Country Club Centre

Coordinates: 38°36′32″N 121°23′05″W / 38.608806°N 121.384661°W / 38.608806; -121.384661
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Country Club Centre (Arden-Arcade)
Map
LocationEl Camino & Watt Avenues,
GLA
)
No. of floors1 (2 in the rear of the main building)

Country Club Centre is a

regional mall and then later converted into a mixed use of office and retail. The shopping center is currently anchored by the Sacramento area’s only Costco Business Center. It was previously anchored by Walmart (closed), Sam's Club (closed, current Costco Business Center) and Michaels
(relocated).

History

As one of the first suburban shopping centers in the Sacramento area, Country Club Centre opened on August 21, 1952, with a 40,000 sq ft (3,700 m2)

JCPenney and a Lucky supermarket anchoring the shopping center.[1] Later additions included Joseph Magnin, Walgreens, Woolworth and a three-story Rhodes department store in 1954, which later became a Liberty House
in 1976, anchoring the west end of the mall.

In 1971, JCPenney closed its store, relocating across Watt Avenue to the newer Country Club Plaza with a much larger store (it was later relocated to Arden Fair Mall in 1994 over 3 miles (4.8 km) away, where it is still operating to this day). Other retailers also withdrew from Country Club Centre, including Woolworth, which also relocated to Country Club Plaza.

In 1976, after experiencing a small decline, a

Sacramento Bee to comment on its "strong comeback." At that time, store space totaled 680,790 square feet (63,247 m2), 89% of which was leased.[2]

In the 1980s, Country Club Centre saw a much sharper decline when Liberty House shuttered its store in 1984, followed by Joseph Magnin when the chain declared bankruptcy and shuttered all their remaining stores. In June 1987, after going through many absentee owners, including a possible name change to Sacramento Place, but never materialized, local Sacramento developer Marvin “Buzz” Oates acquired the shopping center from

Kmart in 1993. In the later years, Longs Drugs shuttered their store and relocated about 1 mile (1.6 km) south on nearby Arden Way, where it was in operation as a CVS Pharmacy
after the chain acquired Longs in 2008 and was converted to CVS in 2009. CVS shuttered the store on January 18, 2024.

In 2001, Montgomery Ward, the last traditional department store anchor, shuttered its store as the chain went out of business. A full renovation of the shopping center occurred in 2002, to bring it and its look up to date, which included the opening of an Office Depot store (it would later relocate across Watt Avenue to Country Club Plaza in 2013, before shuttering altogether a few years later). Walmart opened in 2004 in the old Montgomery Ward, becoming the Sacramento area's only 2-level Walmart, complete with specialized escalators for shopping carts.

In 2015, Country Club Centre was sold to San Diego investors Tourmaline Capital Management for $56 million. At that time, in addition to Walmart and Sam’s Club, the shopping center was also anchored by

bankruptcy
.

In 2018, the shopping center lost two of its major anchors. Sam’s Club shuttered its warehouse store on January 26 and Walmart shuttered its store on February 9.[3] Michaels soon followed suit when their store relocated to the Howe 'Bout Arden shopping center about 3 miles (4.8 km) away on Arden Way. This, in effect, left Country Club Centre anchorless for the first time in its history.

On June 4, 2020, the center gained back an anchor store as the first Costco Business Center in the Sacramento area opened in the former Sam’s Club.

In 2021, the old 2-story Walmart/Montgomery Ward building was razed and part of it was rebuilt into a smaller single story anchor building.[4] The newly-built anchor spot is slated to become an Amazon Fresh store, but the opening of the store was put on hold after Amazon placed a hiatus on opening new stores to reevaluate the operations of its current stores.[5] The other anchor spot is currently unbuilt and is unknown what will occupy the other new anchor spot.

As of 2024, with the exception of Costco and a handful of smaller businesses, the center is mostly vacant, including the aforementioned anchors.

Fast-food restaurant chain Raising Cane's opened May 8, 2023 in front of the unopened Amazon Fresh store. Other notable tenants include Chipotle Mexican Grill, Supercuts, Wells Fargo, and Wingstop. Despite Country Club Centre's ups and downs over the past several decades, a See's Candies shop is the only remaining store left from its 1950s original opening still in operation.[6][7]

External links

References

  1. ^ "Shopping Center Rises on Part of Old Rancho". Sacramento Bee. August 20, 1952. pp. 45 ff.
  2. ^ Burns, John (December 6, 1976). "Strong Comeback (Country Club Centre)". Sacramento Bee. p. 42.
  3. ^ Glover, Mark (January 16, 2018). "Walmart Supercenter in Sacramento slated to close Feb. 9". Sacramento Bee.
  4. ^ Sorich, Sonya (August 3, 2021). "5 things to know: Demolition of former Walmart store underway in Arden-Arcade". Sacramento Business Journal.
  5. ^ Taylor, Brianna (July 17, 2023). "When will Amazon Fresh markets open? We asked about 3 vacant Sacramento-area locations". Sacramento Bee. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
  6. ^ "See's Candies storefront in December 2022". Google Maps/Google Street View. December 2022. Retrieved February 4, 2024.
  7. ^ "Country Club Centre has experienced many changes". Valley Community Newspapers. September 30, 2012. Archived from the original on 14 November 2021.