Southlands Lifestyle Center (also Southlands Mall, Southlands, The Southlands, or The Southlands at Aurora) is a regional shopping mall

Shopping mall

A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...

 located in Aurora, Colorado

Aurora, Colorado

City of Aurora is a Home Rule Municipality spanning Arapahoe, Adams, and Douglas counties in Colorado. Aurora is an eastern suburb of the Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area . The city is the third most populous city in the Colorado and the 56th most populous city in the...

. The center is located at the intersection of Smoky Hill Road and the E-470

E-470

E-470 is a 46-mile limited-access tollway traversing the eastern portion of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area in Colorado. The toll road is not a state highway, but is instead maintained by the E-470 Public Highway Authority.-Route description:...

 tollway, about 15 miles south of Denver International Airport

Denver International Airport

Denver International Airport , often referred to as DIA, is an airport in Denver, Colorado. By land size, at , it is the largest international airport in the United States, and the third largest international airport in the world after King Fahd International Airport and Montréal-Mirabel...

, east of the Saddle Rock neighborhood and west of Cherokee Trail High School

Cherokee Trail High School

Cherokee Trail High School is a public secondary-educational institution located in the eastern portion of the city of Aurora, Colorado. It is the sixth high school in the Cherry Creek School District and the largest high school on the Western side of the Mississippi River...

 and the Tallyn's Reach neighborhood. Based on retail floor space, Southlands is the largest non-enclosed mall in the United States. It opened in 2005, featuring a unique design incorporating a "Main Street" of shops and smaller eateries, surrounded by larger stores near the perimeter of the center. Currently there are about 40 vacant retail locations on Main Street.

Design

Southlands Lifestyle Center utilizes an open-aired, mainstreet-style central shopping area which is ideally suited for Colorado's moderate climate. Main street runs down the center of the mall and is lined with shops and eateries. The street is adorned with hanging plants and planter boxes and angled parking spaces on both sides. There are stores in each of the 10 blocks on the ground floor, and four of the blocks have additional stores and office space on a second floor. At the end of Main Street is a central plaza

Plaza

Plaza is a Spanish word related to "field" which describes an open urban public space, such as a city square. All through Spanish America, the plaza mayor of each center of administration held three closely related institutions: the cathedral, the cabildo or administrative center, which might be...

 where seasonal events take place. During the spring and summer a jumping fountain is active. While in the winter, an ice rink is constructed for public skating. Often there are events such as concerts in the fountain area (although the water is temporarily shut off). During the holiday season there is a large Christmas tree

Christmas tree

The Christmas tree is a decorated evergreen coniferous tree, real or artificial, and a tradition associated with the celebration of Christmas. The tradition of decorating an evergreen tree at Christmas started in Livonia and Germany in the 16th century...

, and starting in 2007, an electric Menorah was featured as well. Other holiday festivities include horse-drawn carriage rides, Santa visits, and caroling. The opposite end of the plaza features a 16-screen movie theater, previously owned by Kerasotes, Southlands Stadium 16 is now owned by AMC Theatres

AMC Theatres

AMC Theatres , officially known as AMC Entertainment, Inc., is the second largest movie theater chain in North America with 5,325 screens, second only to Regal Entertainment Group, and one of the United States's four national cinema chains AMC Theatres (American Multi-Cinema), officially known as...

.

Stores

The center's anchor stores are Walmart and JC Penney with dozens of junior anchors including Sports Authority

Sports Authority

The Sports Authority, Inc. is one of the largest sporting goods retailers in the United States. It is headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, and operates more than 460 stores in 45 U.S...

, Sam's Club

Sam's Club

Sam's Club is a chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs owned and operated by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., founded in 1983 and named after Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. , the Sam's Club chain serves more than 47 million U.S. members...

, Barnes and Noble, Best Buy

Best Buy

Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United States, accounting for 19% of the market. It also operates in Mexico, Canada & China. The company's subsidiaries include Geek Squad, CinemaNow, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and, in Canada operates...

, Bed Bath and Beyond, Petco

PETCO

PETCO is a chain of retail stores that offers pet supplies and services such as grooming and dog training. Founded in 1965 and incorporated in Delaware, it is headquartered in San Diego, California...

, Michael's and others. Main Street is mostly lined with apparel stores, including Ann Taylor

Ann Taylor (retail chain)

ANN INC. is an American group of specialty apparel retail chain stores for women, headquartered in New York City, . The stores offer classic styled suits, separates, dresses, shoes and accessories...

, American Eagle Outfitters

American Eagle Outfitters

American Eagle Outfitters is an American clothing and accessories retailer based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1977 by Mark and Jerry Silverman as a subsidiary of Retail Ventures, Inc., a company which also owned and operated Silverman's Menswear...

, Coldwater Creek

Coldwater Creek

Coldwater Creek is a women's apparel and accessories retailer based in Sandpoint, Idaho, United States. The company was founded in 1984 by Dennis and Ann Pence. Coldwater Creek sells its products in stores, through catalogs and online. The online outlet carries apparel that was featured during...

, Talbots

Talbots

Talbots is a specialty retailer and direct marketer of women’s classic clothing, shoes and accessories. Established in 1947, the company sells items such as the blazer, trench, white shirt, ballet flats and pearls....

, Limited Too, Gymboree, Zumiez

Zumiez

Zumiez is a mall-based, specialty apparel store founded by Tom Campion and Gary Haakenson in 1978, and publicly traded since 2005. "Offering gear and clothing for the skater, snowboarder, and surfer," Zumiez sells action-sports related clothing and has created an image based around action sports...

, and Victoria's Secret

Victoria's Secret

Victoria's Secret is an American retailer of women's wear, lingerie and beauty products. It is the largest segment of publicly-traded Limited Brands with sales of over US$5 billion and an operating income of $1 billion in 2006...

. Other stores include Claire's

Claire's

Claire's is a retailer of accessories and jewelry to girls and young women. Claire's has over 3,000 locations worldwide: their stores are in 95% of all U.S. shopping malls, and in 33 countries...

 and Bath and Body Works.

June 2009 Tornado

On June 7th, 2009, at around 1:30 pm MDT the National Weather Service

National Weather Service

The National Weather Service , once known as the Weather Bureau, is one of the six scientific agencies that make up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States government...

 in Boulder indicated that a severe thunderstorm was coming into the southeastern Denver/Aurora area. At 1:53 pm MDT, the super cell had produced a tornado which touched down near the Southlands complex. The EF1

Enhanced Fujita Scale

The Enhanced Fujita Scale rates the strength of tornadoes in the United States based on the damage they cause.Implemented in place of the Fujita scale introduced in 1971 by Ted Fujita, it began operational use on February 1, 2007. The scale has the same basic design as the original Fujita scale:...

tornado damaged much of the surrounding houses and the landscape destroyed. Damaged stores include the Red Brick Pizza restaurant (which was nearly destroyed), the JCPenney's store, Jamba Juice, and Lowes. No injuries were reported from the incident. The complex was closed due to damage from the afternoon on Sunday June 7th until around noon on Tuesday June 9th although some stores, like Del Taco and Sam's Club reopened the next day. Some stores remain closed due to the damage.