Union Square Mall — Union City's lost mall (1973–1987)

Union Square Mall in Union City is one of those places that has almost completely vanished from local memory.

I visited it once as a kid, probably sometime in the mid-1980s. Even then, it felt like a mall that had already given up.

From a 1983 newspaper photo—one of the few surviving interior views of Union Square Mall. By the time many locals remember it, the mall already felt unusually quiet.

What I remember most is how empty it felt. The lighting seemed dim. The floors were exposed aggregate concrete. I vaguely recall a barber shop that may have been one of the last businesses still operating. There were long stretches of corridor with little activity and few shoppers. Even at the time, it felt less like a functioning mall and more like a building waiting for something to happen.

The strange thing is that Union Square Mall had only opened in 1973.

Unlike larger regional malls such as Southland, NewPark, or Stoneridge, Union Square was never intended to become a major shopping destination. Developed by Kelly-Moore Paint Company at Decoto Road and Fremont Boulevard, the enclosed center was anchored by a Safeway supermarket and a Kelly-Moore Home Improvement Center.

The Union Square Mall sign near Decoto Road. Despite its enclosed-mall appearance, the center was conceived as a neighborhood shopping center rather than a regional retail destination.

On paper, it looked like a mall. In practice, it struggled to attract the department stores and major retailers that drove traffic to successful shopping centers during the 1970s.

The building itself was unusual. Rather than a traditional linear mall, the interior was arranged in a giant plus-sign (+) configuration with corridors extending from a central court. Unfortunately, very few photographs of the interior seem to survive today.

By the late 1970s, the warning signs were already apparent.

A December 2, 1977 article in the Fremont Argus described growing concerns among merchants as vacancies increased and stores closed. Management's solution included adding decorative flags throughout the mall in an effort to brighten the atmosphere.

Flags.

It's the kind of detail that sounds almost comical today, but it also hints at how difficult the situation had become. The problem wasn't decoration. The problem was that shoppers simply weren't coming.

The decline accelerated during the early 1980s. By 1983, reports described the mall as roughly 50 percent vacant, and local observers were openly referring to it as "dead."

Union Square never recovered.

By late 1987, the mall had been demolished. In its place rose a more conventional neighborhood shopping center—something better suited to the location and retail market. The original Safeway building at 1790 Decoto Road survived the transition and remains one of the few visible reminders of the old complex.

Today, most Union City residents drive past the site without realizing an enclosed mall once stood there.

In the end, Union Square Mall didn't close with much fanfare. There was no dramatic final day, no famous anchor store departure, and no nostalgic farewell campaign. It simply slipped away.

Yet for those who remember it—even vaguely—it remains one of the Bay Area's strangest retail footnotes: a mall that seemed forgotten long before it was gone.

Related post

• East Bay malls