Union Square Mall in Union City, California—now there’s a name you don’t hear much anymore. Probably because hardly anyone remembers it. And how could they? It barely had time to make a mark.
It opened in 1973. I visited it once, maybe in the mid-’80s, and even then, it felt like a ghost of itself. I remember dark lighting, concrete aggregate floors, and what may have been the only store in the mall left—a barber shop. The whole thing had this strange, empty energy, like a mall that was waiting for people who never came.
Union Square Mall didn’t last much more than a decade. By the late 1987, the mall was torn down. In its place today is a standard strip center that seems to be doing just fine. The original Safeway at 1790 Decoto Road is still there, oddly enough, like a lone survivor.
Back in its day, the mall was anchored by Safeway and a Kelly-Moore Home Improvement Center (Kelly Moore owned the mall). Not exactly destination retail. And while it looked like a full-blown enclosed mall, it turns out it was never meant to be a regional shopping center. That made it hard—maybe impossible—to attract a department store, which probably doomed it from the start.
I came across a Fremont Argus article from December 2, 1977, where merchants inside Union Square were already voicing concern about store closures. Their solution? Management was planning to add “50 flags to brighten the interior.” Flags. Because nothing says “thriving retail hub” like a bunch of flags.
The layout of the mall was shaped like a plus sign (+), but it’s hard to find any decent photos. If you have any, share them—I think a lot of us would love to see that strange little mall one more time.
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| By 1983, the mall was 50% vacant and proclaimed "dead." |
In the end, Union Square Mall kind of just... slipped away. No grand farewell, no major headlines. Just a mall that flickered into existence and faded before most people even knew it was there.
And yet, for those of us who passed through it even once, it lingers—like a blurry snapshot from a forgotten chapter of suburban retail life.
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Our mall of choice was the one across H Street from James Logan High School.
It had a Radio Shack (free monthly batteries for my tape player), a record store, barbershop, laundry mat, bank, liquor store and a pool hall hidden down a corridor in the back.
Truant heaven to be sure.....