Valley Fair Mall is located along the Stevens Creek Boulevard, and it was opened since summer 1956. One of the best things in the Valley Fair Mall is the free parking, which provides convenience service for its customers. Because the mall is located in San Jose, it must have been aimed for the San Jose Community. However, after looking at the San Jose fact sheet about the statistics of people, I personally think that the overall mall condition does not represent the San Jose community as a whole. Last Thursday, I discovered and explored the situation at Valley Fair Mall by visiting different kinds of store, including Bebe, Louis Vuitton, and Forever 21.
Bebe is a women’s designer store, which was originated from San Francisco. When I walk into the store, I was mesmerized by the colorful and glittery outfits. The kind of vibe that Bebe is creating is young, wild, and sexy. The clothes are mostly open; as in allow people who wear them show their intimate body parts, like breast, ass, and thighs. The sizes are usually smaller than usual and the store does not provide clothes for plus size women. Bebe advertises their product by using dancing-like mannequins, as if they were having a good time in clubs or bars. The models Bebe uses in their campaign are mostly Caucasians, which I interpreted as their main target customer. This fact is contradictory with what the San Jose community’s racial background, which proves that White people is minority compared to the other 68% that came from different ethnicity.
The next store I went was Louis Vuitton, which is one of the most luxurious shopping venues in Valley Fair Mall. The store interior is really well designed. Not to mention the storekeepers who treat the customers like kings and queens, assisting the customer one on one basis by following the customers wherever they go and alert in determining what customer need. Louis Vuitton is indeed a store for upper-class society, The price of their goods ranges approximately from $600 to $7,000. Besides Louis Vuitton, there are many other stores that are on the same level, such as Hugo Boss, Tiffany’s, Sony, Nordstrom, etc. However, according to San Jose fact sheet, almost 60% of San Jose citizens have average income and lower, which most of them use primarily for basic necessity, like rent, food, and education. The existence of these stores decreases the mall’s devotion to the San Jose community. Moreover, looking at the mall’s overall structure, it delivers the message that the building is strong and elegant. The first story of the building is filled with expensive yet upper class stores, such as, Louis Vuitton, Banana Republic, Hugo Boss, Tiffany’s, BCBG, etc, and is covered with marble floors. Marble is a type of flooring material that gives the buiding an aura of richness. It is a natural stone product and also durable, so it is known for its expensive price. So with the existence of marble floor in the first floor, the Valley Fair Mall gives a sense of elegance and luxury, which once again does not represent the majority of San Jose community.
The second floor is not as luxurious as the first floor. The flooring is covered with carpets and the type of stores on the upper level is more affordable than the ones on the first floor, such as, Forever 21, American Eagle, Hollister, etc. Food court is also located on the second floor, which has various types of affordable food, including Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Korean, and Mexican. Next store I visited was Forever 21. The atmosphere of forever 21 is really young and exciting. The store was full of teenagers who are searching for low cost clothing yet still up-to-date and fashionable. In this store, I see different kinds of people come from various nationalities. Maybe it is because of its affordable price and good quality of clothing that attracts people spending their money there. This store is probably the example of store that represents San Jose community economically.
Even though the Valley Fair mall benefits San Jose area financially through tax, the mall represents very little of the community itself. What the mall could improve is to eliminate class segregation between the first and second floor so that low-middle class people aren’t discriminated against the upper-middle ones. Moreover, the mall could also provide more affordable stores, especially men’s store since the stores available are dominated for women. It could also provide Movie Theater as an entertainment for basically everybody, so that everyone could enjoy the Valley Fair Mall facility. To make this happen, San Jose community could sign petition proposing this idea to the Valley Fair Mall officials. Let’s make it happen! :D
