Bullock's North Receipt - 1985

Part of being a mall geek is doing strange things in order to obtain a piece of memorabilia. In 1985, my family went to San Mateo Fashion Island. Of course, we had to take a look at that great building that housed Bullock's. The tent design was a huge draw as a kid. Like, some sort of carnival on the side of the freeway. Being obssessed with the Bullock's logo, I decided I needed a bag. So, I bought the cheapest thing I could find, a greeting card. My hands, going numb because it was winter and the tent didn't provide any insulation, pulled out a dollar and the rest is history. This is a scan of the back of the Bullock's receipt. It lists the store locations with the San Mateo Fashion Island mall listed last.

In 1986, the Bullock's at San Mateo Fashion Island mall closed forever. It was the last of the northern California stores of the chain.

Bullock's of Los Angeles made their Bay Area debut in 1972 with a store at the tony Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto. Additional stores followed at Broadway Plaza in Walnut Creek, Vallco Fashion Park in Cupertino, Stonestown in San Francisco, Oakridge Mall in San Jose, and their last Bay Area store at San Mateo Fashion Island. In 1983, Bullock's exited the Bay Area market with Nordstrom purchasing most of their locations. Although the reason why Bullock's left this store open for an additional 3 years wasn't clear. Some speculate it was due to them needing to keep a presence in Northern California for credit card holders. Others speculate it was the Hahn Company (owners of San Mateo Fashion Island) forcing them to keep the store open for 5 years.

The Bullock's in Southern California were eventually purchased by the parent of Macy's and ultimately assimilated into Macy's. Bullock's is just a retail memory.

Enjoy,
Scott