Anaheim Town Square (originally East Anaheim Shopping Center, later East Anaheim Center, East Anaheim Plaza), is a 3721850NaN0 community shopping center, the largest center in East Anaheim, California which was built at the intersection of Anaheim-Olive Road (renamed Lincoln Avenue in 1962)[1] and Placentia Avenue (now State College Boulevard).
The center began construction in 1953[2] with 140000square feet on 16.75 acres, with Alpha Beta supermarket opening in March 1954,[3] and shortly thereafter a Woolworth variety store, a Sav-on Drug Store at no. 2120 on July 11, 1957,[4] a W.T. Grant variety store opening on February 27, 1958.[5]
The center underwent a major expansion to, adding a Boston Stores junior department store on November 14, 1968. W. T. Grant moved to a new 86800square feet building that opened on October 24, 1968, more than quadrupling its space. Architects Burke, Nicolai and Archuleta designed both. East Anaheim Shopping Center also added a Jolly Roger restaurant and a branch of the Commercial National Bank. In 1968 the center sales volume was $20,000,000.[6] [7] As of 1970 there were 42 stores and parking for 2000 cars, and the anchor supermarket had changed to Thriftimart. Tenants included Bank Of America, Big "A" Cleaners, Boston Store, Colonel Sanders Kentucky Fried Chicken Restaurant, Color Craft, Glidden Paint, Commercial National Bank, Dewey's For Menswear, Dwayne's Shoes, Farmers Insurance Group, Grant City Dept. Store, H. Salt, Esq. Fish & Chips, Jan's Dresses, Sport., Jolly Roger, Karl's Shoes, Leon Of Anaheim, Beauty Salon, Michael's Market, Music Aisle, Pal's Striderite Boot., Panchito's Jr., Sally Shops, Sav.On Drugs, Ship Of Fools, Sikora's Bakery, Sochat's Jewelry, Standard Beauty Stores, The Children's Store, Thriftimart, Thrifty Shoe Repair, Tnt, Hobbies & Crafts, Tony's Barber Shop, U.S. Post Office, Vogue Cleaners, Wood's Stationery, and Yardage Center.[8]
The Boston Store branch was rebuilt in 1984.[9]
In mid-2017, the Kmart closed and was replaced by a 40000square feet small-format Target store.[10]
The center today has 372185square feet of gross leasable area,[11] with anchors Target, Hispanic-focused supermarket Northgate Market (the population was 69% Hispanic within a 1-mile radius in 2018), Ross Dress for Less, Goodwill, Pep Boys, a United States Post Office, and discount stores 99 Cents Only Stores and Five Below.[12]