This field guide documents Nordstrom department store sites across the Northern California. Each entry records the building’s original anchor tenant, architectural context, and current use.
Unlike a corporate history, this guide focuses on the physical remains of the stores themselves—the structures that still shape mall corridors long after the signage has changed.
Many of these sites began as standalone Nordstrom stores, while others occupied earlier department store anchors such as Bullock's. Together, they form a layered record of retail development across postwar California malls.
Corte Madera
Opened September 20, 1985.
Palo Alto
Opened November 9, 1984. The third location for the chain.
Pleasanton
Opened March 9, 1990 with a 160,000 sq. ft. store.
Roseville
Opened in 2001 with the last new mall to open in Northern California, the Galleria at Roseville.
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| Nordstrom at the Galleria at Roseville. |
Sacramento
San Francisco
Opened October 7, 1988 atop the vertical San Francisco Centre mall. Closed in 2023.
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| Nordstrom downtown San Francisco, atop the San Francisco Centre mall. |
San Francisco (Stonestown)
Opened April 15, 1988 with a 174,000 sq. ft. store, the first in San Francisco. Mervyn's first expressed interest in this site, but ultimately pulled out. A brick veneer was applied over the original Bullock's. The arrival of Nordstrom kicked off a major redevelopment of the aging shopping center with an enclosed galleria.
San Jose (Oakridge)
Opened October 15, 1985 with a 149,500 sq. ft. store. It was a former Bullock's, but when Nordstrom moved in, they removed the signature teflon tent in the center of the store. When it closed on March 31, 1995, it was replaced by Sears.
San Jose (Valley Fair)
Opened February 13, 1987. Closed when the chain moved to a larger location just next door.
San Jose (Valley Fair)
A move from the old store next door, this larger 225,000 sq. ft. store opened in March 2001.
San Mateo
Opened September 24, 1982. This was Nordstrom's debut in the region.
Walnut Creek
Opened at Broadway Plaza on August 31, 1984, replacing a former Bullock's. This was the second location for the chain.
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| A former Bullock's in Walnut Creek's Broadway Plaza, now Nordstrom. |
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