<P> Chris - Town Mall is the oldest operating mall and was the third shopping mall built in Phoenix, Arizona, located on Bethany Home Road and 19th Avenue . The property currently is known as Christown Spectrum Mall, derived from Chris - Town Mall and Phoenix Spectrum Mall, names previously used in the past . Today it exists as an enclosed shopping mall, although the enclosed portion of the mall was greatly reduced when redevelopment changed the configuration closer to a power centre . The Christown Spectrum Mall's anchor stores are JCPenney, Costco, SuperTarget, Walmart Supercenter, Big 5 Sporting Goods, Dollar Tree, PetSmart and Ross Dress for Less . When the JCPenney was added back to the mall, access to PetSmart, Target, Dollar Tree and Ross Dress for Less was cut off from inside, making only JCPenney, Costco, Big 5 Sporting Goods, and Walmart accessible from the inside . Christown Spectrum Mall also has a Walgreens and a Harkins Theatres 14 as out - parcel anchors . </P> <P> Chris - Town Mall was originally named after the farmer, Chris Harri, who sold a large portion of his farmland to the mall's developer, Del Webb in the late 1950s . The mall's north - central location, about 7 miles directly north of the state Capitol, eventually became a well - known landmark . The surrounding neighborhoods are now commonly referred to by locals as the Chris - Town area of Phoenix . </P> <P> Construction was completed in mid-1961 . It is said that the construction didn't go as well as planned; the town would later find out why . Chris - Town Mall opened with much fanfare on August 24, advertised as the first indoor mall in Arizona . Another first for an Arizona mall was the air - conditioned interior, which may have led to competing Maryvale Mall converting to an indoor mall to stay competitive . The mall's original anchors included Montgomery Ward, JCPenney, and local department store, Korrick's . Other major tenants included S.S. Kresge, & Woolworth . Themed Courtyards served as focal points in front of each of the three major department stores . The main courtyard at the center entrance that buffered J.C. Penney was named the Court of Fountains; another named the Court of Flowers ended the east wing near Korrick's, and the Montgomery Wards opened to the final one, named the Court of Birds, in the west wing . </P> <P> By 1966 the mall already had begun the first of many significant changes due to the buyout of Korrick's whose conversion saw the loss of one of the three original anchors to The Broadway . Also that year the mall's first of two movie theatres broke ground on the southwest side of the main parking lot . And a new subterranean tavern, called The Janitor's Closet, opened in the mall in front of The Broadway, down a winding set of stairs in the basement at the northeast end of the mall . The second significant change began in 1974 in reaction to Metro Center, the new mega mall that opened just a few miles away . Woolworth's was demolished to make way for the new southwestern wing anchored by a Bullock's department store . While a second new wing on the southwestern side of the mall opened to a United Artists Cinemas 6 on the upper level making it Chris - Town's second movie theatre . Changes already were underway again by the mid-1980s when Diamond's, which quickly became Dillard's, moved into the southwestern anchor spot vacated by Bullock's short stay at the mall . At this point the mall still remained strong, but it would not be for long . </P>

Christown spectrum mall north 19th avenue phoenix az