At the moment Vallco Mall was conceived in the early 1970s, Cupertino was in the middle of a rapid and uneven transformation. Once defined by orchards, packing sheds, and light industrial, the city was beginning to shift toward something entirely new—suburban neighborhoods expanding outward, office parks taking shape, and the first outlines of what would become Silicon Valley beginning to emerge.
In that in-between landscape—neither rural nor fully urban—developers saw opportunity. Vallco Mall (originally Vallco Fashion Park) was planned not simply as a retail center, but as a regional destination that would anchor Cupertino’s new identity.
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| Annotated Apple Maps view of Cupertino showing the location of Vallco mall, positioned between Interstate 280 and Stevens Creek Boulevard. |
Built along the emerging Interstate 280 corridor, Vallco was designed to capture traffic moving between San Jose, Sunnyvale, and the Peninsula while also serving a rapidly growing local population. It was a project shaped as much by regional mobility as by local demand.
Opening on September 1, 1976, Vallco was no ordinary shopping center. Set high atop a parking level, the entire retail experience floated above the ground—complete with six themed “parks” referencing Cupertino’s past and future. Shoppers crossed Wolfe Road on a 130-foot skybridge, wandered through indoor gardens, and explored futuristic spaces like Electronics Park.
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| Grand opening ad for Vallco Mall in 1976, promising a future of fun shopping. |
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| View of Vallco Mall's pedestrian skybridge over Wolfe Road. |
Cupertino's mall of tomorrow
Anchored by Sears, which had opened in October 28, 1970, Bullock’s, and I. Magnin (with JCPenney and an ice rink joining in 1977), the mall was a design-forward marvel created by Wurster, Bernardi & Emmons, with landscape architect Michael Painter. As each phase was building out, the mall was described as assembling puzzle pieces.
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| A 1975 advertisement announcing the impending arrival of Vallco Mall, describing the mall as completing "one of the most beautiful and totally planned communities in an urban setting anywhere in the country." |
By 1983, Vallco was the third highest-grossing mall in Santa Clara County, behind only Stanford and Eastridge. Bullock’s bowed out in 1984, but Emporium-Capwell stepped in to fill the store. For a while, things looked promising.
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| 1984 ad for the grand opening of Emporium-Capwell at Vallco Fashion Park in Cupertino, opened November 19, 1984. Using the slogan “Doing it right,” the ad invites shoppers to experience the latest in fashion and tech—from Esprit and Generra clothing to Sony Discmans. |
Reinventing the future
In 1986, Westfield acquired Vallco for $75 million as competition in the South Bay retail market intensified. The opening of the expanded Valley Fair in nearby San Jose had already begun drawing shoppers away, and Vallco’s foot traffic started to soften.
In response, Westfield announced an ambitious redevelopment plan aimed at repositioning the mall as a regional destination once again. The proposal called for a new lower-level concourse between Sears and Emporium-Capwell, adding approximately 60 new stores and 115,000 square feet of retail space. The project also included expanded parking structures and a total investment of roughly $34 million.
When completed in 1988, the expansion increased Vallco’s total size to about 1.1 million square feet—just under Valley Fair’s 1.2 million and Stanford Shopping Center’s 1.3 million at the time.
Westfield also explored bringing in a new upscale department store anchor, with names such as Bloomingdale’s, May Company, and Lord & Taylor discussed as potential additions. However, that plan never materialized, and the envisioned transformation never fully came to fruition.
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| Grand opening advertisement for the expanded Vallco Mall, as published in the San Jose Mercury News, November 1988. The campaign slogan promised shoppers “the one thing you’re looking for… everything,” reflecting Westfield’s effort to reposition Vallco as a fully modernized regional shopping destination following its 1980s expansion. |
When the future moved on
Ironically, the same region that helped make Vallco successful also contributed to its decline. As Silicon Valley grew wealthier and denser, shoppers increasingly gravitated toward larger, more upscale destinations such as Valley Fair and Stanford Shopping Center. Vallco's once-futuristic design no longer felt cutting-edge, and repeated renovation efforts struggled to keep pace with changing expectations.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Valley Fair expanded several times, Emporium-Capwell closed in 1996, and though Macy’s took over the space, it lacked the pull of its predecessor.
In the mid-2000s, the mall launched a renovation and expansion featuring a new AMC Theatres. To coincide with the theater’s opening in 2007, the mall was rebranded as Cupertino Square, aiming to connect with the city’s growing Asian-American community.
A new Dynasty Chinese Seafood Restaurant, specialty stores, and updated branding followed. A new food court and parking structure were added. But despite these efforts, foot traffic didn’t return.
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| By 2006, Vallco’s center court—anchored by Macy’s—had become a haven of calm, its once-bustling walkways now echoing with silence. |
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| Main entrance to the new AMC Theatres under construction at Vallco Mall in 2006, part of the mall’s ambitious rebranding as Cupertino Square. |
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| Vallco Mall food court at noon in 2009—mostly empty. |
Last attempt to reinvent the future
In 2010, the mall was renamed again—this time as Vallco Shopping Mall—in a final attempt to revive the brand. But the nostalgia didn’t translate to footfall.
In 2011, the long-shuttered first floor reopened. But it was too little, too late. Even with a cinema, the mall had lost its soul—and then, finally, its stores.
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| Vallco Mall directory sign in its final years. |
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| In 2011, Vallco’s long-closed first level reopened to the public—but the revival never took hold. |
From shopping mall to mixed-use city
In April 2016, JCPenney closed its doors at Vallco Mall in Cupertino, ending over three decades as one of the mall’s original anchor tenants. Its departure followed years of declining foot traffic and tenant loss, with the once-bustling shopping center reduced to a shell of its former self. The closure marked a symbolic turning point—after JCPenney left, only a handful of stores remained, and Vallco was officially in dead mall territory.
The iconic pink-and-teal sign on I-280 never came down, and shoppers just stopped coming. The mall that once floated above its time came crashing back to earth. Demolition began in 2017 and wrapped up in 2020—but for many, Vallco ended in 2018, when the cinema closed its doors.
Today, the site is being redeveloped as The Rise, a massive mixed-use project of housing, retail, and public space. In many ways, the transformation mirrors Cupertino itself. Vallco was conceived during an era when the future seemed to belong to regional shopping centers; by the time redevelopment arrived, that future had shifted toward housing, offices, and mixed-use districts.
The mall that once floated above its time came crashing back to earth. Yet its story remains one of Silicon Valley's most ambitious retail experiments—a reminder that even the future has a shelf life.
Comments
Because of it's popularity, Valco always had a horrible parking situation. I don't think it has ever been remedied. I'm glad that they are trying to remake themselves although I worry when I hear they are trying to copy someplace like Santana Row. One needs to put a lot of thought into such concepts. They can turn out bad if they are not fully understood.
Where did Vallco get its name from? It doesn't evoke any warm fuzzies and sounds awfully corporate, was that the name of the developer or something? Second, didn't Federated originally not want to put a Macys into the Emporium slot and only did so due to threat of legal action or either a competitor coming in? (I recall Dillards being interested at one time)
On paper, this mall should have everything it needs: Good demographics and three strong anchors. Problem is that Sears and Penneys are not percieved as upscale and Macys probably doesn't have the same selections that you'd see at Stanford and Valley Fair. And between those two malls and Santana Row I don't see how Cupertino positions itself as anything more than a mid range lifestyle center, which I'm not convinced can be done in an indoor format.
If Vallco can replicate what Tanforan did, they have a shot. But I'm sure they're watching whatever happens at Sunnyvale Town Center to see what further competition they wind up with.
I know the purists out there want to see malls remain malls, but if a concept no longer works it should be torn down. This is a good location in the heart of the Silicon Valley and it should be given optmum usage.
The food court will be in a section of the mall on the upper floor near the JC Penney end. Nearly all the store fronts from the north side of that wing have been demolished to make room.
The lower floor in that section will continue to house the ice rink, but it will be joined by the "Strike!" bowling alley/ family fun center, in the areas formerly occupied by the Tilt arcade and Video Concepts store. (and before Tilt, the food court was there, not that it matters anymore).
The existing building will continue to be an enclosed mall, though a street level entrance to a proposed bookstore is shown in some design renderings. The "Rose Bowl" area, currently a pit between JC Penney and the office block at the corner of Wolfe and Stevens Creek, is the site of the proposed Santana Row-like mixed use development.
The facility has two entrances: one in the mall lower level near JC Penney and another at street level under the bridge at Wolfe Road, allowing after mall hours access. The lobby area is dominated by a large upscale bar and lounge, divided from the rest of the lobby only by a low railing. There is also a small billiard hall and an arcade featuring some fairly new video games and redemption machines, but they all use the Dave & Busters style card readers for payment (though the system is similar, D&B cards can't be used here) and therefore it is difficult to know how much exactly the games cost to play, or how much you've actually spent unless you keep very careful accounting.
What I don't like is that the observation windows over the ice rink, what were formerly accessible in the Tilt arcade and the food court before that are now sealed off, the area now occupied by restrooms. They are very nice restrooms, yes, but I miss the observation deck.
The only access to the ice rink is now (as it had been since Tilt closed) is the stairway and elevator just inside the north mall entrance, between JC Penney and Bennihana.
Back on the south side of JC Penney, there is a new parking structure completely blocking its frontage along Vallco Parkway. A design sketch that can be viewed inside the mall (two storefronts on the bridge section are currently occupied by development offices where these sketches are on display) shows that there are street-level retail shops planned for the base of this parking structure, The intent appears to have these shops in some way relate architecturally to the planned mixed-use development across the street, but right now it just looks like a rather spare concrete parking garage.
A "Froyo?" has opened in the hall across from the AMC theater box office, and a Cinnabon and Cold Stcompletion right next to it. Hofbrau Beerhall looks to be under construction in that area too, making use of the new grand staircase entry along Wolfe Road.
I didn't know how else to contact you. I'm currently looking for any photos or info on Westgate Mall is San Jose/Saratoga. I'm looking for any photos with the 'space age' marquee that the mall origanly had. Any help is much appreciated
The new food court has opened.
Well, not the whole food court. Only Burger King, Hoffbrau Express, Popeye's Chicken, and another frozen yogurt place are in there now, but posters on the construction walls suggest many more are coming soon (and "soon" at CS we've learned can be as much as 3 years out). But you can walk through the dining area from the mall to the parking lot.
Mrs Field's moved to a new spot almost directly across the hall from its old location.
The red icons on the new entrance pillars outside Bennihana are already faded after being in place less than a year.
Access to the ice skating rink is particularly nasty now. It looks like they tore down its old decoration for remodeling, but there is no evidence of repair after that, and the passage is even more separated from the mall than it was before.
There is no sign of work in what will be the Hofbrau's main location. Since I checked many months ago til yesterday,there is still a dead bird in the window.