The Fremont Hub is a regional outdoor shopping center in
Fremont,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, in the
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...
. It is located on Mowry Avenue in the city's
Central District. The shopping center is anchored by
Target
Target may refer to:
Physical items
* Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports
** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports
** Aiming point, in field artillery, fi ...
, and it also includes major retailers such as
Bed Bath & Beyond
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. is an American chain of domestic merchandise retail stores. The chain operates many stores in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico.
Bed Bath & Beyond was founded in 1971. It is counted among the Fortune 5 ...
,
Party City
Party City Holdco Inc. is an American publicly traded retail chain of party stores founded in 1986 by Steve Mandell in East Hanover, New Jersey. Party City’s parent organization is Party City Holdings Inc. Based in Woodcliff Lake, NJ, the comp ...
,
Marshalls
Marshalls is an American chain of off-price department stores owned by TJX Companies. Marshalls has over 1,000 American stores, including larger stores named Marshalls Mega Store, covering 42 states and Puerto Rico, and 61 stores in Canada. Mar ...
,
Ross Dress for Less
Ross Stores, Inc., operating under the brand name Ross Dress for Less, is an American chain of discount department stores headquartered in Dublin, California. It is the largest off-price retailer in the U.S.; as of 2018, Ross operates 1,483 stor ...
,
Safeway
Safeway is an American supermarket chain founded by Marion Barton Skaggs in April 1915 in American Falls, Idaho. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and features a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, d ...
and
Trader Joe's
Trader Joe's is an American chain of grocery stores headquartered in Monrovia, California. The chain has over 569 stores across the United States.
The first Trader Joe's store was opened in 1967 by founder Joe Coulombe in Pasadena, California ...
.
The Fremont Hub was originally constructed in the early 1960's, and included then-major anchors
Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a world-pioneering mail-order business and later also a leading department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001. The curren ...
among others. It was built around the existing residential property along Fremont Blvd. which became a popular Halloween attraction in later years.
By 1968, Safeway had also anchored at the Hub, as well as a small movie theater called "Fox Theater".
The Hub continued expansion into the 1970's with additional restaurants added along the perimeter of the property, such as Shelly's.
In the 1980's, additional storefronts were added along the perimeter of the property again, and Safeway moved into a larger building on the NW corner of the property, with several other businesses moving in, such as daycare center Kidspark. Montgomery Ward remodeled in approximately 1982 in a national move to modernize their stores.
The original Fox Theater was torn down in 1986 and in its place a much larger multiplex movie theater called "GCC Fremont Hub 8 Cinemas" opened.
In 1999, the theater changed ownership and became
Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...
theater Naz 8 Cinemas, then closed in October 2004 after going out of business in 2003.
The movie theater was demolished and a
PetsMart
PetSmart is a privately held American chain of pet superstores, which sell pet products, services, and small pets. It is the leading North American pet company, and its direct competitor is Petco. Its indirect competitors are Amazon, Walmart, ...
was built in its place the following year. In approximately 2000, the larger Safeway complex received an additional remodel, closing Kidspark and converting the space into smaller tenants on the opposite side of the building, such as the
UPS Store
The UPS Store (formerly Mail Boxes Etc.) is a subsidiary of United Parcel Service which provides, according to its website, shipping, shredding, printing, fax, passport photos, personal and business mailboxes, and notary services.
Histo ...
and a nail salon.
In 1997, Montgomery Ward filed for bankruptcy, and in 2001, the major retailer shut its doors. After an extensive remodel, Target then opened its doors in its place the following year.
The exterior of the mall featured several redesigns as well, happening most notably in the 1980s and 2000s.
References
External links
Official Website
Shopping malls in the San Francisco Bay Area
{{US-mall-stub