Cider has planted its second permanent brick-and-mortar store inside Westfield Valley Fair in San Jose. The 11,269-square-foot shop officially opened on August 29 and held its grand opening event on September 4, bringing smart checkout technology and digital fitting room check-in to a mall already known as one of the busiest retail hubs in Silicon Valley.
The opening follows Cider's move into permanent brick-and-mortar retail, and the Valley Fair location represents the brand's latest bet that its online following can translate into foot traffic. The San Jose store sits at 2855 Stevens Creek Blvd, Space #2411, inside a mall whose neighbors include Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's, and Saint Laurent, per the same release.
Co-founded by Fenco Lin and Yu Oppel, Cider raised $130 million in Series B funding in September 2021, pushing its total capital raised to $140 million from backers including Andreessen Horowitz, DST Global, and Greenoaks. Valley Fair is the company's next step in its physical retail rollout, per EIN Presswire.
Smart Checkout and a New Content Platform
The Valley Fair store's opening weekend leaned heavily into content creation, with live fashion shoots, TikTok content moments, creator styling sessions, and live fit checks, per the release. The store also organizes merchandise for shoppers.
The San Jose opening also coincides with the debut of Cider Girl, according to the release. The company describes itself as social-first and affordable.
Why Valley Fair Made the Cut
Cider's arrival adds to a growing list of national retailers betting on Westfield Valley Fair's drawing power. The mall generates approximately $1,150 per square foot in sales, making it the highest-grossing shopping mall in California by sales volume, according to Fandom. That performance follows a $1.1 billion expansion and renovation mostly completed two years before May 2022 that added new retail space, parking, and tenants like Eataly and Bowlero — an expansion Hoodline previously covered as it brought more than 100 new merchants to the property.
Valley Fair's straddling of two municipalities adds another layer of complexity to its retail success. The center covers areas in San Jose and Santa Clara, dividing its sales tax revenues and regulatory oversight between both cities, according to the City of San José. While urban shopping corridors in San Francisco experienced revenue drops after 2019, KTVU reported that Valley Fair brings in more sales revenue than any other California mall and described business there as booming, according to KTVU.
More Brands Are Following the Same Playbook
Cider isn't the only apparel brand recently drawn across the mall's threshold. Outdoor apparel maker Arc'teryx agreed to take space at Valley Fair, where its new store will be nearly twice as large, while its Santana Row store remains active as the move occurs in stages, Hoodline reported in its piece on the brand expanding into Valley Fair. Cider's San Jose location is part of the company's broader brick-and-mortar rollout.
Cider is extending its retail presence beyond the app through physical storefronts. The Valley Fair location gives South Bay shoppers a new stop in a mall that keeps landing California's biggest retail names.
