Westfield Valley Fair parking fee sparks worker backlash

Mall employees deliver petition to protesting new policy

Those days of leisurely strolling the mall, window shopping without thinking about what you'll spend — other than what strikes your fancy — have passed. At least at San Jose's Westfield Valley Fair.

Shoppers who poured into the mall recently discovered they had to open their wallets after a couple of hours to keep their cars parked in the lots without getting a ticket.

And they weren't too happy about that, nor are the store employees who have to fork over $40 a month to park next to their work.

“I don't like it the way it is right now,” said Santa Clara resident Kiran Desai, who was shopping at the mall Feb 9. “We come here because of the ease and convenience of parking. But to start charging me for parking and doing the shopping, it does not bode well with me.”

Even though he paid only $1 for his third hour of shopping, Desai said he'll likely find another place in the area to park for free in the future. Santana Row, an open-air shopping center right across the street, currently doesn't charge for parking. However, there are restrictions for parking in the neighborhood surrounding the mall.

The paid parking, which started Feb. 8, is part of Westfield Corp.'s effort to limit the number of cars left at the mall by people commuting to work or using the garages as free parking for nearby Mineta San Jose International Airport. The mall has 8,400 spaces, although management hasn't indicated how many of those routinely get staked by interlopers.

Westfield installed the 28 payment kiosks more than two years ago, but because the pandemic kept almost everyone away in 2020, it didn't start charging for parking until now.

After the first two free hours, customers and mall employees have to pay $1 an hour, up to a maximum of $10 a day. Moviegoers at the Showplace Icon Theatre get a break — free parking for the first four hours.

The mall's employees have to pay unless their stores pick up the tab for them at $40 each month.

“It's not right at all,” said Antonio Garcia, who works at the Diesel store and noted that although some stores are covering their employees' share, many aren't.

He organized a petition drive objecting to the parking charge, saying, “It's a greedy move by the mall.”

For many mall workers making minimum wage, $40 equates to a week's worth of groceries that comes out of their paycheck, Garcia said.

Valley Fair employees early this week delivered the petition with more than 1,000 signatures to mall management. They've yet to receive a response.

Mall management refused to answer questions about the impact paid parking will have on employees and instead issued a statement that said: “We are aware of concerns by some employees who work at the center. By creating a more controlled parking environment, the hope is that the already popular center brings even more customers to support retailers allowing them to flourish.”

Valley Fair is the first of Westfield's Bay Area locations to charge for parking. Oakridge in San Jose doesn't charge, and the San Francisco Centre doesn't have a dedicated garage, meaning patrons have to take public transit or find parking elsewhere. Simon Property Group, which owns shopping centers and outlet malls in Milpitas, Gilroy, Livermore, Stanford and Pleasanton, also doesn't charge for parking.

The new parking plan makes Valley Fair somewhat of an outlier among Bay Area malls. Broadway Plaza in Walnut Creek charges for parking after the first three hours — $5 for the next hour and $7 for the hour after that, up to a maximum rate of $25. And Bay Street in Emeryville charges $2 for the first three hours, increasing the price incrementally up to a $12 daily maximum.

The day after Valley Fair started charging for parking, some patrons said they're going to simply spend less time at the mall.

Los Gatos resident Vanessa Starr thought the parking fee was unfair to the “smaller stores” because there would be “less shoppers browsing.”

She also speculated that the mall's decision to charge for parking had more to do with the $1.1 billion, 500,000-square-foot expansion that began shortly before the pandemic.

The expansion brought in more than 80 new stores, including a new anchor — Bloomingdale's — and a two-level Apple flagship store. A number of new eateries also opened, including a multi-floor food emporium for the Italian marketplace Eataly.

After struggling through 2020 with pandemic-induced shutdowns, the mall last year reported sales had rebounded to 2019 levels.

But Garcia said employees aren't going to let the parking issue go and are planning to picket in protest if management continues to ignore their concerns.

“With how slow it is during COVID times,” he said, “we're operating at a loss as workers and even more so with this pay cut we have to take.”