JCPenney Westminster Mall Closure: 32 Years, 76 Jobs, and What Replaces It

The Orange County store shut for good on 21 November 2025 after 32 years. The mall around it is boarded up, 76 jobs are gone, and demolition is scheduled to begin this month.

Quick Facts

JCPenney closed its Westminster Mall store on 21 November 2025, ending a 32-year presence in one of Orange County’s most familiar shopping centres. The store had been there since November 1993. By the time it shut, most of the mall around it had already gone dark.

As of April 2026, the building is boarded up and fenced off after months of vandalism and trespassing. Demolition is scheduled to begin this month, ahead of a major redevelopment of the 83.3-acre site.

How Westminster Mall Went From Peak to Closure

Westminster Mall opened on 7 August 1974 on land that had been, in the 1920s, the site of the world’s largest goldfish farm. At its peak it was pulling in close to $270 million in annual taxable sales, and in 1986 ranked as Orange County’s second-highest-grossing retail centre.

By the financial year ending June 2024, that figure had dropped to $120.1 million, down 15.6% year on year. The mall had slipped to 18th place in Orange County by taxable revenue. That is roughly half the money it was generating a decade earlier.

The decline built up over years, not overnight:

• April 2018: Sears closed, the last of the mall’s four original anchors to go
• 2020–2021: COVID-19 hit foot traffic; online shopping took what was left
• 2021: Mall landlord Washington Prime Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, carrying $1.1 billion in commercial mortgage debt due in 2025
• March 2025: Macy’s shut at Westminster as part of a nationwide cut of 66 stores

After Macy’s left, JCPenney was the only department store still trading inside a shopping centre that had been hollowed out around it.

Why Did JCPenney Close at Westminster Mall?

JCPenney cited lease challenges and said it could not find a suitable alternative location in the area. But the space was heading for demolition regardless, with the mall’s landlord selling up under financial pressure and a redevelopment plan already approved by Westminster City Council.

On 18 August 2025, the company filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification with California’s Employment Development Department, as required under state law for closures of this scale.

What the filing confirmed:

• 76 employees would lose their jobs, effective from 10 November 2025
• Roles included 19 cashiers, 16 sales floor associates, and the store’s general manager
• The store would remain open to the public through 16 November 2025
• Permanent closure date: 21 November 2025

JCPenney said some staff might be offered positions at its two remaining Orange County locations in Brea and Santa Ana. No specific transfers were publicly confirmed.

The Day Westminster Mall Officially Shut Its Doors

Before JCPenney’s final day, the rest of the mall had already closed. On 29 October 2025, leases for the remaining 168 tenants expired. Most stores shut that day, confirmed by Westminster City Manager Christine Cordon.

Three businesses stayed open past that point: JCPenney, Target, and Best Buy, which operates from a freestanding building on the mall property. KTLA reported that Target and Best Buy had longer lease commitments and were expected to remain open for several more years. JCPenney was the only one with a confirmed closing date.

In the mall’s final weeks, former regular Alexis Malatesta, who ran a Westminster Mall fan account on Instagram, organised a farewell karaoke party inside the building for community members who wanted to say goodbye.

JCPenney locked its doors for the last time on 21 November 2025, leaving Target as the sole business still operating on the site.

What Happened After the Closure: Vandalism, Arrests, and a Viral TikTok

Within weeks of the October closure, the abandoned shopping centre had become a public safety issue.

Videos spreading across social media showed graffiti covering the walls, shattered glass across the floors, and people riding bikes through the empty corridors. Former Vans store employee Donny Mohler filmed the destruction and posted it on TikTok, where it spread nationally. “It’s just very sad,” he said. “It was heartbreaking.”

The City of Westminster’s official statement confirmed the scale of the problem:

• Over 400 calls for service to police since the October closure
• More than 65 arrests for trespassing, vandalism, drug possession, and obstruction
• 57 calls in a single week at the peak
• By February 2026, the total arrest count had climbed to nearly 90

Westminster Police Commander Andy Stowers set a zero-tolerance position on trespassing. On 12 January 2026, the building was boarded up with lumber and fenced off entirely.

Bill Shopoff, president and CEO of Shopoff Realty Investments, told NBC Los Angeles in February 2026: “We did not own the balance of the mall at the time. We were working with the other group to try and secure the building as quickly as we could.” He added: “The place got completely thrashed… broken glass, general vandalism, so now we’re cleaning that up.”

Is Westminster Mall Being Demolished? What the Plans Say

Irvine-based developer Shopoff Realty Investments spent three years acquiring the full mall site in stages.

According to real estate data firm CoStar, cited by the Los Angeles Times, Shopoff paid nearly $93 million for that final acquisition. The project site now totals 83.3 acres.

Shopoff confirmed in February 2026 that demolition of the old mall building would begin by April 2026. At the time of publication, that work is due to begin imminently. Target will continue trading during demolition and will be folded into the finished development.

The Westminster Mall redevelopment project, formally named Bolsa Pacific at Westminster, has plans currently filed with the city for review. What gets built there will look nothing like what stood on this land for the past 50 years:

• 2,250 residential units across for-sale homes, market-rate apartments, and affordable housing
• 120+ room hotel
• 220,000+ sq ft of retail space, anchored by a 15,000 sq ft food hall
• 15+ acres of open space including walking trails, open-air promenades, a dog park, and an amphitheatre
• Buildings rising up to eight storeys
• Capacity for up to 8,000 future residents

Architecture firm AO is handling the design, with landscape architecture by MJS. Westminster City Council’s 2022 framework allows for up to 3,000 homes, 600,000 sq ft of retail, and 9.5 acres of parkland, with 10% of all residential units required to be affordable.

Construction of Bolsa Pacific is targeted to begin in Q4 2026, subject to city entitlement approval.

“The Westminster Mall meant a lot of things for a lot of people for many years,” Shopoff told the Los Angeles Times in February 2026. “We envision a new kind of gathering place that can have the same kind of meaning for people for the next 50 or 75 years.”

Is JCPenney Still Open Anywhere in Orange County?

Yes. Two locations remain in the county:

• Brea Mall, Brea
• MainPlace Mall, Santa Ana

Nationally, JCPenney still operates 646 stores across the United States as of March 2026, with 62 in California.

The company’s recent corporate history has been turbulent. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2020 and exited bankruptcy in late 2020 after being acquired by Simon Property Group and Brookfield for $1.8 billion. In January 2025, it merged with SPARC Group to form Catalyst Brands, a retail group with $9 billion in combined revenue, 1,800 store locations, and brands including Aéropostale, Brooks Brothers, and Nautica.

A deal announced in July 2025 to sell 119 JCPenney store properties to Boston-based private equity firm Onyx Partners for $947 million fell through in December 2025 after missing its September closing deadline multiple times. The stores remain open, but who owns the real estate beneath them is still unresolved.

Where Things Stand, April 2026

Sources: Orange County Business Journal · KTLA · City of Westminster · Shopoff Realty Investments · JCPenney Corporate Newsroom · Retail Dive