El Con
El Con Shopping Center carries the affectionately abbreviated nickname of the El Conquistador Hotel, which stood just to the west of the original shopping center site.
"El Con Mall opened in 1960 as the first mall in Tucson, Arizona, adjacent to the El Conquistador Hotel. Although inital plans called for the hotel to be part of the mall itself, these plans were later scrapped. An outdoor mall at the time of its opening, El Con Mall was anchored by the local department store Levy's, and chain stores Montgomery Ward and Woolworth." Today the mall is considered a "dead mall" because most of the stores have vacated. Walmart had plans of opening a store at the mall but plans were haulted by midtown area neighborhoods who do not want a 24-hour store located near their homes. Demolition of the mall was scheduled for the summer of 2011 but has been postponed until 2012.
Source:
Tucson Marketing Index Dec. 1970, Page 5. (This publication is not held by Pima County Public Library.)