Transformco Signs Newcomer Panda Mart to Fill OC Mall

As malls try to come back after the pandemic, new players have emerged to fill the retail void.

Case in point: Eddie Lampert’s Transformco Properties has leased part of a former Sears in Orange to Panda Mart, a South African discount retailer with 100 stores outside the U.S.

The Illinois-based Transformco, owner of what’s left of the Sears retail empire, has leased an unspecified section of the 278,000-square-foot former Sears store at the Village of Orange mall at 2100 NorthTustin Street, the Orange County Register reported.

Terms of the deal with Panda Mart, based in South Africa, were not disclosed. Brokers at JLL who negotiated the lease at the Village at Orange declined to comment.

Sears, which has been closed for years, was divided to make room for a 24-Hour Fitness gym.

It appears that the Panda Mart to open in Orange is its first store in the U.S. An opening day was not disclosed.

“So, what is Panda Mart?” asked the Register. “Imagine if Big Lots and Home Goods had a baby, a big one.”

The heavily discounted store sells thousands of products that range from household goods and furniture to appliances, electronics, beauty products, toys and gardening supplies.

According to reports from New Zealand, where the chain last winter opened a store in Christchurch, the chain is sourced from China-based wholesale distributors.

Panda Mart, founded in 2010, sources most of its small goods from Yiwu, the largest wholesale market in China, and furniture from Foshan, China’s furniture manufacturing hub. Panda Mart has its own factories in Yiwu and Fujian, according to The Press.

“This is our fifth day open in Christchurch, and we’re averaging about 10,000 shoppers daily,” Lily Chen, chief manager of Panda Mart for the New Zealand and Australia markets, told the newspaper.

On social media, Orange County residents criticized Panda Mart as “more crap from China,” while others considered it “better than high-density housing.”

One commenter said the new store will likely give Walmart a run for its money. The Arkansas-based retail giant is among the last remaining tenants at the mall. Others include Home Goods, Sprouts, the fitness center and some small restaurants and stores.

The 855,700-square-foot mall closed its interior in January and parts of the 52-year-old mall were demolished this summer, according to the Register. Exterior-facing tenants remain.

Housing has been proposed for the property, drawing a mixed reaction from locals who live next to the nearly dead mall.

In February last year, Newport Beach-based TRC Retail filed plans under the state builder’s remedy to build 297 townhomes and 75 low-income accessory dwelling units on the back side of the Village at Orange, once known as the Mall of Orange, on North Tustin Street.

The 14-acre project would cover much of the rear parking lot, a vacant JCPenney building and part of the mall. The status of the project isn’t clear.

Sears, a unit of Transformco, is in dire straits. At its peak a little more than a decade ago, there were approximately 4,000 stores worldwide. Today, only 11 locations are in operation in the U.S, including one in Puerto Rico.

— Dana Bartholomew