Westfield Valley Fair

Westfield Valley Fair

Location	San Jose and Santa Clara, California, USA
Address	2855 Stevens Creek Blvd Santa Clara, CA 95050
Opening date	1986
Developer	The Hahn Company
Management	Westfield Group
Owner	Westfield Group
No. of stores and services	273
No. of anchor tenants	5
Total retail floor area	1,497,728 sq ft (139,143.5 m2)
No. of floors	2
Parking	7,692
Website	Official Website

Westfield Valley Fair, formerly named and known as Valley Fair, is an upscale indoor shopping mall in San Jose, California, United States, owned by the Westfield Group. It is located in the heart of Silicon Valley, at the corner of Winchester and Stevens Creek Boulevards, straddling the border of San Jose and Santa Clara. The eastern portion of the mall (including Nordstrom and Macy's women) is located in San Jose, and the western portion (including Macy's Mens & Home and Sports Authority) is located in Santa Clara.

Westfield Valley Fair is one of the largest malls in Northern California, and is directly across the street from another large upscale retail development, Santana Row. It has the highest-sales volume in the state with $1,150 per square foot. The shopping center consists of 273 stores, a seventeen-outlet food court, nine restaurants, and is anchored by two Macy's stores and Nordstrom.

Anchors

• Macy's - 396,000 sq ft (36,800 m²)
• Macy's Mens and Home - 316,000 sq ft (29,400 m²)
• Nordstrom - 220,000 sq ft (20,000 m²)
• Sports Authority - 31,075 sq ft (2,887.0 m²)

History

Westfield Valley Fair is unique in that it replaced two separate 1950s-era shopping centers. The original Valley Fair Shopping Center, opened in 1956, was confined to the eastern side of the property in San Jose. It was developed and anchored by Macy's and included roughly 40 other stores including Joseph Magnin in an outdoor plaza. At the western side was another outdoor shopping center, Stevens Creek Plaza in Santa Clara. It was anchored by The Emporium and I. Magnin. For that reason, the current mall contributes sales tax revenues to both the cities of San Jose and Santa Clara, and is regulated by both city governments.

In 1986, both centers were acquired and merged into one two-level enclosed mall by The Hahn Company, creating one of the most successful shopping centers in the country, called simply "Valley Fair". Nordstrom joined later in 1987, with I. Magnin closing its store in 1992. The former Emporium store became a second Macy's location in 1996, housing Macy's Men's & Home Store. The former I. Magnin store now houses Sports Authority.

In 1998, Westfield America, Inc., a predecessor of the Westfield Group and The Rouse Company acquired Valley Fair jointly from Hahn. Westfield bought out Rouse in 1999 and brought in an institutional investment partner to share its investment risk in this high-profile property. In 1998 the property was renamed Westfield Shoppingtown Valley Fair. Nordstrom replaced its location in 2001 during the grand opening of a new $165,000,000, two-phase redevelopment. The former Nordstrom reopened as additional mall retail space in the second phase in 2002. Westfield discontinued the "Shoppingtown" moniker in 2005.

A major remodel of the center commenced in 2013, bringing the mall a revamped "Dining Terrace" with local concepts alongside national chains, and a major reshuffling of tenants. Nordstrom was extensively remodeled, adding two new restaurant concepts and a completely revamped store design. The mall's lower level Nordstrom wing was reconfigured into a "Luxury Collection", with new luxury tenants like Balenciaga, Mulberry, Saint Laurent Paris, and Prada joining existing tenants Louis Vuitton and Tiffany & Co..

In 2012, San Jose raised its minimum wage to $10 USD an hour, but Santa Clara did not, leading to what the NPR Planet Money team dubbed "A Mall Divided," where workers on one side of the mall were being paid $2 less than the other side. A Gap clothing store located on the two city lines was required to either account for how long its employees spent in each city or raise its wages for all employees to the San Jose minimum wage; they chose to raise the wages.

Expansion

In 2007 Westfield announced major expansion plans which would increase the gross leaseable area to over 2,000,000 square feet (190,000 m²), adding anchor stores Bloomingdale's and Neiman Marcus, 95 world-class shops, and a 3000 space parking structure. Westfield was granted approval for the expansion by the city of San Jose in November 2007. The expansion was put on hold in 2008 due to the global recession.

In Spring of 2015, Westfield unveiled new plans for a $600 million expansion:

• A three-level, 150,000 square foot Bloomingdale's department store
• A new retail building with a PIRCH home furnishings store at ground level and a Showplace ICON luxury cinema above
• 265,000 square feet of new interior shop space, adding 100+ new stores
• An outdoor dining promenade fronting Stevens Creek Boulevard
• More than 3,000 new parking spaces

The expansion is slated for completion in 2017.

External links

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons

• Westfield Valley Fair Official Site
• History of Valley Fair Shopping Center
• Valley Fair Expansion Project at the Wayback Machine (archived 16 February 2009)