BIGMallrat | Retail history of Northern California

Published August 8, 2025 In 1982, Hillsdale Mall in San Mateo unveiled a sleek new identity. What was once a postwar, open-air shopping center had just completed a massive 1981 transformation—fully enclosed and remodeled to compete with the newly opened San Mateo Fashion Island mall just down the road. This wasn’t just cosmetic. The remodel signaled Hillsdale’s evolution from a neighborhood mall to a full-fledged suburban shopping destination. And central to this new era? The 1982 Hillsdale Mall directory—a compact, graphic time capsule that captured the mall’s modern two-level layout, new design, and most importantly, the retail names that shaped its golden age. Mall map & directory Scan of Hillsdale Mall’s 1982 directory, showing major stores like Nordstrom, Sears, and the newly enclosed layout. The 1982 directory featured anchor stores that reflected Hillsdale’s upgraded ambitions: Mall enclosure and expanded with a new second-level Nordstrom, which had just opened as pa...

Published: October 10, 2006 · Last updated: September 20, 2026 Once a quiet dairy farm on the edge of San Mateo, California, the site of Hillsdale Mall would grow into one of the most recognizable shopping destinations on the San Francisco Peninsula. From its sun-soaked, open-air roots in the 1950s to its glossy, two-story expansion in the 1980s, Hillsdale mirrored the rise of suburbia, mall culture, and regional retail identity. Today, we look back at Hillsdale’s transformation—through archival detail—with a few personal glimpses of what it was like to experience the center during its retail heyday. 1954: A mall grows in San Mateo When Hillsdale Mall officially opened in November 1954, it marked more than the debut of a shopping plaza—it reflected California’s postwar suburban boom. Developed by David D. Bohannon on what had once been a dairy farm, the center was anchored by a brand-new Macy’s, which opened on November 19. Hillsdale’s retail story had begun earlier, however, with a...