I am so glad you were to make a video and do an episode on this mall. It was my mall. I grew up down the street from the mall, and used to ride my bike there or walk the short distance down Pruneridge Ave and TanTau. I often went as a kid, and remember Sear's from the 70s, and did my shopping there as an adult too. My father used to work at Sear's. I got my first job there in the food court at a yogurt shop near JCPenny's in summer 1986. I bought my first record at the Tower Records near JCPenny's in 1983. I watched the mall go through all of its changes. In the 90s, it repurposed in some places, bringing in the Comic Book Store, another record store, and Fresh Choice near Sear's. The food court was remade into an arcade and bowling alley. I had a Glamour Shots picture done there in the mid-90s. I got a second job there in 1993 doing marketing research by asking people questions in the mall. Across the street, I would ice skate at the Ice Capades, and later started the tradition of having a dinner at Bennihana's on my birthday which has continued for almost 30 years now. It was the center of my life if you can say that for any mall. I drove past it yesterday since I'd been seeing the demolition had been going on in the news. It is gone. Completely knocked down and gone. The bridge over Wolfe Rd. was shown in a fast demolition video that got shared on FB with my friends. The bridge had a fabulous 50s dinner called the Wolfe Cafe that I have great memories with dinning with my Dad at. They had the best french onion soup and burgers. It had been the center of most of my life, and it's gone now. So thank you so much for documenting this mall. At least that way, people watching will understand what it was like for people like me that got to enjoy the mall through it's time that it was the center of my neighborhood and town.
Man, I sure spent a ton of time there in the 80s and 90s. I could speak about it for hours but to type it all would be a hellacious ramble. Many happy memories.
I used to go here in the 90s as a kid . I remembered the arcade and KB toy store and EB games and much more . Love this place . Thanks for this video it brought back priceless memories
Awesome vid. I worked at this AMC from 2014 until it closed in 2018. We, the employees, had an option to either get transfered to Saratoga 14 or Mercado 20 or to quit. That first store wasn't a arcade it was a Payless Shoe Source. Next to Cold Stone was a Cinnabon. I remember where a lot the stores were. I miss when this place was packed and hanging out at the Warehouse music store and the old school Hot Topic 😏🥺
Thanks for posting video of the Vallco mall. I went Homestead High School in Cupertino. So i Use to go & hangout with my friends on the weekends back in the late ‘70’s, ‘80’s ‘90’s and to early ‘2000. I had my bike stolen here one time and i had to call the police. I like shopping at Comics Store near the Sears. Also bought my original Xbox game system at Gamestop, also in 2013 purchased my twin Sealy pillow top mattress & box spring bed set at Sears still have my bed and still using it.
Vallco was one of my favorite destinations as a kid. I knew that place like the back of my hand. There was a store selling kid's shoes that also sold Thomas Wooden Railway toys, the Toy Train Operating Society (a model train club that is still searching for a new home), a store selling old toys and sports cards, Pretzel Time (where I got many an ICEE), the AMC Theater (where I saw many movies such as Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Pacific Rim, Godzilla, and Sausage Party; the last movie I ever saw there was the Fathom Events presentation of the George Takei musical Allegience), Famous Footwear, Fresh Choice, Bowlmor Lanes (which is still there; I remember as a little kid, it was Tilt Family Entertainment Center), TGI Fridays, the three anchor stores (JC Penney, Macy's, and Sears), the old Hallmark Store that eventually became Inside Line Racing (an RC car racing club that did car rentals and birthday parties; they moved to Westgate Mall after their lease at Vallco was terminated, then moved to somewhere on Monterey Highway, and are now just gone), Sal's Diner (which I ate in once, and remember that the space sat vacant for years), Legends Games & Comics (which is now a local chain operating at Valley Fair, Oakridge, Eastridge, and the Great Mall; Vallco is still referenced in their email address), and Village Rugs (we knew the guy who ran it). The last time I was ever in the mall was to see the aforementioned Fathom Events presentation, the theater being the only public area left open inside the mall proper. It was as beautiful in death as it was in life. The only tenants left at what's left of the mall these days are Bowlmor Lanes, Benihana, and the ice rink; the mall west of Wolfe Road is now completely gone, taking with it innumerable childhood memories. The east side is still standing because that's where the ice rink and bowling alley are located (Benihana is in an external building), but the mall area (including JC Penney and the food court that was added in later years) are sealed off. Vallco's death can mainly be attributed to the fact the mid-level stores didn't reflect the affluence of the surrounding populace. In the mall's later years, people gravitated towards Valley Fair down the road (which is positively thriving these days, having had numerous expansions including a movie theater, parking garage, and Bloomingdale's), as well as Westgate Center near Saratoga.
i worked at jc penny when i was 19 then at sears for a bit.. i would go to this malll all the time when i was a lil kid with my mom and sisters then when i became a teenager i would hang out with friends here ... there was an arcade place called tilt with an ice skating ring around the corner and a pizza place...
I was only ten years ago that my kids were taking Saturday morning lessons at the Ice Center; and I shopped for clothes at the JC Penny. There was a trellis lined walkway covered in wisteria vines leading to the entrance of JC Penny.
I actually worked at that mall for 2 years at Grain D' Ore. It was the last bakery/deli/store standing before they tore it down. They had amazing sandwiches and fresh breads with a full cafe on the second floor. I loved working for them. Their bread was great and the deli was awesome for sandwiches, salads and soups. They used to put fresh sprouts on almost every sandwich which was authentic and you can watch them making your sandwiches. It was a nice little Deli and honestly, we were the busiest on the second floor. I miss the bridge that was connected to the parking garage. They also had an amazingly popular Sushi Bar near the exit/entrance too!
I remember being a kid and coming to Vallco for trick or treating every Halloween for a few years - we would go from store to store and collect candy, then do the same in our neighborhoods. Then once AMC came we would watch movies over there every so often. I didn't get to experience the mall during it's prime in the 80s and 90s, but whatever I could do it was awesome.
There was never an arcade by the AMC -- the most they had were a few machines floating around the area, being crane machines or similar, and at one point a tornado simulator. The actual arcade was somewhere where Bowlmore Lanes ended up, which got torn down to make space for the Bowling Alley that was never going to be successful in the first place (there were several bowling alleys in the area, and they were all failing -- hard to believe one that is situated in a mall was going to be any better). The actual arcade and AMC never existed in the mall together at the same time. What was pointed to as the Arcade might have been the Armorgeddon...? It was either there or the next stall over, and it sold armor (plate mail, chain mail, blades, etc.) Sears was never replaced by the Bay Club -- they ended up cutting a chunk of the original Sears store to add the Bay Club in, but Sears was actually still running for awhile after the Bay Club was added in. I'm not sure what the blocked out glass area for the Sears was... but I'm pretty sure at some point it was where all of the mechanic tools were sold, or similar items to that for machinery or outdoors gardening. They may have shifted inventory around several times for all I know It's funny hearing the Vallco signage being called "vintage"... most of them were... newer signage... pfft. They did use the old logo and maybe touched it up a bit, but it's *nothing* in comparison to the old one that was in neon with something that was representative of the shape of fountains behind it (several arches in a nice pattern). All of the new signs had white lettering and a red backdrop -- reminiscent of the time they attempted to rebrand Vallco into Cupertino Square - hence the square shape behind the logo. Everyone hated it, so they changed it back to Vallco. They never fixed up the old signage, only replaced them with cheaper/low-cost/low-effort signage Underneath Benihana was an Ice Skating Rink. That is what sat beside the Bowlmore lanes on the lower floor. And you could only access the Ice Rink from the floor above, so you had to walk down some stairs located in the mall to get there Thanks for the maps near the end -- I actually completely forgot that Bowlmore Lanes was STRIKE at some point. Look at how quickly those bowling alleys failed... LOL. Also showed were some features I was forgetting the location of were There were any number of controversial things going on with the latter stages of Vallco. People wanted the mall to stay, but developers wanted something else instead, such as residential or offices. And all of that was being pushed back on because it was supposedly going to decrease the value of homes in the area. So... yeah, the developers seem to have wanted the mall to fail just to justify tearing it all down to build whatever the hell they wanted since they were getting pushback from residents. It's all sorts of disappointing. Which gets worse since you have Apple over there on the other side of the freeway documenting how Vallco was founded (along with the temporary rebrand, I think) on a placard along the street - then you read how it's "across the freeway" and Vallco just... isn't there anymore. LOL. But yeah... destined to fail...? I think that one is maybe a bit debatable. There were definitely circumstances that lead to its decline, such as Valley Fair developing pretty spectacularly and another shopping center opening up on the other side in Palo Alto; however, the management was honestly quite terrible near the end, and they really didn't know what they were doing. Not to mention developers wanted to get rid of the mall in the first place, so they might have been undermining the operations a little as well by choosing less than spectacular/nonsensical options that would still look like they were trying to garner good will. There were some ridiculous things going on with insane rent hikes during a recession, and the entire lower floor just being removed for... not much reason explained. Everything on the lower floor between Sears and Macy's just not existing was basically gutting 1/4th ~ 1/3rd of the entire mall for almost no reason. It's a HUGE chunk of retail space that suddenly went poof, with no plans on what they were going to do with it and no intention of fixing anything if there was anything wrong. And it was left that way for... I'd say a bit more than a decade. What. In. The. World. Were. They. Doing?!?!?!! - except we know now that they were intentionally getting the mall to fail to demolish it, so that's basically answered
I used to come down with whole family in Vallco Mall on SEARS, JC Pennies and Fresh Restaurant Stores, but also, Pizza Hut across the street. We used spending hours and Children Horses Caroussels. in the middle of the Mall. I have some video from the time in the Mid 90's Really very sad history. The Economic impact in its time amde a Cupertino a nice City to come down to have fun. Great from my children's childhood.
I grew up in that mall, went to Sears when that was the only store and my first job was at "Coney Island Hotdogs" that was just outside of the Sears store entrance into the mall. Great times through the 70's. I can remember when they built the flyover Wolf road to what would become an ice rink. I graduated from Cupertino high in 1980 and shortly after that left the area. It's crazy how much the area has changed. The biggest thing I hated see go though was Tower Records and their infamous "headshop" 😮 I loved growing up in the 60s thru 80s in Cupertino.
I totally got lost and parked in that empty garage, looking for access to Dynasty. (I’m from out of town.) I have to say the mall was creepy at night but the food at Dynasty was amazing !!!
I remember being a community college student at De Anza, all the weebs (me) would walk, bike, drive, or bus to the mall to go to Legends for card games, board games, and anime goods. I also remember buying my first high-end folding bike at a bike shop nearby there; it was a Montague Navigator! I ended up losing the bike within a year because some drunk driver ran it over when I stepped off of it to take photos on highway 1.
I got my first ever 3 piece suit as a gift from my brother from this JC Penny store. The AMC, when it was open was one of the best movie theaters around due to the ease of access and parking.
This my favorite shopping mall to hangout back in the 1980’s & 90’s They Paramont Imports, had really cool gadgets, water bong smoking glass pipes, foreign gifts of all types sexy posters to Star Trek & Star Wars, I bought my 1978 Darth Vader costume helmet from their, Legends comic shop was there too they had everything, then across from there was Games Workshop store that sold board games, Books & miniatures, also there was another board gaming store that sold D&D books, modules & metal gaming miniatures, and traditional old time favorites. Now in 2022- 23, they demolished & flattened it. I need to take a look what they put it in place. I bought my first original Xbox game system from GameStop or KayBee toy store. My Cannondale mtn bike got stolen there had it locked up Focking thieves.
I had to watchthis again after remembering it ice skating there during the 80s and 90s. I even visited it as a dead mall in 2014. I would say that the growth and development of valley fair and Santana row down stevens creek was what killed vallco imo. Just like how the development and growth of the Irvine spectrum killed Laguna hills mall.
2024 update. The Vallco Shopping Mall has been bulldozed and a multi-use development called "The Rise" is replacing it. I grew up in the Santa Clara Valley during the 1970s/1980s, lived there until 2005, and went to this mall many times. All the times I went to Vallco never once did I see it busy, it was doomed from the beginning.
Spent a lot of time there with family as a kid in the late 80's and 90's before I moved out of state. Weird how many old store locations I could remember from nearly 30 years ago. Still depressing to see what became of it. Seems like another victim of what's become of Cupertino as a whole. So much of the working class has been driven away by crazy high housing prices and other expenses. I only have one family member left in the whole valley now. Thanks for making this, though, very well done and good research through the historic archives.
Valco is/was really odd and died a verrrrrrrrrry slow death. They just kept moving stores to the upper floor and renovating constantly. Very very very odd
13:05 And that's the lot I always parked in when I did go there, never went anywhere else, if it was full I'd just circle, around and around and around...lol A spot usually opened up pretty quickly, but I liked that entrance for some reason. Easy to get in, easy to get out I guess.
I dropped by recently. Hotel by the giant vallco signage is finished, half of the mall was demolished and it’s mostly just dirt now (the Dynasty Restaurant side of the mall/Bay Club). Makes me so sad. I miss dropping by and walking around.
11:06 "I hope we weren't caught on too many of their cameras." This made me laugh because I worked there for a while during the decline. There hadn't been functioning cameras in there since 2010"
I've actually got three stories about this mall, the first one I'm not 100% sure about though, I thought it was the grand opening of the mall but I just looked and saw that the dates were off, maybe it was a grand opening for one of the stores, but I remember Darth Vader being there signing autographs, like I said, the dates don't match up, but he signed my balloon DVader, I was actually mad when me and my mom got home, I still remember saying "DVader, that's not the real Darth Vader" I really thought it would have been the real one....lol The second one is my mom was dating this shoe salesman at the mall, I remember going to see him when the mall was just being built, I remember when they put in those dual escalators outside Macy's, I still remember going down them when we left, but the guy was married so I don't think it was too serious, plus he was like really short, but they were having a contest where for one day you could be a ball boy for the Golden State Warriors, I thought it was a country wide thing, like something all the stores were doing, but I'm thinking it was just that one shoe store, but of course "I won", not sure how he rigged it but me and another kid got a free Adidas shirt, a free Adidas cap, and free Adidas shoes, and basically what we did was throw the balls back to the players during warm-ups, and sweep the key with a broom that had a towel wrapped around the head during any kind of break, and the court when someone fell, it was cool, we sat under the rim, and man, when they dunked, i thought the backboard was going to break a couple times, but I was a kid, and not too much into basketball, I was more a football kid, but I do remember seeing John Lucas and Robert Parish. The third story is actually pretty funny, and it shows how kids can be manipulative little brats...lol. I was walking through the mall and I was about twenty feet behind a mother and father, while their son was about five feet behind them, we were on the upper level about to turn the corner outside of Macy's, he looked to be about 3 or 4, he was walking but kind of unstable, like the waddle young kids do, but he was walking behind them and I can see that the turn was coming up but he didn't turn, something had caught his attention and he was looking somewhere else, so I'm walking behind them and I see this kid start walking at an angle heading towards one of the stores, I'm like, no, don't tell me he's actually going to do it, and about the time I said that, WHAM!, right into the edge of the store, not the door frame, more of the edge, you know how the front of the stores looked, but it was either the first or second store on the left in the picture, but there was this very loud thud, and the look on his face was priceless, it was so hard not to bust out laughing but he got this blank look on his face like, wtf just happened, just a total wth, I laugh at the memory, but I guess the parents realized what happened, they turn and they go, "ahhhhhhhhhhh, are you ok?" and that's when the kid burst out crying, I walked by saying under my breath, "faker" He was fine until they gave him attention, if they would have turned around and said something like, "come on, hurry up" and pretended they didn't hear it, he would have never started crying. 9:50 I was never really a fan of this mall, but the closing of the Sunnyvale Town Center, that one really hurt. sf.curbed.com/2018/10/12/17968200/demolition-vallco-mall-cupertino-nimbys-housing-silicon-valley
Former Cupertino High Schooler/resident here. Sad to see the state of things now at Vallco. Back in the day it was THE social/shopping mecca. I have great memories of working/shopping and hanging out here. Oh and...ugh, the background music/chanting is off putting.
We went back out to the area a month or two ago and saw the demolition. The hotel they built in the back of the parking lot was just a frame of a structure when we filmed this video.
So sad to see this mall dead. I went there a lot as a kid.
I am so glad you were to make a video and do an episode on this mall. It was my mall. I grew up down the street from the mall, and used to ride my bike there or walk the short distance down Pruneridge Ave and TanTau. I often went as a kid, and remember Sear's from the 70s, and did my shopping there as an adult too. My father used to work at Sear's. I got my first job there in the food court at a yogurt shop near JCPenny's in summer 1986. I bought my first record at the Tower Records near JCPenny's in 1983. I watched the mall go through all of its changes. In the 90s, it repurposed in some places, bringing in the Comic Book Store, another record store, and Fresh Choice near Sear's. The food court was remade into an arcade and bowling alley. I had a Glamour Shots picture done there in the mid-90s. I got a second job there in 1993 doing marketing research by asking people questions in the mall. Across the street, I would ice skate at the Ice Capades, and later started the tradition of having a dinner at Bennihana's on my birthday which has continued for almost 30 years now. It was the center of my life if you can say that for any mall. I drove past it yesterday since I'd been seeing the demolition had been going on in the news. It is gone. Completely knocked down and gone. The bridge over Wolfe Rd. was shown in a fast demolition video that got shared on FB with my friends. The bridge had a fabulous 50s dinner called the Wolfe Cafe that I have great memories with dinning with my Dad at. They had the best french onion soup and burgers. It had been the center of most of my life, and it's gone now. So thank you so much for documenting this mall. At least that way, people watching will understand what it was like for people like me that got to enjoy the mall through it's time that it was the center of my neighborhood and town.
Me too! My childhood mall memories. Great video.
Sheesh love the history I grew up in the 90s it was still full of life. I even remember the puppy store.
I grew up down the street that ran in front of Safeway, went to Arch Wilson elementary, it was an epic area to grow up in
Man, I sure spent a ton of time there in the 80s and 90s. I could speak about it for hours but to type it all would be a hellacious ramble. Many happy memories.
I miss when Legends Comics and Games had a gaming room here in the late 00s early 10s
I used to go here in the 90s as a kid . I remembered the arcade and KB toy store and EB games and much more . Love this place . Thanks for this video it brought back priceless memories
Awesome vid. I worked at this AMC from 2014 until it closed in 2018. We, the employees, had an option to either get transfered to Saratoga 14 or Mercado 20 or to quit. That first store wasn't a arcade it was a Payless Shoe Source. Next to Cold Stone was a Cinnabon. I remember where a lot the stores were. I miss when this place was packed and hanging out at the Warehouse music store and the old school Hot Topic 😏🥺
After the Payless closed it was converted into "Armorgeddon" which sold a variety of mall ninja stuff.
Thanks for posting video of the Vallco mall. I went Homestead High School in Cupertino. So i Use to go & hangout with my friends on the weekends back in the late ‘70’s, ‘80’s ‘90’s and to early ‘2000. I had my bike stolen here one time and i had to call the police. I like shopping at Comics Store near the Sears. Also bought my original Xbox game system at Gamestop, also in 2013 purchased my twin Sealy pillow top mattress & box spring bed set at Sears still have my bed and still using it.
All that’s left is the Sign on highway 280 and the bowling alley, Miss going there all those years!✨
Vallco was one of my favorite destinations as a kid. I knew that place like the back of my hand. There was a store selling kid's shoes that also sold Thomas Wooden Railway toys, the Toy Train Operating Society (a model train club that is still searching for a new home), a store selling old toys and sports cards, Pretzel Time (where I got many an ICEE), the AMC Theater (where I saw many movies such as Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Pacific Rim, Godzilla, and Sausage Party; the last movie I ever saw there was the Fathom Events presentation of the George Takei musical Allegience), Famous Footwear, Fresh Choice, Bowlmor Lanes (which is still there; I remember as a little kid, it was Tilt Family Entertainment Center), TGI Fridays, the three anchor stores (JC Penney, Macy's, and Sears), the old Hallmark Store that eventually became Inside Line Racing (an RC car racing club that did car rentals and birthday parties; they moved to Westgate Mall after their lease at Vallco was terminated, then moved to somewhere on Monterey Highway, and are now just gone), Sal's Diner (which I ate in once, and remember that the space sat vacant for years), Legends Games & Comics (which is now a local chain operating at Valley Fair, Oakridge, Eastridge, and the Great Mall; Vallco is still referenced in their email address), and Village Rugs (we knew the guy who ran it).
The last time I was ever in the mall was to see the aforementioned Fathom Events presentation, the theater being the only public area left open inside the mall proper. It was as beautiful in death as it was in life. The only tenants left at what's left of the mall these days are Bowlmor Lanes, Benihana, and the ice rink; the mall west of Wolfe Road is now completely gone, taking with it innumerable childhood memories. The east side is still standing because that's where the ice rink and bowling alley are located (Benihana is in an external building), but the mall area (including JC Penney and the food court that was added in later years) are sealed off.
Vallco's death can mainly be attributed to the fact the mid-level stores didn't reflect the affluence of the surrounding populace. In the mall's later years, people gravitated towards Valley Fair down the road (which is positively thriving these days, having had numerous expansions including a movie theater, parking garage, and Bloomingdale's), as well as Westgate Center near Saratoga.
i worked at jc penny when i was 19 then at sears for a bit.. i would go to this malll all the time when i was a lil kid with my mom and sisters then when i became a teenager i would hang out with friends here ... there was an arcade place called tilt with an ice skating ring around the corner and a pizza place...
I was only ten years ago that my kids were taking Saturday morning lessons at the Ice Center; and I shopped for clothes at the JC Penny. There was a trellis lined walkway covered in wisteria vines leading to the entrance of JC Penny.
I actually worked at that mall for 2 years at Grain D' Ore. It was the last bakery/deli/store standing before they tore it down. They had amazing sandwiches and fresh breads with a full cafe on the second floor. I loved working for them. Their bread was great and the deli was awesome for sandwiches, salads and soups. They used to put fresh sprouts on almost every sandwich which was authentic and you can watch them making your sandwiches. It was a nice little Deli and honestly, we were the busiest on the second floor. I miss the bridge that was connected to the parking garage. They also had an amazingly popular Sushi Bar near the exit/entrance too!
I ate at a sushi place when Vallco was still standing. It's the only mall i visited just only once. Lots of tenants there, lots of ppl.
I remember that place! It was right near the entrance on the second floor! That place was always busy! Literally packed all the time!
@@j.d.contreras392 wtf no... I'm talking about Kula (now Kura)
@j.d.contreras392 the very last time I went to Vallco was 2017.
Legit walked around not for long, and we exited.
I remember being a kid and coming to Vallco for trick or treating every Halloween for a few years - we would go from store to store and collect candy, then do the same in our neighborhoods. Then once AMC came we would watch movies over there every so often. I didn't get to experience the mall during it's prime in the 80s and 90s, but whatever I could do it was awesome.
I remember Vallco . . . such a busy mall in the 1980's.
There was never an arcade by the AMC -- the most they had were a few machines floating around the area, being crane machines or similar, and at one point a tornado simulator. The actual arcade was somewhere where Bowlmore Lanes ended up, which got torn down to make space for the Bowling Alley that was never going to be successful in the first place (there were several bowling alleys in the area, and they were all failing -- hard to believe one that is situated in a mall was going to be any better). The actual arcade and AMC never existed in the mall together at the same time. What was pointed to as the Arcade might have been the Armorgeddon...? It was either there or the next stall over, and it sold armor (plate mail, chain mail, blades, etc.)
Sears was never replaced by the Bay Club -- they ended up cutting a chunk of the original Sears store to add the Bay Club in, but Sears was actually still running for awhile after the Bay Club was added in. I'm not sure what the blocked out glass area for the Sears was... but I'm pretty sure at some point it was where all of the mechanic tools were sold, or similar items to that for machinery or outdoors gardening. They may have shifted inventory around several times for all I know
It's funny hearing the Vallco signage being called "vintage"... most of them were... newer signage... pfft. They did use the old logo and maybe touched it up a bit, but it's *nothing* in comparison to the old one that was in neon with something that was representative of the shape of fountains behind it (several arches in a nice pattern). All of the new signs had white lettering and a red backdrop -- reminiscent of the time they attempted to rebrand Vallco into Cupertino Square - hence the square shape behind the logo. Everyone hated it, so they changed it back to Vallco. They never fixed up the old signage, only replaced them with cheaper/low-cost/low-effort signage
Underneath Benihana was an Ice Skating Rink. That is what sat beside the Bowlmore lanes on the lower floor. And you could only access the Ice Rink from the floor above, so you had to walk down some stairs located in the mall to get there
Thanks for the maps near the end -- I actually completely forgot that Bowlmore Lanes was STRIKE at some point. Look at how quickly those bowling alleys failed... LOL. Also showed were some features I was forgetting the location of were
There were any number of controversial things going on with the latter stages of Vallco. People wanted the mall to stay, but developers wanted something else instead, such as residential or offices. And all of that was being pushed back on because it was supposedly going to decrease the value of homes in the area. So... yeah, the developers seem to have wanted the mall to fail just to justify tearing it all down to build whatever the hell they wanted since they were getting pushback from residents. It's all sorts of disappointing. Which gets worse since you have Apple over there on the other side of the freeway documenting how Vallco was founded (along with the temporary rebrand, I think) on a placard along the street - then you read how it's "across the freeway" and Vallco just... isn't there anymore. LOL. But yeah... destined to fail...? I think that one is maybe a bit debatable. There were definitely circumstances that lead to its decline, such as Valley Fair developing pretty spectacularly and another shopping center opening up on the other side in Palo Alto; however, the management was honestly quite terrible near the end, and they really didn't know what they were doing. Not to mention developers wanted to get rid of the mall in the first place, so they might have been undermining the operations a little as well by choosing less than spectacular/nonsensical options that would still look like they were trying to garner good will. There were some ridiculous things going on with insane rent hikes during a recession, and the entire lower floor just being removed for... not much reason explained. Everything on the lower floor between Sears and Macy's just not existing was basically gutting 1/4th ~ 1/3rd of the entire mall for almost no reason. It's a HUGE chunk of retail space that suddenly went poof, with no plans on what they were going to do with it and no intention of fixing anything if there was anything wrong. And it was left that way for... I'd say a bit more than a decade. What. In. The. World. Were. They. Doing?!?!?!! - except we know now that they were intentionally getting the mall to fail to demolish it, so that's basically answered
It was even dying in the early 2000s when I was a teenager. Sad to see it go but everyone knew it was a long time coming lol
So that's why there's a giant plot of land in the middle of Cupertino
I remember when the Sears store was built.
Wow i loved this mall!!
I used to come down with whole family in Vallco Mall on SEARS, JC Pennies and Fresh Restaurant Stores, but also, Pizza Hut across the street. We used spending hours and Children Horses Caroussels. in the middle of the Mall. I have some video from the time in the Mid 90's Really very sad history. The Economic impact in its time amde a Cupertino a nice City to come down to have fun. Great from my children's childhood.
I grew up in that mall, went to Sears when that was the only store and my first job was at "Coney Island Hotdogs" that was just outside of the Sears store entrance into the mall. Great times through the 70's. I can remember when they built the flyover Wolf road to what would become an ice rink. I graduated from Cupertino high in 1980 and shortly after that left the area. It's crazy how much the area has changed. The biggest thing I hated see go though was Tower Records and their infamous "headshop" 😮 I loved growing up in the 60s thru 80s in Cupertino.
this was my go to movie theatre . Could normally get tickets to big opening movies like MCU stuff . Great crowds there . Miss it .
I totally got lost and parked in that empty garage, looking for access to Dynasty. (I’m from out of town.) I have to say the mall was creepy at night but the food at Dynasty was amazing !!!
I remember being a community college student at De Anza, all the weebs (me) would walk, bike, drive, or bus to the mall to go to Legends for card games, board games, and anime goods.
I also remember buying my first high-end folding bike at a bike shop nearby there; it was a Montague Navigator! I ended up losing the bike within a year because some drunk driver ran it over when I stepped off of it to take photos on highway 1.
I got my first ever 3 piece suit as a gift from my brother from this JC Penny store. The AMC, when it was open was one of the best movie theaters around due to the ease of access and parking.
It’s totally gone now
This my favorite shopping mall to hangout back in the 1980’s & 90’s They Paramont Imports, had really cool gadgets, water bong smoking glass pipes, foreign gifts of all types sexy posters to Star Trek & Star Wars, I bought my 1978 Darth Vader costume helmet from their, Legends comic shop was there too they had everything, then across from there was Games Workshop store that sold board games, Books & miniatures, also there was another board gaming store that sold D&D books, modules & metal gaming miniatures, and traditional old time favorites. Now in 2022- 23, they demolished & flattened it. I need to take a look what they put it in place. I bought my first original Xbox game system from GameStop or KayBee toy store. My Cannondale mtn bike got stolen there had it locked up Focking thieves.
I had to watchthis again after remembering it ice skating there during the 80s and 90s. I even visited it as a dead mall in 2014. I would say that the growth and development of valley fair and Santana row down stevens creek was what killed vallco imo. Just like how the development and growth of the Irvine spectrum killed Laguna hills mall.
I like this mall a lot.
2024 update.
The Vallco Shopping Mall has been bulldozed and a multi-use development called "The Rise" is replacing it.
I grew up in the Santa Clara Valley during the 1970s/1980s, lived there until 2005, and went to this mall many times.
All the times I went to Vallco never once did I see it busy, it was doomed from the beginning.
Use to go there and play video games at the arcade as a kid, then as I got older use to go talk to girls and get numbers. Gonna miss that place...
Spent a lot of time there with family as a kid in the late 80's and 90's before I moved out of state. Weird how many old store locations I could remember from nearly 30 years ago. Still depressing to see what became of it. Seems like another victim of what's become of Cupertino as a whole. So much of the working class has been driven away by crazy high housing prices and other expenses. I only have one family member left in the whole valley now. Thanks for making this, though, very well done and good research through the historic archives.
Valco is/was really odd and died a verrrrrrrrrry slow death. They just kept moving stores to the upper floor and renovating constantly. Very very very odd
Fantastic Video! Thanks a million
13:05
And that's the lot I always parked in when I did go there, never went anywhere else, if it was full I'd just circle, around and around and around...lol A spot usually opened up pretty quickly, but I liked that entrance for some reason. Easy to get in, easy to get out I guess.
I dropped by recently. Hotel by the giant vallco signage is finished, half of the mall was demolished and it’s mostly just dirt now (the Dynasty Restaurant side of the mall/Bay Club). Makes me so sad. I miss dropping by and walking around.
11:06 "I hope we weren't caught on too many of their cameras." This made me laugh because I worked there for a while during the decline. There hadn't been functioning cameras in there since 2010"
There was a sushi restaurant and a fresh choice here. I loved those places as a kid.
This is the only dead mall I have been to, lucky the staff kept it clean unlike others like in Ohio
That's amazing this mall that is in the heart of the World's technology is dead like the malls of the Rust Belt.
They built a fancier mall “Main street” nearby.
8:51 - That's the former Victoria's Secret store, and right across the street is the former The Limited Too.
I've actually got three stories about this mall, the first one I'm not 100% sure about though, I thought it was the grand opening of the mall but I just looked and saw that the dates were off, maybe it was a grand opening for one of the stores, but I remember Darth Vader being there signing autographs, like I said, the dates don't match up, but he signed my balloon DVader, I was actually mad when me and my mom got home, I still remember saying "DVader, that's not the real Darth Vader" I really thought it would have been the real one....lol
The second one is my mom was dating this shoe salesman at the mall, I remember going to see him when the mall was just being built, I remember when they put in those dual escalators outside Macy's, I still remember going down them when we left, but the guy was married so I don't think it was too serious, plus he was like really short, but they were having a contest where for one day you could be a ball boy for the Golden State Warriors, I thought it was a country wide thing, like something all the stores were doing, but I'm thinking it was just that one shoe store, but of course "I won", not sure how he rigged it but me and another kid got a free Adidas shirt, a free Adidas cap, and free Adidas shoes, and basically what we did was throw the balls back to the players during warm-ups, and sweep the key with a broom that had a towel wrapped around the head during any kind of break, and the court when someone fell, it was cool, we sat under the rim, and man, when they dunked, i thought the backboard was going to break a couple times, but I was a kid, and not too much into basketball, I was more a football kid, but I do remember seeing John Lucas and Robert Parish.
The third story is actually pretty funny, and it shows how kids can be manipulative little brats...lol. I was walking through the mall and I was about twenty feet behind a mother and father, while their son was about five feet behind them, we were on the upper level about to turn the corner outside of Macy's, he looked to be about 3 or 4, he was walking but kind of unstable, like the waddle young kids do, but he was walking behind them and I can see that the turn was coming up but he didn't turn, something had caught his attention and he was looking somewhere else, so I'm walking behind them and I see this kid start walking at an angle heading towards one of the stores, I'm like, no, don't tell me he's actually going to do it, and about the time I said that, WHAM!, right into the edge of the store, not the door frame, more of the edge, you know how the front of the stores looked, but it was either the first or second store on the left in the picture, but there was this very loud thud, and the look on his face was priceless, it was so hard not to bust out laughing but he got this blank look on his face like, wtf just happened, just a total wth, I laugh at the memory, but I guess the parents realized what happened, they turn and they go, "ahhhhhhhhhhh, are you ok?" and that's when the kid burst out crying, I walked by saying under my breath, "faker" He was fine until they gave him attention, if they would have turned around and said something like, "come on, hurry up" and pretended they didn't hear it, he would have never started crying.
9:50
I was never really a fan of this mall, but the closing of the Sunnyvale Town Center, that one really hurt.
sf.curbed.com/2018/10/12/17968200/demolition-vallco-mall-cupertino-nimbys-housing-silicon-valley
Can you do eastridge mall in the early 90s
I found this subject very interesting, but the audio was difficult to listen to. Please Bing "p-pops".
2:08 that was vaLLCO?
Former Cupertino High Schooler/resident here. Sad to see the state of things now at Vallco. Back in the day it was THE social/shopping mecca. I have great memories of working/shopping and hanging out here. Oh and...ugh, the background music/chanting is off putting.
The music is awful and very distracting, it is also as loud as the narration making it difficult to hear over the annoying screeching noises.
that Alexander steakhouse barely lasted and used to be an El torito's
that used to be my third favorite restaurant growing up.
My number one favorite was fresh choice which was also at the small and went bankrupt around the time this mall died
Its coming down
Got any photos from on the ground? When does the demolition start?
I think they started 2 weeks ago
We went back out to the area a month or two ago and saw the demolition. The hotel they built in the back of the parking lot was just a frame of a structure when we filmed this video.