Amarillo Mall Finds New Life
Inside a reimagined shopping centre where artists create, gather, teach, sell their work, and keep Amarillo’s creative spirit beautifully alive.
At first, the idea sounds almost unlikely: a former shopping mall transformed into a bright, open, community-minded arts centre. Yet walking through the space, it made perfect sense. What was once designed for retail has been given a second life as a place for creativity, connection, and gathering. Instead of storefronts filled with the familiar pull of commerce, there are studios, galleries, workshops, event spaces, and artists at work.
I was taken aback by how thoughtfully the space had been converted into what it is today. There is still a sense of the building’s former life, but it no longer feels like a mall trying to be something else. It feels like a place that has evolved. That, to me, is what makes it so meaningful.
A Mall With a Memory
Arts in the Sunset occupies the former Sunset Center, which opened in 1960 as Amarillo’s first shopping mall. The centre was originally opened by local developer and businessman M.T. Johnson Jr., and according to Arts in the Sunset’s own history, it drew a crowd of 100,000 excited area residents when it first opened…