The shopping center was developed by Ernest W. Hahn in 1982 and opened as Palm Desert Town Center. The $75 million project spanned 62 acres and included four major department stores, 130 inline shops, an 8-screen theater, a food court and an indoor ice skating rink. Other stores included "What's Up" and The Balboa Beach Company. A small arcade called The Yellow Brick Road was on the second level above the skating rink, next to the food court. Original anchor stores were May Company, Bonwit Teller, JCPenney, and Bullock's. In 1987, Bonwit Teller decided to close all of its Californian stores and its spot at the mall was taken by Bullocks Wilshire. This was the first time that a Bullocks Wilshire store was located in the same mall with a Bullock's store. A fifth anchor, J.W. Robinson's, opened a few months later in 1987. After developing and managing the property for a number of years, Hahn was able to purchase the property from its owner, Palm Desert Town Center Associates, in 1989. In February 1993, both J.W. Robinson's and May Company stores rebranded as Robinsons-May. In April 1996, Bullock's rebranded as Macy's. In August 1999, Westfield America, Inc., announced it had acquired Palm Desert Town Center from TrizecHahn Corporation, the successor to Hahn, for $82 million. Following the acquisition, the name became Westfield Shoppingtown Palm Desert. However, in 2005 the company migrated away from this branding strategy and dropped 'Shoppingtown' from most of its U.S. properties. The mall became Westfield Palm Desert. Over the years the mall has gone through many changes resulting from various mergers and acquisitions in the retail industry. This resulted in the consolidation of regional department stores and ultimately led to vacant anchor spaces at the mall, like the consolidation of the two Robinsons-May stores in 2002, leaving the other one to Sears, which opened in November 2004. Barnes & Noble moved into the mall in 2003. In September 2006, Robinsons-May rebranded to Macy's, closing the original Bullock's/Macy's store. In 2013, a renovation plan began which involved converting a two-level vacant anchor space on the north side to Dick's Sporting Goods and World Gym on the first level of the space. In addition, a partially vacant two-level anchor on the south side was converted into a Grand Entrance with frontage on California State Route 111, a busy thoroughfare running through the city. The demolition involved the preservation of the subterranean level of the space previously occupied by Bullock's. Macy's incorporated this space into its existing furniture store which is situated below Barnes & Noble. The Grand Entrance includes new sit-down restaurants and retail space and is accented with decorative water fountains. An expansion plan announced in 2006 included the addition of a full line Nordstrom department store on the north and a significant remodel and expansion of the existing theater. The plan never came to fruition given the economic downturn. As of December 2014, Westfield Palm Desert featured 151 specialty stores and was 95.1% leased. The mall offers of specialty store space and has significant potential for future expansion. In 2015, Sears Holdingsspun off 235 of its properties, including the Sears at Westfield Palm Desert, into Seritage Growth Properties. On November 7, 2019, it was announced that Sears would be closing this location a part of a plan to close 96 stores nationwide. The store closed in February 2020.
