Vallco is now Cupertino Square

Did you know that Vallco Fashion Park has a new name? It's now Cupertino Square.

They're adding a new 16-screen AMC movie theatre, 2 hotels, new restaurants, and a 38,000-square-foot upscale bowling alley. Read more here in this article from the Cupertino Courier. The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office is also adding a 600-square-foot substation. There's also talk of changing the name of Vallco Parkway to Cupertino Parkway. The movie theater is slated to open at the end of April.

Whatever did "Vallco" mean anyway?

Mary and I were just there a few weeks ago for dinner with my dad. I was there a lot as a kid and it was a favorite hang-out spot. I've been there very sparsely in the past ten years and each time I've gone back, the place slipped a little farther into obscurity. I thought that the place would get the wrecking ball before long, but I'd be amazed to see it still standing each time I passed by.

There are only a handful of stores open there right now. It's a very eerie and strange feeling to go there with most of the lots empty.

That whole shopping area is getting a huge facelift... rather that area's been getting upgrades for the past few years. It's really looking more and more upscale each year.

QUOTE (Sheldon @ Apr 18 2007, 03:13 PM)

Whatever did \\"Vallco\\" mean anyway?

If you read the article, you'd know.

The letters in Vallco stand for the original owners of the land the mall stands on: the VA stands for Varian Associates, and the LLCO for the Leonard, Lester, Craft and Orlando families.

This Wikipedia entry states, "By 2006, Vallco had the lowest occupancy rate of any mall in the area, at just 24 percent."

I prefer going to the Macys at Vallco rather than the one at Valley Fair or Oakridge because of the lack of traffic. I HATE driving through busy mall parking lots and avoid it at all costs. I have run into too many people who are total jerks and don't even slow down or stop for stop signs anymore. They don't even bother looking for cross-traffic. They act as if they have the right of way because they're special and everyone else is not.

This post has been edited by mobyfan on Apr 18 2007, 05:19 PM

But there's still no driving force for me to go there. There are tons of theaters in the West San Jose/Campbell area. As far as restaurants, there's nothing really there that I can't get near me. What's going to be the draw? I guess the people in Cupertino who usually come to our neck of the woods will just go there now I guess.

Last I heard, the food court contained only Asian food. It's definitely marketing towards the Asian, or probably more accurately, Chinese audience. Am I correct in my assumption?

QUOTE (tammlewis @ Apr 18 2007, 04:17 PM)

Last I heard, the food court contained only Asian food. It's definitely marketing towards the Asian, or probably more accurately, Chinese audience. Am I correct in my assumption?

The last few owners have been Asian and Cupertino is made up of 90% Asian residents. According to Wikipedia, "The mall is managed by Landmark Property Management and owned by a group of local investors led by Alan Wong, Emily Chen, and John Nguyen."

It's good news to me that they're adding more restaurants to Vallco since I work for a company that was recently acquired by HP and will be moving to the Cupertino campus a block away from Vallco. I'm not that impressed with most of the restaurants at Cupertino Village (the shopping center with Ranch 99). I hope Vallco adds better restaurants. I'm sad to be moving away from Mountain View, where Castro has so many good restaurants. Cupertino has mostly Asian restaurants and American chains that I think are just okay, but nothing I'd go out of my way to eat at. The exception is Alexander's Steakhouse (mmm...) but at $50-100, I can't afford to eat there that often.

Yes, Castro Street is great for Asian cuisine. And even the American food places are pretty good like Tied House. Also, Don Giovanni is pretty good for Italian. And there are some good bookstores, coffee places, etc. that make Castro Street a better place to hang out. Last, but not least, are Fiesta Del Mar's margaritas. Wow.

Vive Sol and La Fiesta also have really good Mexican food and drinks.

This post has been edited by mobyfan on Apr 24 2007, 12:33 PM

QUOTE (tammlewis @ Apr 18 2007, 04:17 PM)

Last I heard, the food court contained only Asian food. It's definitely marketing towards the Asian, or probably more accurately, Chinese audience. Am I correct in my assumption?

Well, the food court is closed for the time being. I haven't seen what it looked like before it closed though and the last time I was there, it was your standard food court with Sbarro exit stage right and a Panda Express somewhere in the middle.

QUOTE (Sheldon @ Apr 24 2007, 03:39 PM)

Well, the food court is closed for the time being.

There was a food court?

I dined at TGI Friday's last night and overheard a rumor that they're adding an H&M store. That would be awesome but if they were going to add an H&M, I'd expect it to be in Valley Fair, not Vallco. For those who don't know, it's like the Ikea of clothes. They have low price points starting from $10-$15 and often have special cheaper lines from designers like Stella McCartney, Madonna, and Karl Lagerfeld. It's kind of like a really nice Ross.

I was at Santana Row yesterday and they are definitely getting an H&M. I think the Vallco location was just a rumor.

QUOTE (mobyfan @ May 7 2007, 01:18 PM)

I was at Santana Row yesterday and they are definitely getting an H&M.

What's H&M?

I think they should get rid of the Bang Bang and Tiara Town shops. I can't picture anyone wearing the apparel that they sell at Bang Bangs and Tiara Town is just a bunch of useless chotchkies... Oh, I can't forget the area rug shop that has been going-out-of-business for some years now or the stand that sells the fake pony-tails/wigs. Don't get me wrong, i'm all for the non-chain stores but these places belong at the flea market. How on earth did they ever survive the Vallco recession?

QUOTE (Sheldon @ May 7 2007, 02:53 PM)

What's H&M?

See my entry 4 boxes above, Apr 28 2007, 09:56 PM.

This post has been edited by mobyfan on May 11 2007, 03:28 PM

QUOTE (Marisol @ May 11 2007, 02:00 PM)

I think they should get rid of the Bang Bang and Tiara Town shops.

Can't say I ever shopped there, or even knew those existed. I mainly went to the anchor stores because it beats going to a crowded mall like Valley Fair or Oakridge.

This post has been edited by mobyfan on May 11 2007, 03:30 PM