Power Outage Darkens Dozens of Mall Stores

A blown transformer at South Coast Plaza left about two dozen stores without power for several hours Thursday, according to mall officials.

The outage occurred before the mall opened about 9 a.m., blacking out stores in a random, checkerboard fashion. In the hub of the mall on the second floor, a stretch of 10 stores between Macy’s and Sears took the hardest hit.

None of the five anchor department stores were affected, a spokeswoman said, but the power failure left several restaurants closed during the busy lunch hour.

Electricity was restored about 1:30 p.m.