Meier & Frank

Lloyd Center - Portland, OR

Lloyd Center was the largest shopping center in the US when it first opened in 1960. In addition to Meier & Frank, other early anchor stores included JC Penney, Woolworth, Newberrys, and Nordstrom Shoes. The first generation of regional shopping centers combined comparison and convenience shopping. There is still a Safeway supermarket at the north end of the "T" shaped shopping center. Like other malls of similar vintage, Lloyd Center was originally an open air mall. Meier & Frank had an "air door" at the mall entrance to its store.

Because this mall is located in a built-up area a short distance east of downtown Portland, parking is provided in garages as well as at surface level lots. Some people claim that Lloyd Center's proximity to downtown has limited revenues in both the mall and downtown. Perhaps the mall should have been built farther to the east.

At first there was one mall shopping level. An upper level contained offices. The lower level included parking, basement shopping levels of major anchors, and an ice skating rink at the junction of the mall "T". The shopping center was renovated around 1990 into a multi-level enclosed, climate controlled mall. Parking below the main mall level was converted into another shopping level. The upper level remains in use as offices, but there is now a food court and a multiplex cinema at the center of the upper level.

Meier & Frank remains on the south side of the center of the mall. Nordstrom expanded from being a shoe store into a department store. At first, the expanded Nordstrom had disconnected shop space along the west wing of the mall. Eventually, Nordstrom consolidated its departments into a new 3 story building on the west end of the mall. Lippmans, Meier & Frank's traditional compeditor, added a rather small department store at Lloyd Center. this store later became a branch of Frederick & Nelson. Lamont's had a store at Lloyd Center for a few years. JC Penney closed its Lloyd Center store around the year 2000. Sears moved into the former Penneys store. The woolworth store became Marshall's and Newberrys is now a dollar store.

This photograph was taken in April 2005.