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 housed a succession of tenants, its final one being Sports Authority, and its building sits vacant. It will be demolished, along with the former Old Navy building, as part of the mall's upcoming expansion. 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 million, 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, Bottega Veneta, Versace, Giorgio Armani, Tory Burch, Salvatore Ferragamo, 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 Gapclothing 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, adding anchor storesBloomingdale's and Eataly, 100 shops, and a 3000 space parking structure. Westfield was granted approval for the expansion by the city of San Jose in November 2007. It was to be completed by September 2011. However, the expansion was put on hold in 2008 due to the global recession. In Spring of 2015, Westfield unveiled new plans for a $1.1 billion expansion:
A three-level, 150,000 square foot Bloomingdale'sdepartment store, which opened on March 5th, 2020
A Showplace ICON luxury cinema
500,022 square feet of new interior shop space, adding 100+ new stores
An outdoor Restaurant Collection fronting Stevens Creek Boulevard
Eataly will open a 51,000 square feet location, opening in 2021
An expanded Luxury Collection, hosting brands such as Gucci, a Flagship Tiffany & Co., Bvlgari, and more
A state-of-the-art digitally native vertical brands precinct, The Digital District
Construction of the expansion began in 2016, with the new parking garage being completed in Fall of 2016. The expansion is complete as of March 5th, 2020..
