Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Barneys New York Coming to San Francisco Union Square


Barneys New York, the uber-chic Fifth Avenue retailer, announced the signing of a lease to open a flagshop store at 48 Stockton Street in San Francisco. The site was previously occupied by the shuttered FAO Schwartz.

The 60,000 store is scheduled to open fall 2007. This follows the opening of the flagship Bloomingdale's store September 28, 2006 in the newly expnaded Westfield San Francisco Centre.

Union Square, once home to numerous flagship department stores such as I. Magnin, Jospeh Magnin, Liberty House, and the City of Paris, has consolidated in the past few decades and now houses Macy's, Neiman Marcus, and Saks Fifth Avenue. Barneys is expected to inject some freshness into the area.

You can also find a Barneys New York outlet at Napa Premium Outlets.

Read the full story.

Visit my review of San Francisco Union Square.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Stonestown Mall San Francisco


This vintage gem just arrived and is it grand! In the foreground are late Forties and early Fifties cars and abundant palm trees, always favored by the Stoneson brothers (the developers of the neighborhood and mall).

In the background is the famed "E" of the Emporium department store, which opened July 16, 1952. The rest of the mall had an official opening date of November 6, 1952. Other original tenants included Walgreens, F.W. Woolworth's, and the Red Chimney restaurant.

Don't forget, plenty of free parking!

The back of the postcard reads: "Stonestown, California. One of San Francisco's newest residential sections. It is served by a complete shopping district where many downtown stores and institutions have established branches."

In the late Eighties, the outdoor mall was enclosed, a second story added, and renamed "Stonestown Galleria."

Read my Guide to Stonestown Mall

Visit the current Website.

Visit an interesting Stonestown history site.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Most and Least Popular Malls

I've compiled a list, using the Overture Keyword Selector tool, of all the Internet searches for shopping malls in most of northern California. It's an interesting gauge that determines the most (and least) popular malls, based on strictly on what people are searching for. Unfortunately, it doesn't tell us anything more, such as, what type of information Internet users are looking for, and whether they found it. Nonetheless, here are the top 10 malls, based on popular searches in April 2006:
Most popular:
1) Westfield Valley Fair, San Jose - 6762 searches (regrettably, more than one mall in North America uses this name, so I can't verify if they were looking for the one in San Jose).
2) Great Mall, Milpitas - 6623 searches (again, this is a popular name Mills Corp uses for its outlet malls across the country).
3) Santana Row, San Jose - 6452 searches
4) Union Square, San Francisco - 6445 searches (also undetermined since there is a popular Union Square in New York).
5) Stanford Shopping Center, Palo Alto - 4269 searches
6) Gilroy Premium Outlets - 4061 searches
7) Stoneridge Shopping Center, Pleasanton - 3947 searches
8) Summit Sierra, Reno - 3747 searches (regrettably, a popular ski resort uses this name, too).
9) Pier 39, San Francisco - 3571 searches
10) The Mall at Northgate, San Rafael - 3459 searches (although this is doubtful since a more popular Northgate Mall in Seattle is the most likely recipient of these searches).

Now for the least popular malls based on Internet searches:
1) Reno Town Mall, Reno - 30 searches
2) Shopper's Square, Reno - 31 searches
3) Princeton Plaza Mall, San Jose - 41 searches
4) Almaden Plaza, San Jose - 65 searches
5) St. Helena Premier Outlets - 82 searches
6) Willows Shopping Center, Concord - 95 searches
7) Alameda Towne Centre, Alameda - 98 searches (most people are still used to the old name, "South Shore Center." Plus, "towne" and "centre" aren't usual American English spellings).
8) Somersville Towne Center, Antioch - 120 searches (again, some people are still using the old name, "County East Mall.")
9) Carmel Plaza, Carmel-By-The-Sea - 149 searches
10) Sunnyvale Town Center, Sunnyvale - 167 searches (it's closed).

Friday, June 02, 2006

Chi-Chi Carmel Plaza Strikes Back


The Marketing Manager of Carmel Plaza contacted me with fresh information about the newly remodeled Plaza.

The new facade with its Spanish influences is a marked improvement over its now deceased contemporary architecture. Reflective of Carmel's past as a Spanish settlement, the Plaza better complements, rather than contrasts, with the area's history.

Carmel Plaza had languished some with the loss of its key anchor, Saks Fifth Avenue. But now, they are bouncing back with hot luxury retailers like Louis Vuitton, Cole Haan, Sur La Table, Tiffany & Co., and coming soon, Wilkes-Bashford.

The new retailers ought to bring in more diversity, energy, and interest.

Visit the current Website.