Stanford Shopping Center
Encyclopedia
Stanford Shopping Center is an upscale open air shopping mall
located on El Camino Real
at Sand Hill Road
in Palo Alto, California
. It is on the campus of Stanford University
although the university only owns the land and not the actual buildings or stores. Also, unlike the rest of the campus, the shopping center and the neighboring Stanford University Medical Center
are counted as part of the city of Palo Alto, not the unincorporated town of Stanford, CA
. The shopping center buildings are owned by Simon Property Group
, which manages the property and leases the land from the university.
The outdoor center is 1.4 million square feet (130,000 m²) and includes four major department stores: Bloomingdale's
, Macy's
, Neiman Marcus
, and Nordstrom
. Stanford Shopping Center also includes such luxury retailers as Louis Vuitton
, Tiffany & Co.
, Burberry
, Polo Ralph Lauren
, Michael Kors
, Wilkes Bashford
, Ermenegildo Zegna
and Juicy Couture
.
and Jane Stanford
endowed Stanford University
with "inalienable land", meaning the university cannot sell any of its original 8,800 acres (35.6 km²). After a drop in student enrollment and tuition revenues during World War II
and then the sudden boom in enrollment after the war, Alf Brandin, the vice president for business affairs at Stanford, decided to look at real estate development
as a way to generate revenue
for the university.
In 1954, excavators broke ground on what was once Leland Stanford's vineyards. Nine buildings housing 45 businesses were built. The Roos Brothers clothing store opened as the first retailer in September 1955 and Blum's restaurant opened on October 22, 1956, marking the completion of the center. Board of trustees Chair Lloyd Dinkelspiel and university President J.E. Wallace Sterling presided at the opening and Shirley Temple Black cut the first slice of a nine-tiered cake. San Francisco
department store The Emporium and luxury specialty department store I. Magnin & Co.
were the original anchors.
The center opened with great success and became one of the largest sources of unrestricted income for the university.
Macy's California
joined the center in 1961 and Saks Fifth Avenue
opened a store in 1962. Further expansion came again in 1972 with the addition Los Angeles
-based Bullock's
, owned by Bloomingdale's
parent company Federated Department Stores
. Bullock's only lasted 11 years, closing its northern California stores in 1983 and selling its Stanford location to Nordstrom
, which opened in November 1984. Neiman Marcus
became the sixth anchor in August 1985.
Saks Fifth Avenue closed its store in 1994 and was replaced by Crate and Barrel
and Andronico's
food market. By 1995, Federated Department Stores had acquired the Macy's, I. Magnin, and Emporium chains. As part of the company's reorganization, the I. Magnin chain was closed, and the location at Stanford became a separate Macy's men's store in 1995. The Emporium store was shuttered and rebranded as Bloomingdale's in November 1996. This the first northern California location for that division of Federated.
Stanford shopping center was also the home to the very first Victoria's Secret
store, opened by Roy Raymond in 1977, and the first mini Apple Retail Store.
. The university's lease includes an annual rent equal to a 25% percent of the center's net profits.
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
located on El Camino Real
El Camino Real (California)
El Camino Real and sometimes associated with Calle Real usually refers to the 600-mile California Mission Trail, connecting the former Alta California's 21 missions , 4 presidios, and several pueblos, stretching from Mission San Diego de Alcalá in San Diego...
at Sand Hill Road
Sand Hill Road
Sand Hill Road is a road in Menlo Park, California, notable for its concentration of venture capital companies. Its significance as a symbol of private equity in the United States may be compared to that of Wall Street in the stock market...
in Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
. It is on the campus of Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
although the university only owns the land and not the actual buildings or stores. Also, unlike the rest of the campus, the shopping center and the neighboring Stanford University Medical Center
Stanford University Medical Center
Stanford University Medical Center represents the Stanford Hospital and the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital and is located at 300 Pasteur Drive in Stanford, California. Stanford Hospital provides both general acute care services and tertiary medical care for patients locally, nationally and...
are counted as part of the city of Palo Alto, not the unincorporated town of Stanford, CA
Stanford, California
Stanford is a census-designated place in Santa Clara County, California, United States and is the home of Stanford University. The population was 13,809 at the 2010 census....
. The shopping center buildings are owned by Simon Property Group
Simon Property Group
Simon Property Group, Inc. is an American commercial real estate company, ranked #1 in the United States as the largest real estate investment trust. Simon is a fully integrated real estate company which operates from five retail real estate platforms: regional malls, Premium Outlet Centers, The...
, which manages the property and leases the land from the university.
The outdoor center is 1.4 million square feet (130,000 m²) and includes four major department stores: Bloomingdale's
Bloomingdale's
Bloomingdale's is an American department store owned by Macy's, Inc. .Bloomingdale's started in 1861 when brothers Joseph and Lyman G. Bloomingdale started selling hoop-skirts in their Ladies Notions' Shop on Manhattan's Lower East Side...
, Macy's
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
, Neiman Marcus
Neiman Marcus
Neiman Marcus, formerly Neiman-Marcus, is a luxury specialty retail department store operated by the Neiman Marcus Group in the United States. The company is headquartered in the One Marcus Square building in Downtown Dallas, Texas, and competes with other department stores such as Saks Fifth...
, and Nordstrom
Nordstrom
Nordstrom, Inc. is an upscale department store chain in the United States, founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin. Initially a shoe retailer, the company today also sells clothing, accessories, handbags, jewelry, cosmetics, fragrances, and in some locations, home furnishings...
. Stanford Shopping Center also includes such luxury retailers as Louis Vuitton
Louis Vuitton
Louis Vuitton Malletier – commonly referred to as Louis Vuitton , or shortened to LV – is a French fashion house founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton. The label is well known for its LV monogram, which is featured on most products, ranging from luxury trunks and leather goods to ready-to-wear, shoes,...
, Tiffany & Co.
Tiffany & Co.
Tiffany & Co. is an American jewelry and silverware company. As part of its branding, the company is strongly associated with its Tiffany Blue , which is a registered trademark.- History :...
, Burberry
Burberry
Burberry Group plc is a British luxury fashion house, manufacturing clothing, fragrance, and fashion accessories. Its distinctive tartan pattern has become one of its most widely copied trademarks. Burberry is most famous for its iconic trench coat, which was invented by founder Thomas Burberry...
, Polo Ralph Lauren
Polo Ralph Lauren
Ralph Lauren Corporation is a luxury clothing and goods company of the American fashion designer Ralph Lauren. Ralph Lauren specializes in high-end casual/semi-formal wear for men and women, as well as accessories, fragrances, home and housewares...
, Michael Kors
Michael Kors
Michael Kors is an American fashion designer. He is best known for designing classic American sportswear for women.-Personal life:...
, Wilkes Bashford
Wilkes Bashford
Wilkes Bashford is an upscale store for women and men in the Union Square Shopping District in San Francisco, California.It was established in 1966 by Wilkes Bashford and has long catered to the elite, including former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown....
, Ermenegildo Zegna
Ermenegildo Zegna
Ermenegildo Zegna is a leading Italian fashion house, specialing in men's clothing. Founded in 1910, it is now managed by the fourth generation of the Zegna family and remains in family ownership. As well as producing suits for its own labels, it manufactures suits for labels such as Gucci, Yves...
and Juicy Couture
Juicy Couture
Juicy Couture is a contemporary line of both casual and dressy apparel based in Arleta, Los Angeles, California founded by Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor in 1996...
.
History
Leland StanfordLeland Stanford
Amasa Leland Stanford was an American tycoon, industrialist, robber baron, politician and founder of Stanford University.-Early years:...
and Jane Stanford
Jane Stanford
Jane Stanford was the co-founder of Stanford University with her husband, Leland Stanford, whom she wed in 1850. She was the daughter of a shopkeeper and lived on Washington Avenue in Albany, New York, before her marriage...
endowed Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
with "inalienable land", meaning the university cannot sell any of its original 8,800 acres (35.6 km²). After a drop in student enrollment and tuition revenues during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and then the sudden boom in enrollment after the war, Alf Brandin, the vice president for business affairs at Stanford, decided to look at real estate development
Real estate development
Real estate development, or Property Development, is a multifaceted business, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of improved land or parcels to others...
as a way to generate revenue
Revenue
In business, revenue is income that a company receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services to customers. In many countries, such as the United Kingdom, revenue is referred to as turnover....
for the university.
In 1954, excavators broke ground on what was once Leland Stanford's vineyards. Nine buildings housing 45 businesses were built. The Roos Brothers clothing store opened as the first retailer in September 1955 and Blum's restaurant opened on October 22, 1956, marking the completion of the center. Board of trustees Chair Lloyd Dinkelspiel and university President J.E. Wallace Sterling presided at the opening and Shirley Temple Black cut the first slice of a nine-tiered cake. San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
department store The Emporium and luxury specialty department store I. Magnin & Co.
I. Magnin
I. Magnin & Company was a San Francisco, California-based high fashion and specialty goods luxury department store. Over the course of its existence, it expanded across the West into Southern California and the adjoining states of Arizona, Oregon, and Washington...
were the original anchors.
The center opened with great success and became one of the largest sources of unrestricted income for the university.
Macy's California
Macy's West
Macy's West was a longtime division of Macy's, Inc. , representing one of the New York-based department store chain's earliest notable acquisitions and westward expansions...
joined the center in 1961 and Saks Fifth Avenue
Saks Fifth Avenue
Saks Fifth Avenue is a luxury American specialty store owned and operated by Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprises , a subsidiary of Saks Incorporated. It competes in the high-end specialty store market in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, i.e. 'the 3 B's' Bergdorf, Barneys, Bloomingdale's and Lord & Taylor...
opened a store in 1962. Further expansion came again in 1972 with the addition Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
-based Bullock's
Bullock's
Bullock's was a department store based in Los Angeles, California. The company operated full-line department stores all across California, with some stores in Arizona and Nevada. Bullock's also operated the more upscale Bullocks Wilshire in parts of Southern California.- History :Bullock's was...
, owned by Bloomingdale's
Bloomingdale's
Bloomingdale's is an American department store owned by Macy's, Inc. .Bloomingdale's started in 1861 when brothers Joseph and Lyman G. Bloomingdale started selling hoop-skirts in their Ladies Notions' Shop on Manhattan's Lower East Side...
parent company Federated Department Stores
Federated Department Stores
Macy's, Inc. is a department store holding company and owner of Macy's and Bloomingdale's department stores. Macy's Inc.'s stores specialize mostly in retail clothing, jewelery, watches, dinnerware, and furniture....
. Bullock's only lasted 11 years, closing its northern California stores in 1983 and selling its Stanford location to Nordstrom
Nordstrom
Nordstrom, Inc. is an upscale department store chain in the United States, founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin. Initially a shoe retailer, the company today also sells clothing, accessories, handbags, jewelry, cosmetics, fragrances, and in some locations, home furnishings...
, which opened in November 1984. Neiman Marcus
Neiman Marcus
Neiman Marcus, formerly Neiman-Marcus, is a luxury specialty retail department store operated by the Neiman Marcus Group in the United States. The company is headquartered in the One Marcus Square building in Downtown Dallas, Texas, and competes with other department stores such as Saks Fifth...
became the sixth anchor in August 1985.
Saks Fifth Avenue closed its store in 1994 and was replaced by Crate and Barrel
Crate and Barrel
Crate & Barrel is a 170+ store chain of American retail stores, based in Northbrook, Illinois, specializing in housewares, furniture , and home accessories. Its corporate name is Euromarket Designs, Inc. The company is wholly owned by Otto GmbH.-Founding:Gordon and Carole Segal opened the first...
and Andronico's
Andronico's
Andronico's is a supermarket chain based primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area. Its first store was founded in 1929 on Berkeley's Solano Avenue by Greek immigrant Frank Andronico. Since then, thirteen additional stores have opened and five have since closed...
food market. By 1995, Federated Department Stores had acquired the Macy's, I. Magnin, and Emporium chains. As part of the company's reorganization, the I. Magnin chain was closed, and the location at Stanford became a separate Macy's men's store in 1995. The Emporium store was shuttered and rebranded as Bloomingdale's in November 1996. This the first northern California location for that division of Federated.
Stanford shopping center was also the home to the very first Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret is an American retailer of women's wear, lingerie and beauty products. It is the largest segment of publicly-traded Limited Brands with sales of over US$5 billion and an operating income of $1 billion in 2006...
store, opened by Roy Raymond in 1977, and the first mini Apple Retail Store.
Later years
Throughout the years, the center has continued to evolve in terms of both tenants and construction and was managed by the university through its investment affiliate Stanford Management Company since 1991. However, in 2003, taking advantage of the high prices that shopping centers were fetching, the university's board of trustees agreed to sell the center for USD $333 million to Simon Property Group which, in turn, leases the underlying land from the university under a 51-year leaseLease
A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the lessee to pay the lessor for use of an asset. A rental agreement is a lease in which the asset is tangible property...
. The university's lease includes an annual rent equal to a 25% percent of the center's net profits.