Hispanic mall

Desert Sky Mall, a Westcor operation, has turned itself into what may be the first major mall to market itself to Hispanics.

In trouble a few years ago, with two of its five anchor locations empty and its cineplex closing, the mall went in a new direction -- reopening the cineplex showing movies with Spanish subtitles.

Today, Hispanic shoppers crowd a revitalized Desert Sky - now a mall with a Mexican accent. Moviegoers get salsa with their popcorn, salespeople are as likely to speak Spanish as English, and sneaker store Finish Line abuts Mexican bootmaker La Gran Bota, which was recruited from a swap meet down the road. Sales at the mall are up 15 percent annually since 2004.

While ethnic shops catering to Latinos and Asians have long existed in small strip malls, many larger malls have been slow to wake up to the Latino potential. "The malls got there before the market did, and some malls don't see the opportunity," says Michael Falkenstein, a senior vice president at La Curacao, a Hispanic-focused, Los Angeles-based department-store chain that plans to open a store early next year at Desert Sky, its first outside California.

It seems to be working:

National retailers that not long ago wouldn't touch the place are opening stores at Desert Sky - among them, the Children's Place and music retailer F.Y.E. - and owner Macerich is preparing to spend millions of dollars renovating the mall. But the transition has faced some resistance. When Mr. Valenzuela proposed putting in bilingual signage three years ago and encouraging bilingual hires, some retailers balked. Now almost all are on board but he says he still must walk a fine line in making sure the mall isn't "too Mexican," alienating the white and black longtime shoppers who still make up nearly 30 percent of customers.