Saturday, November 20, 2010

Flash Mob at Meadowood Mall in Reno

I admit, every since that great T-Mobile flash mob in the UK, I'm a sucker for flash mobs. Imagine my surprise when I found this one at Meadowood Mall in Reno.



Let's see if we can push this video to over a 1000 views.

Burlington Coat Factory Opens at NewPark Mall

Burlington Coat Factory has opened in NewPark Mall in Newark. Burlington opened in the space vacated by Mervyn's in 2008 and offers two levels of merchandise.

This is not only good news for tri-city residents, but also for NewPark Mall's owners, General Growth Properties (GGP). GGP recently emerged from bankruptcy protection just this month.

Burlington Coat Factory can be reached at (510) 791-3130.

Visit NewPark Mall on the Web.

Read my review on NewPark Mall.

Sunday, August 01, 2010

Top 10 Largest Malls in Northern California by Size

The following list represents the top 10 largest mall in Northern California and Reno, but no malls in Reno made the list (sorry western Nevada). Size is determined by Gross Leasable Area (GLA) or leasable retail space. GLA provided by mall owners or operators and may differ due to rounding or opinion. Honestly, it's difficult to get two people to agree... even from the same mall.

Top 10 Largest Malls

1. Westfield San Francisco Centre - San Francisco (1,500,000 sq. ft.)

2. Westfield Valley Fair - San Jose (1,475,600 sq. ft.) tied with Stanford Shopping Center - Palo Alto (1,475,600 sq. ft.)

3. Eastridge - San Jose (1,358,684 sq. ft.)

4. Westfield Galleria at Roseville - Roseville (1,336,009 sq. ft.)

5. Vallco Mall - Cupertino (1,324,133 sq. ft.)

6. Sunvalley Shopping Center - Concord (1,323,000 sq. ft.)

7. Great Mall of the Bay Area - Milpitas (1,300,000 sq. ft.)

8. Southland Mall - Hayward (1,284,591 sq. ft.)

9. Stoneridge Shopping Center - Pleasanton (1,283,000 sq. ft.)

10. Hillsdale Shopping Center - San Mateo (1,250,000 sq. ft.)

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Gottschalks Returning To Region

Gottschalks, the defunct Fresno-based department store, is returning to the California retail scene.

According to the Sacramento Business Journal, Gottschalks former CEO, Joe Levy, has created a new company called Gottschalk by Joe Levy, Inc. (Sacramento Business Journal, 2010). The new company "would open stores in the central San Joaquin Valley and in other markets" (¶2).

Gottschalk by Joe Levy will open its first store in Clovis' Sierra Vista Mall (Fresno Bee, 2010) and a second store in Auburn, both by November (Sacramento Bee, 2010).

A similar move was theorized in 2009 when John Morris, the son of Mervyn Morris, founder of Mervyn's department store, purchased the name and Internet holdings of Mervyn's after the chain's demise (San Francisco Business Journal, 2009)

References
Fresno Bee (2010). Sierra Vista Mall may host first Gottschalk store. Retrieved April 27, 2010, http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/04/27/1912305/sierra-vista-mall-would-host-first.html

Sacramento Bee (2010). Auburn to get store as Gottschalk returns to retail scene. Retrieved April 27, 2010, from http://www.sacbee.com/2010/04/27/2709916/auburn-to-get-store-as-gottschalk.html

Sacramento Business Journal (2010). Former Gottschalks chairman to open similar-named chain. Retrieved April 27, 2010, from http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2010/04/26/daily17.html?ed=2010-04-27&ana=e_du_pub

San Francisco Business Journal (2009). Mervyns family may resurrect department store. Retrieved April 27, 2010, from http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2009/02/09/daily60.html

Thursday, April 01, 2010

Cupertino Square changes name to Vallco Shopping Mall


This just in...

Cupertino Square has officially changed its name, again, to "Vallco Shopping Mall."

We watched the sign guy update the mall directory with a fresh image, complete with the Vallco Shopping Mall name. The name "Cupertino Square" is now just a bad memory.

In addition, Vallco Shopping Mall now has its own url: http://vallcoshoppingmall.com/

Now, they just need to change that dated sign on 280 that says "Vallco Fashion Park."

Enjoy,

Scott

Monday, February 01, 2010

Capitola Mall - Occupancy Check


A year ago this blog covered the occupancy of the 586,000 sq. ft. Capitola Mall due to its loss of Mervyn's and the pending closure of Gottschalk's (more information).

One year later and the occupancy of Capitola Mall is still under scrutiny. Yet, the news is good. Occupancy has increased. Of the 96 potential stores, 8 are unoccupied (shown in red), leaving an 8.3% vacancy rate (or 91.7% occupancy rate).

Since January of 2009, Gottschalk's closed, Kohl's joined the mall, and 4 inline stores have opened. Even with just three anchor stores, it looks as if Capitola Mall will thrive as the dominate retail player in the Santa Cruz area.

Scott

Monday, January 25, 2010

Popeyes Closes at Cupertino Square - Food Court in Peril



The food court at Cupertino Square mall in Cupertino slides a little closer to oblivion with the closure of the Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen restaurant franchise. No word on why the restaurant closed, but it's a fair assumption that the lack of foot traffic may have played a pivotal role.

The food court was remodeled in 2008 and a number of eateries have opened and closed. Currently, five restaurants occupy the food court: Subway Sandwiches, Burger King, Chiaramonte Deli, Teriyaki Experience, and Tutti Frutti. A number of "coming soon" signs alert customers to new eateries, such as a Thai restaurant. However, after a year of waiting, there is no reason to believe they are coming.

Son Son Company, the Vietnamese food processing entity that owns the mall, has a lot of work ahead to turn around the beleaguered shopping center. Changes may be ahead. The TVs no longer blare political debates on CNN; instead showing ESPN, Cartoon Network, and even Cupertino Square's own commercial.

The pictures above were taken today and show the old Popeyes and a view of the deserted mall at noon on a Monday.

Enjoy!
Scott

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Southland Mall Expansion and Ice Arena - 1972


I get a lot of activity regarding the former ice arena at Southland Mall, so I was happy to find this article from the Daily Review newspaper. Dated March 24, 1972, the article is about the grand opening of the "fabulous Southland Ice Arena." The foremost picture shows a giant four-foot high, 100 pound ice sculpture of an ice skate.

On the bottom of the page is a picture of the north mall entrance and the Ice Arena doors... near the present Macy's. The caption reads "Phase Four of the Southland Mall expansion program took a giant step forward as the Southland Ice Arena opened its doors March 1. The million dollar ice sports facility will soon be followed by 29 more businesses including Liberty House Department Store in late summer. This is the North Mall entrance with the Ice Arena doors shown to the left."

Here is the aerial showing the location of the Ice Arena, which housed CompUSA at the time the aerial was taken.

Share your memories of the Southland Ice Arena here!

Scott

Friday, January 01, 2010

Vintage Postcards: Sunvalley Mall Center Court Redux


Yet another postcard showing the center court of Sunvalley Mall in Concord, California. Unlike the earlier postcard of this same scene, the camera placement allows the viewer to see all the way down to Sears at the far end of the mall.

The postcard's coloring is mostly intact and you can better appreciate the gold-roofed information booth, as well as the early-Seventies inspired flowered mural on the wall above the mall walkway.

The back of the postcard reads: "Over 120 stores are located on the two levels of the mammoth mall at SunValley, the world's largest enclosed, air conditioned shopping center."

Enjoy!
Scott

Read my guide to Sunvalley Mall

See the current aerial view.