From the Hot Air post linked above:
And yet, there are some hints that maybe it is the conditions that are driving this. People are still going to the mall, just not in downtown San Francisco. An hour south in more suburban San Jose the Westfield owned mall is booming:
Westfield Valley Fair in San Jose has begun to attract visitors and retail activity at levels that top the big shopping mall’s activity even prior to the outbreak of the coronavirus.
The retail center is going through a stretch where it is attracting merchants at a brisk pace, according to Sue Newsom, senior general manager with Westfield Valley Fair…
“Our foot traffic has been exceptional,” Newsom said. “We now are way beyond our pre-COVID retail sales and foot traffic.”
I avoid Valley Fair for several reasons:
* Access sucks; Stevens Creek Blvd. is the same size it was 40 or 50 years ago, and across the street from Valley Fair is another large mallish-thingy, Santana Row;
* I don't like multi-level parking structure, and that is what Valley Fair has (Sanatana Row does, too, and I avoid that place, too);
* The place a very busy, and I'm borderline agoraphobic.
All in all, Westfield does mall management well, and Valley Fair, an hour and change drive south of SF on I-280, is doing just fine.
