Many Malls Stay Closed Following Earthquake : Retail: Three area shopping centers are open. Others hope to be back in business by the weekend.

Most San Fernando Valley-area shopping malls remained closed Wednesday as they began the arduous process of cleaning up and assessing the impact of Monday’s earthquake.

Only Glendale Galleria, Panorama Mall in Panorama City and Antelope Valley Mall in Palmdale opened for business. A few others, including Media City Center in Burbank, the Promenade in Woodland Hills, Fallbrook Mall in Canoga Park and Valencia Town Center, remained closed, but hoped to reopen by the weekend.

At the hardest-hit shopping mall, Northridge Fashion Center, a collapsed Bullock’s department store has been condemned and two parking structures will have to be rebuilt. The fourth floor of the mall’s J. C. Penney store fell into the third floor, and one of the toppled parking structures is leaning against it.

It hasn’t been determined yet if that Penney store will need to be demolished and rebuilt, but J. C. Penney spokesman Hank Rusman said observers in a helicopter “marveled that it even survived.”

Other stores in the Northridge mall, including Broadway and Sears, were also severely damaged. Engineers continued to pour through the rubble Wednesday, and it wasn’t immediately known how long it would be before any part of the mall might reopen.

Laura Melillo, spokeswoman for R. H. Macy & Co., the parent company of Bullock’s, said the company hasn’t decided whether to rebuild its Northridge store. “At this point, we’re still in the process of assessing,” she said.

Melillo added that Macy has earthquake and other insurance covering its losses and the interruption of business.

Another Bullock’s store, at Sherman Oaks Fashion Square, was also badly damaged by the quake but has not been condemned. Although part of the fourth floor fell into the third floor, Melillo said that building isn’t considered a total loss.

The parking structure at Sherman Oaks Fashion Square was cracked in places, and areas of the mall are badly damaged by water from burst pipes, Marketing Director Sandy Turner said. The mall underwent a $60-million renovation in 1990 that included the addition of a second shopping level and upgrading to then-current earthquake codes. In 1991, the center’s Bullock’s was renovated at a cost of $30 million.

Topanga Plaza in Canoga Park was also closed and had severe damage. Development Director John Lyda said there was no structural damage to the small shops in the mall, but broken glass and tile and damaged drywall would keep the mall closed for one to two weeks. Some hard goods merchants, such as housewares chain Crate & Barrel, lost much of their inventory, he said.

Not counting the department stores, Lyda said, quake damage at Topanga Plaza could total $1.5 million to $2 million.

Engineers for Robinsons-May, Broadway, Montgomery Ward and Nordstrom were still assessing damage, Lyda said, but he estimated that those stores might be closed from one to three months.

Pat Turner, a Broadway spokeswoman, said the Topanga Plaza store had structural damage, possibly as bad as its Northridge store.

Laurel Plaza in North Hollywood was also closed Wednesday, and management at the mall couldn’t be reached.

Although Glendale Galleria was open Wednesday, broken cement forced the closure of one of its parking structures near Nordstrom and Mervyn’s. Nicolette Abernathy, marketing director at the mall, said the structure might reopen next week.

Panorama Mall escaped major earthquake damage, but Manager Mary Callahan said two men and one woman used a tire iron to break through a glass window Monday shortly after the quake. Jackets from Wilson’s Suede & Leather and watches from Silva’s Jewelers were stolen, she said.

At Media City Center in Burbank, general manager Allen Oblow said 90% of the water damage from the sprinkler system, broken glass and cracked plastic had been cleaned up by Wednesday. Most of the mall would be open today, but the entrance near Bullock’s would remain closed due to ceiling damage.

Carrol Beals, general manager at Sherman Oaks Galleria, said damage was mainly from water and broken glass. But she said it wasn’t known yet when the mall would reopen. “Everyone is working ‘round the clock to clean things up,” she said, “but services are stretched to the limit.”

The Promenade, which completed a $40-million renovation last year that included upgrading the mall to current earthquake codes, might reopen this weekend, Marketing Director Elizabeth Pedersen-Knapp said. But individual department stores could remain closed for a few more days, she said.

At least part of Valencia Town Center was due to reopen today, General Manager Kristin Mueller said. Damage there included cracks in the asphalt, and broken floor tiles and windows. On Wednesday, Sears sold water heaters and other merchandise on the curb outside the store, Mueller said.

For all the confusion Wednesday, some things hadn’t changed.

Sherman Oaks Fashion Square still received a few frantic calls from customers, one looking for a wedding gift, another for evening clothes to wear during an upcoming trip to New York.