VILLA ITALIA: LAKEWOOD, CO
Andrew Button's Commentary:
Posted May 9, 2011 (user submitted May 27, 2002)
Villa Italia
7200 West Alameda
Lakewood, Colorado.
Built - 1965 - 1966,
Closed July 15, 2001
Demolished 2002 To make room for a "Downtown" Lakewood.
Two story Mall. 1,500 Million Square Foot on 105 Acres. Approximatly 140
stores inside. 4 Anchor Stores - Foleys, Dillards, Montgomery Wards and
JCPennys.
Dillards, on the east end of the mall, was the first anchor store to close,
then Montgomery Wards on the west end. JCPenny on the south end was soon to
Follow, as Foleys on the north west corner of the mall, became the last
surviving store for this once megamall. Villa Italia once housed several
drugstores including a full sized Woolworths and later a Walgreens. The mall
was constructed almost entirely of blonde brick, and sometime between 1985
and 1988, a second story was added, to compete with other malls in the metro
area. Due to demographic and economic area changes, the mall languished as
many malls of this type do in the latter part of the 1990s. Gasping for life
for the last years of its existence, most of Villa Italia became empty, as
tenants left in force. The crowd in the latter 1990s changed from people who
chose to shop and spend money to a crowd that loitered and ravaged the once
glorious mall. This was due to an economic decline in the surrounding areas
to the east of the mall. So in the summer of 2001, Villa Italia gasped her
last dying breath with almost 100 percent vacancy, her race was run.
Currently Villa Italia is being demolished for the site and development of
Belmar. Rip Villa !
Links
http://villaitaliamemories.tripod.com/ - Old pics and more!
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Jerad Walters’ Commentary:
User submitted in 2025The upstairs came in 1984 or 1985. I remember when I saw Aliens at the Villa Italia theater in summer 1986, I went to the mall afterword to find a special Starlog issue on Aliens at the WaldenBooks, which was upstairs at that time.
Gary D'Ascenz’s Commentary:
User submitted in 2023Does anyone remember the Mexican restaurant at Villa that used to be under the big, fake weeping willow tree? I don't know if it was there from the very beginning but it was there from the late 60's to about the early 70's.
Evan Saiz’s Commentary:
User submitted in 2020I was a 90s kid and that was mine and my sister's hang out place and my mom worked at joslins 94 through 95 and I'll always remember the giant slurpee in the middle of the mall
Andrew Dahl’s Commentary:
User submitted in 2020There was never a Dillards in Villa Italia. On the east end of the mall was Joslins Department Store.
Tom McNassor’s Commentary:
User submitted in 2019Hello, my name is Tom. I was a KG mens store employee. I work there at the mall from 1979-1982. I remember the mall, and some of the fun things. I like the looks of the new things. The area now has townhomes and some other specialty shops. There was a Sports Authority, but that failed.