Riverside's Population Growth Attracts Retailers to Galleria at Tyler
The Galleria at Tyler shopping center in Riverside, Calif., has become a destination for many high-profile, youth-oriented retailers hoping to take advantage of the population growth in Riverside County.
General Growth Properties Inc. owns the mall, located 54 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. New York–based teen retailer Aeropostale opened Jimmy’Z, its new California-themed concept store at the Galleria, on July 14. The shopping center will be the home for a Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. flagship store, scheduled to be completed this year.
Metropark, based in City of Industry, Calif., opened a store in the mall on July 2. Orv Madden, Metropark’s chairman and chief executive officer, said the region’s population growth, which has featured a spike in the retailer’s core demographic of 20- to 35-year-olds, was a key factor in the company’s decision to move to the Galleria at Tyler.
While Nordstrom has been in the shopping center since 1991, other national retailers seem to have discovered the shopping center in the past few years. Aeropostale opened a store at the Galleria in 2005, Abercrombie & Fitch Co.’s surf-themed Hollister & Co. opened in 2004, and an Abercrombie store opened in 2002. An Anne Taylor Loft store opened recently, according to mall Marketing Manager Heath McCue, and a Pumpkin Patch children’s clothing store will open this year.
McCue said it has taken time for retail to reflect Riverside’s population growth, much of which comes from Orange and Los Angeles county residents looking for less expensive homes. He said the new residents miss fashion but do not want to travel long distances to their old neighborhoods to shop. —Andrew Asch
