The Week in Shopping: Malls Are Back (Again)

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Valley Fair is a perfect example of their investment thesis, and boasts all the ingredients necessary for a mall renaissance: high traffic, strong leases, and many thriving stores that benefit from adjacent food and beverage tenants. Photo: Paramount/Courtesy of Everett Collection
Sarah Shapiro
May 16, 2025

Westfield’s Valley Fair Mall, in Santa Clara, offers a fascinating case study in what it takes for a shopping mall to thrive these days. Westfield, which was absorbed into the multinational commercial real estate firm Unibail-Rodamco in 2018, has started to double down on its U.S. outposts—reversing plans for a near-total retreat from the States, and instead shedding underperforming properties while shoring up others. Valley Fair is a perfect example of their investment thesis, and boasts all the ingredients necessary for a mall renaissance: high traffic, strong leases, and many thriving stores that benefit from adjacent food and beverage tenants.