Published: December 31, 2009 · Last updated: September 22, 2026
Sunrise Mall transformed the rural landscape of Citrus Heights into one of the Sacramento region’s major suburban shopping districts. Developed by H & C Associates, the partnership of Ernest W. Hahn and Cordano Associates, the 96-acre complex brought four department stores and more than 90 shops to the growing community in 1972.
Designed around a 1,250-foot enclosed shopping concourse, Sunrise Mall was conceived as more than a collection of stores. Its architecture, climate-controlled interior, and unprecedented scale made it a new kind of suburban gathering place for the Sacramento area.
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| Postcard view of Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights, California, showing the geometric interior and modern design of the early 1970s. |
The back of the card reads “Ultra modern, enclosed air conditioned complex affords shopping in comfort. Citrus Heights, California.”
The making of Sunrise Mall
Sunrise Mall rose on what had been a largely rural landscape at the intersection of Sunrise Boulevard and Greenback Lane. Plans for the regional shopping center were announced in the late 1960s, as the area around the two roads was beginning to develop into a major commercial corridor.
Ground was broken for Sunrise Mall in 1970. Developed by H & C Associates, the project occupied 96 acres and was planned as a fully enclosed, air-conditioned regional shopping center. At the time, it was described as the largest shopping center in Sacramento County and the first four-department-store regional shopping center developed as a single unit in Northern California.
The complex was designed by Burke, Kober, Nicolais and Archuleta, working with other architectural and engineering firms. Its long enclosed concourse, geometric ceiling, integrated lighting, landscaping, and broad parking areas reflected the design ambitions of the new generation of postwar regional malls.
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| Blueprint of Sunrise Mall published in the Press-Tribune (Roseville) on November 11, 1970, as the $40-million shopping center was under construction in Citrus Heights. |
Sunrise Mall opens in 1972
Sunrise Mall opened in stages during 1972. Weinstock’s, the first store to open, began serving customers in February. The mall held its main grand opening on April 19, when JCPenney and dozens of other stores welcomed shoppers. Sears followed with a second grand opening in August, and Liberty House completed the original department-store lineup in October.
The four anchors—Weinstock’s, JCPenney, Sears, and Liberty House—gave Sunrise Mall an unusually broad department-store presence. The enclosed center eventually stretched roughly 1,250 feet and connected more than 90 stores, making it one of the largest retail complexes in the Sacramento region.
The mall’s opening also helped accelerate development around the Sunrise Boulevard and Greenback Lane intersection. The City of Citrus Heights describes the mall as a major force in the area's transition from a largely rural landscape into a regionally important retail district during the 1970s.
The postcard above offers a glimpse of Sunrise Mall during its early years. Its geometric ceiling panels, bright lighting, wide corridor, and air-conditioned interior reflected the design of a new generation of enclosed shopping centers built for suburban California.
A retail district takes shape
Sunrise Mall did not develop in isolation. Its arrival helped establish the Sunrise Boulevard and Greenback Lane area as a major commercial corridor. Birdcage Walk opened across Sunrise Boulevard in 1976, and additional shopping, office, apartment, and residential development followed around the two centers during the 1970s and 1980s.
The mall became a defining part of the emerging Citrus Heights community, serving shoppers from the northeastern Sacramento suburbs and providing a new center of commercial activity outside downtown Sacramento.
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| Sunrise Mall in 2009, showing the remodeled interior and its curved half-circle ceiling. The design retained the dramatic overhead architecture seen in the mall’s 1970s postcard, but updated it with a more contemporary form. |
Sunrise Mall today
Sunrise Mall remains an important part of the Sunrise Boulevard–Greenback Lane district, even as its future is being reconsidered. The City of Citrus Heights adopted the Sunrise Tomorrow Specific Plan in 2022 to guide redevelopment of the roughly 100-acre mall site as a mixed-use district. In 2026, the city advanced plans for a proposed Sunrise Sports Center as the first major project under the new plan.
The redevelopment represents another major transition for a property that helped transform Citrus Heights from a largely rural area into a major suburban retail district more than 50 years ago.
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Central Valley & Central Coast Malls
Shopping centers that shaped retail history across California's Central Valley and Central Coast regions from the 1950s through today.
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Comments
After convincing my mom to leave me there while she shopped(unattended I know crazy huh ppl actually let their kids off the leash once in a while back in the 80s), I would stand there &stare at both(&if memory serves some type of modern, 80s, massive &shimmery metallic-shard hanging mobile in that same area, contemplating how I was going to sneak down there &slip and slide my way to acquiring the tossed-in coin fortune, that I imagined went into 6-figures(basically a million by 80s standards lol).
If I'm not mistaken, I think there was a Parklane Hoisery, across from that Jarman Shoe store during my time there. Plenty of sexy 80s HS girls, dance class attendees & probably nite club dancers going in there to buy their 'wares'. Oh man. Such great times.
Thanks so much for finding/posting this pic!!