Once popular Orange County mall to close within months after 50 years of business
A recent document obtained by the Instagram account I Heart Old Towne Orange showed that The Village at Orange was to close the interior section of their mall on 31st January 2024. This document showed that the mall had been in operation for over 50 years and claimed that it would be closing a large section due to the ‘evolution of the retail industry’ and ‘changing customer shopping preferences’ amongst other reasons.
It should be noted that the letter does stress that this action is only for the interior part of the mall, which means that we can assume the outer buildings and shops will remain. This led to Orange County locals speculating on what the interior could be replaced with and whether it would become a housing block.
Originally founded in 1971, this mall was refurbished in 2015 and has since had big stores such as JCPenney and Sears depart from the site. The news was also shared on Reddit, where one user wrote: “I think there used to be a pet store in there that I used to like to walk into. My parents used to visit the Sears a lot. That mall’s been dying forever, I only visit for the exterior businesses now. They better build some housing.”
Similarly, nostalgic comments were left on the Instagram post which saw numerous OC locals reflect on the mall and its history, while also pondering what the future will hold for the site.
