Lloyd Center turns 65 as vendors celebrate, and prepare for what’s next

Vendors at Lloyd Center celebrated the mall’s 65th birthday on Saturday with sales and special events, while knowing that it could be the last year for the mall.

The Lloyd Center opened Aug. 1, 1960, as a 100-store, open-air mall. In the 1990s, it was remodeled into an enclosed shopping mall.

But by 2021, all the anchor tenants had left, and the mall went into foreclosure. In 2023, the mall’s owners announced plan to demolish and redevelop the 29.3-acre site into an open-air concept with housing, shopping and entertainment venues.

The owners haven’t announced a firm timeline for the redevelopment, which will happen in stages. They have pledged that the Lloyd Center will remain open at least through the end of this year. But during a vendor’s meeting on July 26, tenants said, they announced that their leases will shift to month-to-month starting in January.

1/9

The mall still has some 90 tenants. One of them is Keia & Martyn’s Coffee, which Keia Booker and her husband, Martyn Leaper, have operated out of the old Jamba Juice for about two years.

“We came on a date here, my husband and I, and we kind of fell in love with it — that Gen X dream of what a mall could be,” Booker said. “There was a screen-printing shop, a record store, just a lot of really awesome, cool businesses in here. So, we basically called them up and asked, ‘How do we get in?’ ”

She and her husband met through the coffee industry and have over 25 years of combined experience. They launched Keia & Martyn’s in December 2019 as a subscription-only service — a model that, as it turned out, fit well with the pandemic that followed just months later.

Booker said she’s one of the only Black women coffee roasters in the Pacific Northwest.

“My husband was a roaster. I was a café manager for many years,” she said. “But I told him, ‘If we’re going to do this, I want you to teach me how to roast.’ Because I wasn’t seeing people like me in ownership or roasting roles. I wanted to have an impact on people that look like me and show them that this can be for you, too.”

In preparation for the mall’s eventual closure, Booker and her husband have already opened a second location: Tiny Little Cuppa, a 200-square-foot café at 520 S.W. Fifth Ave. in downtown Portland.

“It’s called TLC because we want to help get Portland back to the way it used to be — a place where you can go on dates downtown, feel safe, and feel like there’s cool stuff happening,” Booker said.

She plans to stay at Lloyd Center as long as possible because the rent at the mall is “the best deal out there,” though she added that they’re open to relocating if the right space opens up.

“Even though we have a limited duration, there’s still a lot happening,” she said. “I think these last months (at the mall) are going to be pretty awesome with a lot of intentional creativity happening.”

Michael Santiesteban, founder of Secondhand Pet Supply, is already preparing for his exit from the mall. He’s launched a fundraiser to help his nonprofit pet store relocate before the mall closes.

“I’m trying to move before that, so I have enough time to get situated. I’m already looking at properties,” he said. “Ideally, I’d like to find something this year.”

He hopes to stay in the Lloyd neighborhood, which he says is ideal for customers coming by car or using MAX. And thanks to recent media coverage about the mall, Santiesteban said his sales had tripled. He’s optimistic about making it work in a new location, even if the rent is higher.

In May, designer Ben Houston opened Tellurian, a men’s streetwear brand. The shop’s front is a retail space selling his handmade shirts, hoodies, and shorts; the back is a sewing studio where he makes the clothes and also takes on alteration and repair projects.

“We make science fiction sportswear — incorporating a lot of safety wear elements,” Houston said. “We do a lot of experimenting back here. And we’ve also opened up to repairs and any other fun creative projects people want to bring in.”

Before moving into the mall, Houston worked out of a garage.

“I needed to be out in public where people could come see my stuff — more forward-facing,” he said. “The mall was a perfect place to experiment. It’s a great community atmosphere, and everyone here shares the same vision. Everyone’s on board with the ‘art mall’ idea.”

That spirit of creativity has made the mall a great first step into retail, even though he isn’t sure what will be next for him.

“I have a feeling it’s going to be mid next year,” he said of the mall’s closure. “But you know, a lot of things could go wrong. A lot could go right. Who knows?”