BIGMallrat | Retail history of Northern California

San Mateo Fashion Island opened in 1981 at the height of the American mall boom. Anchored by JCPenney, Montgomery Ward, Bullock's, and Liberty House, the project represented decades of retail thinking: build a bigger mall, add more department stores, and shoppers would come. But Fashion Island arrived at a turning point. Within just a few years of opening, two of its four anchors had abandoned the Northern California market entirely. Meanwhile, nearby Hillsdale Mall reinvented itself and captured much of the attention Fashion Island had hoped to command. The result was one of the Bay Area's earliest major mall failures—a shopping center that opened at the peak of department-store dominance only to discover that the retail landscape was already changing beneath its feet. Grand opening ad from September 1981 for San Mateo Fashion Island mall with the slogan "look to us." Annotated Apple Maps view of San Mateo showing the location of Fashion Island mall, positioned o...

Del Monte Center opened in September 1967, developed by the Dillingham Corporation with design by John Carl Warneke & Associates. The landscape was designed by Lawrence Halprin & Associates, incorporating the preservation of mature oak trees and the use of adobe brick and timber elements that reflected regional architectural references. The center is defined by its 17-foot exposed-beam overhangs and open-air courtyard configuration, which established a retail environment closely integrated with Monterey’s coastal and historic character. The distinctive 17-foot exposed-beam overhangs at Del Monte Center—built from adobe brick and redwood timbers, blending modern retail with regional heritage. A mid-century open-air retail center in Monterey The original design emphasizes shaded walkways, courtyard spaces, and landscape integration. A central fountain continues to serve as a spatial anchor within the retail layout. Since its opening, the center has undergone limited expansio...

Postcards from Eastridge Mall capture the center during its early years as a regional shopping destination. These images reflect its original design, early tenants, and the architectural style that defined its opening era. Postcard 1 — Grand Court 1971 postcard of Eastridge Mall’s Grand Court, centered on Jarman with the sleek plexiglass information booth gleaming below. The cascading red carpet, steel fountain sculpture, and triple-level design showcase the mall’s bold architectural ambition. The back of the postcard reads: "The 'Grand Court' area of the Eastridge regional shopping center in San Jose, California, features modern shaped plexiglass information booth and a spectacular sculpture in steel by the world famous sculptress, Stephanie Scuris. The center, which is constructed on three levels, boasts four major department stores and 146 other stores." Postcard 2 — second series view of Grand Court 1970s postcard of Eastridge Mall’s iconic red carpet Grand Co...

In the 1970s, many cities believed enclosed shopping malls could save aging downtowns. Sunnyvale embraced that idea on a grand scale. Eight blocks of downtown were cleared for a $60 million redevelopment project that would transform 34 acres into Sunnyvale Town Center, an enclosed regional shopping mall anchored by Macy's and Montgomery Ward. At the time, Sunnyvale was one of the largest cities in California without a department store or regional shopping center. City leaders hoped the project would bring shoppers back to downtown and create a new civic centerpiece. Modeled in part after a similar redevelopment in Santa Maria, Sunnyvale Town Center represented the prevailing wisdom of the era: if downtown was struggling, build a mall. For a time, the strategy seemed to work. But over the following decades, Sunnyvale would discover an unexpected problem. The mall built to save downtown ultimately became an obstacle to the kind of downtown the city wanted to create. From an Octobe...