An extant asset
So many of the old school enclosed shopping malls from the 70s and 80s in the Phoenix area are dead and gone. Metrocenter, Paradise Valley and Fiesta malls have all met their fate on the swift side of a wrecking ball. This leaves the Desert Sky Mall as one of the last remaining of its peers.
1- The front façade of Desert Sky Mall. 2 & 3- The southeastern front mall entrance leading to the food court. 4 & 5- The exterior brickwork between the food court and Dillard’s. 6 to 8- The northwestern front face. 9 & 10- The northwestern mall front entrance.
As the profile of the Desert Sky Mall came into my view just to the west of North 75th Avenue, it reminded me of other looming single level monoliths such as Lynnhaven Mall and Alderwood. However, the light, desert colored façade of the facility made it easily blend in with its arid surroundings.
Westridge Mall lease plan ca. 1982. View the full PDF version here.
I began at what was, unintentionally or not, the focal point for the complex’s front face. The double tiered structure housing Dillard’s with its accoutrements of mirrored glass and angled vestibules were classic eighties in every sense. Unfortunately, the word Clearance had been added to label, signaling that this location was not long for the world.
1 to 4- The Dillard’s store, originally Diamond’s. 5 to 8- Curaçao, opened as JCPenney. 9 & 10- The former Montgomery Ward served as the home of Burlington at Desert Sky Mall until their recent closure.
The doors had not yet been unlocked to the common areas so I continued traversing the facility counter-clockwise. The next anchor is one of my favorite names to take over as secondary occupants of previously vacant department stores, La Curaçao. Previously a JCPenney outlet, its green trim added some much needed variation to Desert Sky’s palette.
Desert Sky Mall pamphlet ca. 2007. View the full PDF version here.
Further on my walk, I passed the two most recent additions to Desert Sky Mall, both located on the flanking side and consisting of a single level. The first was vacant though still displaying its Burlington labels while the next was called Mercado de Los Cielos, with its marketplace set up reminiscent of El Mercado at Las Vegas’s The Boulevard Mall.
The still vacant former Sears, the easternmost anchor, was my last stop before reaching one of the two front facing mall entrances. By this time, it was just a few minutes from the center’s official opening and, luckily, the locks to the doors had been released by then.
Desert Sky Mall lease plan ca. 2011. View the full PDF version here.
Immediately I found myself in Desert Sky Mall’s quaint but nearly fully occupied food court. From there it was a short stroll to the main concourse with ceramic tiles mirroring the colors of the façade beneath me and small skylights above keeping most of the harsh desert sunlight at bay.
1- The rear façade of Desert Sky Mall between Montgomery Ward and Mercado de Los Cielos. 2 to 4- The America Cinemas next to the former Burlington and the northwestern rear mall entrance. 5 to 7- The main rear entrance. 8- Looking northwest at the mall’s flanking face.
The balance of the Desert Sky Mall was pretty standard for an early eighties shopping complex that looks to have been last renovated sometime during the aughts. There were no more water features or seating areas of the sunken variety, but I was happy to see a vibrant carousel at center court and a respectable number of shoppers for an early weekday.
Desert Sky Mall pamphlet ca. 2015. View the full PDF version here.
I ended my walk once again at Desert Sky Mall’s petite food court, grabbing a to go order of sweet and sour pork from the Flaming Wok. Just a few minutes later, I was on my way for a day of watching more aerial activity at the Sky Harbor airport before preparing to return home the following day.
1 to 4- Mercado de Los Cielos, a marketplace hosting a number of vendors in the former Mervyns building. 5 to 10- The now vacant Sears store and the door to nowhere.
Originally known as Westridge Mall, Desert Sky Mall opened its doors in 1981 after nearly two years of construction. The single level structure was more or less oriented in a northwest to southeast fashion with each half of the concourse situated at a small angle from the other.
Desert Sky Mall pamphlet ca. 2019. View the full PDF version here.
The three major department store anchors were located at either end as well as in the center of the front face of Westridge Mall. National stalwarts Sears and JCPenney occupied the eastern and western spots, respectively, while locally based Diamond’s moved into the prime front facing venue in 1982. Just two years later, however, the store was relabeled as Dillard’s.
1 & 2- The entrance leading to Desert Sky Mall’s food court. 3 to 7- The food court. 8- The former mall entrance to Sears now hosts a colorful Dia de Los Muertos mural.
The three anchors were joined by more than one hundred smaller shops lining the interior corridor. Just a little over a decade later, Westridge Mall’s only significant expansion occurred when the two rear facing anchors were constructed, with Montgomery Ward taking over the western spot and Mervyns leasing the other.
Sometime during the latter portion of the nineties, Westridge Mall was officially rechristened as the Desert Sky Mall. These changes, however, did not prevent the center from losing three of its anchors in the first decade of the new millennium with JCPenney departing in 2000 followed by Montgomery Ward in 2001 and Mervyns in 2008.
1 to 3- The southeastern half of Desert Sky Mall’s main concourse just beyond the food court. 4- The stub hallway leading to the mall entrance to Mercado de Los Cielos. 5 to 8- The southeastern corridor leading to center court.
At the same time during the 2000s, the area surrounding Desert Sky Mall began experiencing a large demographic shift. With its increasingly Hispanic clientele, the shopping complex’s owners seized upon this opportunity to reposition the retail mix at the 25 year old facility. La Curaçao was one of the first new entrants, opening in JCPenney’s former digs in 2007.
Desert Sky Mall pamphlet ca. 2022. View the full PDF version here.
This was followed in 2010 by the conversion of the former Mervyn’s space into Mercado de Los Cielos, a marketplace with over two hundred booths occupying 77,500 square feet of space. The Legaspi Company was brought in to attract more Hispanic retailers, building upon their previous successes at Panorama Mall in Los Angeles and at Fort Worth’s La Gran Plaza.
1 & 2- The short hallway leading to Desert Sky Mall’s main rear entrance. 3 to 7- Center Court’s signature carousel. 8 & 9- The mall entrance for Dillard’s Clearance store. 10- The northwestern main concourse from Center Court.
In later years, the former mainstream Harkin Theater’s six screen cineplex was replaced by America Cinema, which remains to this day. In addition, a program was instituted allowing smaller but more high dollar tenants within Mercado de Los Cielos to upgrade to actual mall spaces.
Desert Sky Mall Mallmanac ca. 2026. View the full PDF version here.
Despite these successes, the last remaining original anchor of the former Westridge Mall made their departure in 2018 when the Desert Sky Sears outlet was named as one of 142 to close nationwide. Though the building has remained unoccupied ever since, the balance of the facility still sees an influx of shoppers and their dollars.
1 to 4- The northwestern section of Desert Sky Mall’s main concourse. 5 & 6- Montgomery Ward’s now hidden former mall entrance. 7 & 8- Curaçao’s mall entrance at the center’s northwestern end. 9 & 10- The short corridor leading to the front northwestern mall entrance.
Desert Sky Mall has navigated the turns in its own demographics quite well, joining the list of shopping malls that found continued success in the face of these shifts such as The Boulevard Mall and Eagle Rock Plaza, which are two of my favorites. Hopefully these patrons keep coming and Desert Sky avoids the same fate as its late 70s and early 80s peers.
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