gourmet greens they’ve grown and learn how to interact with customers.
With the fun of the holiday shopping season approaching, the decorations are going up, the excitement is building, and altruism is in full force. Urvinitka reveals that this year, for the first time, Strawberry Village will have a 16-foot Family Giving Tree, letting families take a tag, purchase the designated gift for a child or adult in the community and then drop it off at a participating merchant. In addition, the Jingle Jog, a 5K run to support Strawberry Point School, will return for the third year.
Santa Rosa Plaza will welcome back Secret Santa, a partnership with Sonoma County radio station KZST. A full studio is set-up in the center court, and DJs broadcast live for 28 hours while taking song requests in return for donations. One-hundred percent of the money raised goes to help Sonoma County families in need.
It’s also a chance for school groups and kids to get out into the community and take center stage. At the Village at Corte Madera, Young Performers International, a Marin nonprofit devoted to instilling a love for music and performance in young people, will take advantage of the opportunity to hone their performing skills in front of a diverse audience in December. “There’s a constant stream of people stopping dead in their tracks, amazed by these young performers, and it’s very gratifying for the kids onstage,” says Executive Director Leela Pratt, who adds that the setup and breakdown is easy because the mall security people at both the Village and Town Center Corte Madera, where the group has also performed, provide electric trucks, handcarts and labor to help move equipment. YPI is just one of several groups from local schools and organizations that perform during the holiday season.
Centers of the community
In days past, shopping centers were perceived as suburban outposts, outside the mainstream, but it’s a perception that doesn’t hold true in the North Bay today. Coddingtown and Santa Rosa Plaza are downtown, just a mile and a half apart, and most shopping centers are within easy walking distance of residential communities. “In Northern California, we’ve protected our land,” Hall observes, and the result is that malls are more likely to be in developed areas, making them easily accessible.
Close to the Highway 101 corridor, they’re still destinations for people coming from a distance, but with retail stores catering to the tastes and needs of the community’s demographic, new amenities, attractive spaces and activities with local appeal, shopping centers have become good neighbors. “You need to be part of the community,” says Rosenfield. “You don’t refine a experience by analyzing spreadsheets.” He adds that he takes great pleasure in having people enjoy what he’s created. “I see all sorts of people here,” he says. “It’s a fun project.”
