Westfield Valley Fair, commonly known as Valley Fair (the original name), is a prominent shopping mall in San Jose, California. Valley Fair is the largest mall, by area, in Northern California and has higher sales revenue than all other malls in California, including the two in Southern California which have larger area than Valley Fair.[3]
Westfield Valley Fair is unique in that it replaced two separate 1950s-era shopping centers.[citation needed]
In 1958, the original Valley Fair Shopping Center opened. It was confined to the eastern side of the property, in the city of San José. 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 the city of 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 José and Santa Clara, and is regulated by both city governments.[citation needed]
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", the name by which it has been universally known ever since.[citation needed]
In 1992, I. Magnin closed its store. The former I. Magnin building housed a succession of tenants, its final one being Sports Authority, before being demolished[when?].[citation needed]
In 1996, the former Emporium store became a second Macy's location, housing Macy's Men's & Home Store.[citation needed]
In 1998, Westfield America, Inc., a predecessor of the Westfield Group and The Rouse Company, acquired Valley Fair jointly from Hahn. Westfield would buy out Rouse in 1999 and bring 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. Westfield discontinued the "Shoppingtown" moniker in 2005.[citation needed]
In 2001, the mall commenced a US$165 million two-phase expansion project (equivalent to $293million in 2024), which began with the addition of a new second-level Dining Terrace, 80 new stores, three multi-level parking garages, and the relocation of the property's Nordstrom store to a new three-level, 230,000-square-foot (21,367.7m2) store to the northwest of its original store.[5] Phase Two brought the redevelopment of the former Nordstrom store and food court into an additional 30 stores, including a wing of shops facing the bordering Forest Avenue, and the addition of a Cheesecake Factory restaurant.[6]
Expansion
The north luxury cluster includes store like Cartier, Prada, and Burberry.The south luxury cluster has stores like Tiffany & Co, Versace, and Gucci.Outdoor restaurant plaza.The San Jose location of Din Tai Fung, ranked as one of the world's best restaurants by the New York Times.
In 2007, Westfield announced major expansion plans which would increase the gross leasable area to over 2,000,000 square feet (185,806.1m2), adding anchor stores Bloomingdale's and Neiman Marcus, 100 shops, and a 3000 space parking structure. Westfield was granted approval for the expansion by the city of San Jose in November 2007.[7] It was to be completed by September 2011.[8] However, the plans were postponed in May 2009 due to an ongoing recession.[9]
In 2012, San Jose raised its minimum wage to US$10 an hour (equivalent to $14in 2024), 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 (equivalent to $3in 2024). 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.[10] In 2022, the mall began charging for daily or monthly parking, which was criticized by mall employees.[11]
In 2013, a major remodel of the center commenced, bringing the mall a revamped "Dining Terrace" with local concepts alongside national chains, and a major reshuffling of tenants.[12]Nordstrom was extensively remodeled, adding two new restaurant concepts and a completely revamped store design.[5] The mall's lower level Nordstrom wing was reconfigured into a "Luxury Collection", with new luxury tenants like Mulberry, Saint Laurent Paris, Bottega Veneta, Versace, Giorgio Armani, Tory Burch, Salvatore Ferragamo, and Prada joining existing tenants Louis Vuitton and Tiffany & Co.[4]
In early 2015, Westfield unveiled a new proposal for a $1.1 billion expansion, which called for the addition of a three-level 150,000-square-foot (13,935.5m2)Bloomingdale's department store,[13] a Showplace Icon luxury cinema,[14] and the addition 500,022 square feet (46,453.6m2) of new interior shop space, adding over 100 new stores,[3] including an outdoor restaurant collection fronting Stevens Creek Boulevard, and 3,000+ new parking spaces.[15]
In 2019, the Showplace ICON cinema became the first tenant of the I. Magnin replacement building, followed by a Bowlero bowling alley, which opened in 2023.[16]
On March 5, 2020, the expansion and Bloomingdale's had its grand opening, creating a third interior thoroughfare and an outdoor dining district.[17] Several retailers opened in the months following the expansion, including relocated and larger Apple and Tiffany & Co. flagship retail stores,[18] with a 45,000-square-foot (4,200m2)Eataly food hall and market planned for the wing as well.[19] Eataly opened on June 16, 2022.[20]
Pandemic
By 2023, the mall had fully recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic and with the opening of its new expansion saw sales rise to 66% over 2019 levels.[21]
The mall's prosperity came at the expense of San Francisco's Union Square and its sibling mall Westfield San Francisco Centre to the north, which lost many retailers who either moved to or preferred to remain operating in Northern California only at Valley Fair.[21]
In June 2024, the Showplace ICON cinema closed, after parent company Kerasotes Theatres ceased operations and closed all locations.[22]Alamo Drafthouse took over the location and opened a theatre in June 2025.[23]
Shooting
On November 28, 2025, around 5:40 pm (17:40 PT), a shooting occurred during Black Friday sales at the mall. The SJPD said the shooting was "an isolated incident" and not an active shooter.[24]
Three people suffered gunshot wounds and were taken to the hospital, with mayor Matt Mahan announcing on X: "My prayers are with these victims and I know our officers are doing everything they can to find the person responsible and hold them accountable."[25][26]
The three victims were a man, woman, and 16-year-old girl, all with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds. Investigations by the San Jose Police Department indicate that the shooting suspect was in a verbal argument with the male victim, before then pulling out a gun and firing. The girl and woman are thought to have been hit by stray gunfire.[24]
The mall reopened the following day at noon, with mall security opening a temporary lost-and-found for patrons to "pick up the belongings they left behind during the emergency."[27] The incident was later determined by police to be a "gang-related altercation".[28]
On December 1, 2025, the SJPD arrested a suspect in the Black Friday shooting that left three people injured in the mall.[29][30][31]
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