San Diego's first regional shopping center.
Opened in July 1960, College Grove Center was the first shopping mall in San Diego and one of the first in the United States. Encompassing roughly 635,000 leasable square feet it was initially anchored by the largest Walker Scott store in the county, along with a J.C. Penney and J.J. Newberry. In the late 1980's the mall was given a major renovation and renamed Marketplace at The Grove. The renovation added the Mann 9 Theaters in the place of the Walker Scott and The Grove Bowling alley, among other notable anchors. The mall underwent another, more massive, renovation in 1999 that saw everything between the (then) Longs Drugs store and the (then) Grove bowling alley demolished and rebuilt. Wal Mart was added as a major anchor along with Sam’s Club, which took over the area occupied by the Mann 9 Theaters. The center was also given back its original name, College Grove Center, as a part of the renovations.
