An extant asset
Though I’m not much of a gambler, I still very much love a visit to Las Vegas. There are great shows, engaging museums and fantastic outdoor activities to enjoy outside of the casinos. But you know that you’re a huge retail nerd when the one thing you’re most looking forward to is a visit to the mall.
1 to 4- The faux South Beach-esque front facing façade of the Boulevard Mall. 5- The front facing exterior of the former Dillard’s. 6- The mall entrance abutting the former Dillard’s.
To be fair, however, this isn’t just any mall. Sitting on a major thoroughfare less familiar to the tourists than Las Vegas Boulevard not far to the west and lined with a plethora of fantastic twentieth century vintage examples of googie and mid mod architecture is, in my opinion, one of the best examples of these styles, the Boulevard Mall.
The Boulevard Mall lease plan ca. 1968. View the full PDF version here.
In a bid to maintain relevancy in a crowded retail market, the single level structure at the corner of Desert Inn Road has been renovated both inside and out over its nearly sixty year history, but much of the mall of the past can still be easily noticed.
1 to 3- The recessed entrance plaza next to the former Sears. 4 & 5- The rear facing entrance next to Sears. 6- The original Sears façade can still be seen on the back side of the building. 7- I love the old school curves and lines of the exterior. 8- SeaQuest Aquarium.
Older photographs show a brick and stone edifice bordering on brutalist. However, these rigid striations were softened by the unique martini glass columns, reminiscent of those at the Memphis International Airport. Though the entire front façade had been diminished to a faux art deco look, those columns still take center stage, literally, at the Boulevard Mall’s main entrance.
1 & 2- The outside of the former Macy’s location, originally opened as The Broadway. 3 to 5- The recessed entrance plaza on the south end of the Boulevard Mall next to what was once Macy’s. 6- The southernmost entrance plaza next to the ex-Dillard’s.
Just inside the inviting wall of glass, the columns span the length of the corridors of the original building, their curved lines stretching outward as they meet the soaring ceilings. Seeing them lined up along the main concourse is quite the sight, although the stylized, cone shaped glass canopy over center court really ties all of the retro elements together.
The Boulevard Mall lease plan ca. 2001. View the full PDF version here.
Although whitewashed to more of a lighter and modern palette, the older portion of the Boulevard Mall still very boisterously screams space race from the decade in which it was born. Newer elements such as a food court and the nineties wing have been added, but the striking lines and contours of the earlier concourse are the definite headliners.
1- The mall entrance leading to the food court. 2 to 6- The former JCPenney store now hosts El Mercado, a collection of vendors much like a, well, market.
From the front facing exterior along Maryland Parkway, not much of the mall of the past can still be seen, but the rear facing side is a different story. Much of the original external walls of Sears, JCPenney and Dillard’s can still be appreciated. That and the deeply recessed side entrance plazas abutting Sears and what was once The Broadway and later Macy’s give the entire facility more of an old Vegas feel.
1- The Boulevard Mall’s rear entrance leading to the Galaxy Theaters and the newer mall concourse. 2- The Galaxy Theaters. 3 to 6- Though completely changed on the front face of the center, the former Dillard’s standard is still very much visible from the back side.
Originally referred to as Parkway Mall at the commencement of its construction in 1963, The Boulevard Mall made its debut in 1968 as Nevada’s very first indoor, climate controlled shopping center. Sears, which had been open since 1965, served as the original northern anchor with a three level The Broadway located on the south end while JCPenney made their home between the two.
The Boulevard Mall lease plan ca. 2011. View the full PDF version here.
Junior anchors Woolworth and Las Vegas based Ronzone’s, subsequently Diamond’s, also called The Boulevard Mall home. The novel destination, in what was a city full of novelty even back then, became a popular destination in the growing tourist haven. Though not directly on the Strip, it was very close by with a tenant list that appealed to both the locals and the visitors.
The striking martini glass columns and cone tipped skylight of the Boulevard Mall’s center court.
The Boulevard Mall’s very first direct competition didn’t arrive until 1981 with the opening of the Fashion Show Mall, which was located directly on the ever expanding Strip. Though just a fraction of its present size today, Fashion Show with its more upscale selection including Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue pulled a large number of visitors from The Boulevard.
1 to 5- A walk down the northern half of the older concourse where the food court can be found. 6- the entrance to the former Sears. Its doors remain closed although the building itself is occupied.
A small renovation was completed in 1984, but a much larger expansion was started in 1990 when an entire new wing, nearly the size of the entire original complex, was construction on the facility’s southeastern side running from JCPenney, past Macy’s in the middle and with a new Dillard’s capping the new south end. When completed in 1992, the then 1.25 million square foot Boulevard Mall was the largest in Nevada.
The Boulevard Mall food court.
The Boulevard Mall would hold this title until Fashion Show opened their own expansion in 2003, with total square footage of over 1.8 million square feet, dwarfing its older peer. It was obvious that the extant center’s best days were behind it, with the great recession of 2008 only hastening the departure of even more in line tenants as well as the Dillard’s anchor.
The Boulevard Mall pamphlet ca. 2015. View the full PDF version here.
In addition to economic forces, demographics surrounding The Boulevard Mall also experienced radical changes. Sizeable populations of Hispanic and Filipino patrons soon made the aging facility their choice not only for shopping, but as a community and events center. New owners in the mid-2010s embraced the new reality of their place in the community, inviting even more events and destinations for their increasingly diverse clientele.
1 & 2- Shots from the northern half of the older concourse. 3- Looking into the southern half of the older corridor. 4- El Mercado’s collection of vendors. 5- Looking from the southern half toward center court. 6- I found Zoltar at the Boulevard Mall!
Sansone, the new owners, invested in well received and unique changes to bolster their new status as a non-traditional retail destination. The vacant Dillard’s location was subdivided to host more junior anchors, including the first Goodwill store to be located within an enclosed shopping center. It was joined by a John’s Incredible Pizza Company which quickly established itself as the most profitable within its chain.
1 to 6- Walking down the southern half of the original structure. 7- The former The Broadway and Macy’s entrance at the end of the concourse. 8- The corridor connecting the older part of the Boulevard Mall to the expansion area.
Sansone also added the SeaQuest Interactive Aquarium to their uncommon lineup, followed not long after by the dinosaur themed Rex Center, both located in the newer concourse, which by then had experienced more vacancies than the original portion. Added in 2019 in the same vicinity were the Galaxy Theaters, the third of its kind to open in the metro area.
The Boulevard Mall site plan ca. 2022. View the full PDF version here.
Although The Boulevard Mall saw much success with these new additions, the more traditional elements of the complex, specifically the main-line anchors, still saw their own struggles. Macy’s and JCPenney both departed in 2017 while Sears, the original and final extant anchor of the more than fifty year old facility, shuttered their store in 2019.
1- The view from the newer portion toward the older part of The Boulevard Mall. 2- The entrance to El Mercado in the newer mall. 3 & 4- The much simpler lines of the expansion. 5- The entrance to the Galaxy Theaters. 6- The skylights are more conventional here. 7 & 8- The former mall entrance leading to the former Macy’s. This was an exterior entrance when The Broadway occupied the space.
Normally a loss of all traditional anchors is enough to drive a final nail into a shopping mall’s coffin, but The Boulevard’s Mall restructuring with more non-traditional tenants means that they are better positioned to ride out these losses. Since their departures, the former anchor spots have been grabbed up by several call centers and offices which themselves employ several thousand people in non-retail roles.
1- Looking from the far end of the newer concourse toward the entrance to El Mercado. 2- The former mall entrance to Dillard’s, which now hosts Imperial Furniture and the first enclosed mall location for Goodwill. 3 & 4- A T Rex guards the entrance to the Rex Center, an entertainment complex. 5- The short hallway leading to the southernmost recessed entrance plaza. 6- Another hallway connecting the two main sections of the Boulevard Mall.
Today, what is left of The Boulevard Mall is a vibrant and colorful collection of commercial and community spaces that has reinvented itself in its sector while retaining its focus on the people who have kept its doors open in its most recent decades. And I hope those doors remain open for many years more.
