Puente Hills Mall

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Puente Hills Mall, located in Industry, California, United States, is a major regional shopping center in the San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County.

The mall was built in 1974 after the completion of the Pomona Freeway a few years earlier. It opened in a cross shaped design with four primary anchors. In 1996, two anchors departed: The Broadway (which at the time was purchased by Macy's) and J.C. Penney. At the time of JCPenney's departure, the mall had about a 50% occupancy. [1] The mall was extensively renovated afterwards and now features a 20 screen AMC Theatres multiplex, and stores traditionally found in power centers like Circuit City, Linens 'n Things, 24 Hour Fitness and Burlington Coat Factory, in addition to the remaining two original anchors, Macy's (formerly Robinsons-May) and Sears. It also includes popular teen shopping stores such as American Eagle, Hollister, and Pac Sun. Borders is no longer in the Puente Hills Mall. To ensure that people going to the movies walk through the mall, there is no entrance from the parking lot directly to the theater lobby, however there is an exit that leads directly to the parking lot.

Today the mall is almost fully occupied and is the regional hub of a shopping and entertainment district that includes restaurants, auto dealerships, big-box stores, and a go-kart track (all off mall property).

It was the location of the Twin Pines Mall (later Lone Pine Mall) in the Back to the Future film, where the old JCPenney and Robinsons can be seen. Also visible is a strip mall across the street, which was anchored by Ross before the store was eventually relocated to the Puente Hills Mall. On the DVD audio commentary, Bob Gale stated that several fans gathered at the Puente Hills Mall in the early hours of October 26, 1985, the date given in the film as the present day, to see if anything would happen.

The center of the mall used to feature a merry-go-round attraction but it was later removed by the mall's owners, Krauzs Company, as they were losing money in its operation. An Asian-style koi pond had once replaced the carousel's place, but was removed as of 2006. The mall is currently undergoing a makeover.

Due to the large and influential Asian immigrant populations - Taiwanese, Mainland Chinese, and Koreans - residing and/or operating businesses in nearby areas (notably in City of Industry, Hacienda Heights, Rowland Heights, Walnut, and Diamond Bar), the new owners of the mall have redesigned some elements of the Puente Hills Mall in order to conform to feng shui principles. ^[1]