Both Tempe Marketplace and Westgate Entertainment District have something in common to celebrate this month: new Directors of Marketing.

Emilie Andrews is Westgate Entertainment District’s new Director of Marketing. She will be responsible for all of the center’s marketing functions including special events, advertising, social media, community relations and more.

Emilie came from Fresh Start Women’s Foundation where she worked as Events Manager. She has a background in shopping center marketing at Scottsdale Fashion Square and Biltmore Fashion Park. She graduated with a Bachelor’s of Arts degree from Arizona State University.

Arian Ploszaj, meanwhile, has come on board as Director of Marketing of Tempe Marketplace. Arian has extensive marketing, public relations and retail experience from her time at Scottsdale Fashion Square, Superstition Springs Center, Biltmore Fashion Park and Saks Fifth Avenue, Kahala, the Phoenix Art Museum, and CityCenter of CityNorth. Arian earned her Bachelor of Arts degree at Arizona State University.

Congratulations, Emilie and Arian!

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40 years ago, Fashion Place was delivered—a healthy baby mall. Now it’s celebrating just how fabulous it is at 40.

The celebration lasts all week. It began on Monday on Fashion Place Day with the Fashion Place Proclamation from the Mayor. The Mall of Memories Wall was unveiled, with 205 square feet of stories, photos and memories from shoppers and retailers.

The rest of the week is just as full of great reminiscing from 1972. There’s the 40 Years Today celebration, with dessert, live music, in-store specials and gifts. Birthday cake served throughout the center? Yum. The birthday party honors 40 kids affected by cancer in partnership with the Huntsman Cancer Foundation.

Next up, the center’s Retro Fashion Party will be held on Friday. It hearkens back to Fashion Place’s early days, with far out fashions from the 70s, charting tunes from 1972, and a VW Beetle from the same year. The Bug will serve as a great backdrop for retro-glam photos.

The center is also bringing in its Facebook fans. In exchange for answering trivia questions about Fashion Place’s life so far, shoppers had all kinds of chances to win $40 gift cards.

“We think Fashion Place looks fabulous for being 40,” said Natalie Watson, Fashion Place senior. marketing manager. “Despite a volatile economy and national job market, we’ve continued to thrive and we take great pride in that.”

Autumn is a great time a year, with so many wonderful (and profitable) holidays to prepare for. There’s Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s—but before them all, there’s one particular holiday that’s arguably the most fun to celebrate: Oktoberfest.

Shops at Don Mills is holding a remarkably genuine Oktoberfest event every evening until Sunday. Oktoberfest in the Square brings live music, traditional German delicacies and the most important part: beer. Weihenstephan, Thurn & Taxis, Erdinger and Amsterdam, to be specific.

They’ll go well with the menu: Roasted Oktoberfest Chicken with a dark beer glaze, handmade potato dumplings, cabbage and cider slaw; a Wurst sampler with Bavarian sausages, sauerkraut, and a Bavarian pretzel; and Bavarian pretzels with a selection of mustards.

Shoppers who partake in the festivities will enjoy live music by Euro Connection, a traditional Bavarian Band, Daylight for Deadeyes, and The Lost Boys.

Christchurch’s Eastgate Shopping Centre has a brand new center manager to celebrate: Joanna Hollander.

Hollander was centre manager at Remarkables Park Town Centre for more than two years where she was responsible for 50 tenants and 24,000 square meters of retail, office and service tenancies. She hasa Bachelor of Commerce from Lincoln University, specializing in valuation and property management.

Jones Lang La Salle’s national retail manager Alistair Penny says, “We’re very pleased to have Joanna join the Eastgate team; her strong retail property experience will be a great asset for the centre. Our aim is to have Eastgate fully leased, and to continue to help rebuild the sense of community in east Christchurch which is centred around Eastgate.”

Penny also spoke highly of the outgoing center manager. He added, “The resurgence of leasing interest in Eastgate is due, in no small measure, to former centre manager Graeme Roberts. Graeme has worked tirelessly to get the centre repaired, rebuilt and revitalised since the earthquakes began in September 2010. We are enormously grateful to his energy and commitment to Eastgate.”

Sounds like big shoes to fill, but Hollander is doubtlessly up to the task.

Congratulations, Joanna!

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Usually for a milestone anniversary, you want to look back at the good times. But sometimes it’s important to look back at the hard times, too. Take Santana Row: what started as a massively ambitious project in 2000 opened in a state of near-disaster in 2002. Just a month before it was slated to open a fire tore through the halls of its largest structure, doing $130 million in damage and destroying 538,000 square feet of retail and housing space. It nearly left the owners’ plans in shambles, but despite the odds the center went on to be extremely successful.

So this month, ten years on, the center is looking back and counting its blessings. One of those blessings is the San Jose Fire Department, which faced down the largest structure fire in San Jose history on that fateful day. The center is dedicating its 10th anniversary celebration to the department, contributing to its Public Education and Community Relations Trust.

Many of Santana Row’s retailers are dedicating 10% of their sales over the weekend celebration to the trust. Others are celebrating by offering shoppers food and drink specials, deep discounts and more. Left Bank Brasserie has created a specialty cocktail called “Noces D’Etains” which translates into “10th Anniversary.” Pizza Antica is taking toy donations for the San Jose Fire Department and offering up free dessert in exchange.

Is there a better way to celebrate good fortune than to share it with those who helped you get there?