70 years later, despite challenges, Park & Shop still a hub of dining and shopping in Concord

The towering Big C sign on Willow Pass Road was the symbol of Park & Shop Center from its opening in the fall of 1955. In this undated photo the Concord Blue Devils drum and bugle corps performs during a promotional appearance. (Photo Courtesy Concord History Museum)

CONCORD, CA (Aug. 18, 2025) — It was exactly 70 years ago this fall that the booming city of Concord would welcome the opening of the first phase of a large shopping area on newly extended Willow Pass Road.

The new shopping center was readily visible from Oct. 6, 1955 by the large revolving big C atop three poles supporting the 124-foot triangular structure proclaiming Park & Shop Center in neon. That marked the completion of a two-month installation of the tallest sign in the Bay Area.

Concord had a 1940 population of 1373 and 10 years later post-World War II that had grown by 5000. When the new center opened that figure tripled to 22,000 and within a decade Concord would have over 1000,000 residents. In the latter part of the 1950’s many declared Concord the fastest growing city in America.

Looking at old newspaper reports from the Concord Transcript it is striking to read that ground started to be cleared on 23 acres for the first phase of the then-called Concord Shopping Center on April 20, 1955 and work quickly stopped due to rain the next day. That phase was to comprise 140,000 square feet plus parking spaces for 4500 cars. Six months later was the three-day opening Oct. 27-29.

W.T. Grant and F.W. Woolworth department stores and Mayfair Market originally anchored the center. Among the other 15 stores in the original center was King Norman’s Wonderland, an amusement park that years later relocated to Willow Pass Park as Pixie Playland.

Renowned California amateur golf champion and pharmacist Steve Stimac opened a Walgreen Drug Store. Stapleton’s Doughnuts next to Grants eventually became Chick’s Donuts, still a Park & Shop fixture. Paris Beauty College seems to be the other longest term tenant along with Chick’s in the current roster.

An estimated 100,000 attended the opening. The 4500 parking spaces were filled by 10 a.m. on Thursday morning of the opening celebration, which had a second name of Valueland.

Six months later a major expansion planned through the beginning of 1959 was announced including Kahn’s and JC Penney as major tenants in new buildings. It was the only regional center in Concord, which was becoming the county’s largest city by population during that era.
Broadway Center in Walnut Creek opened four years to the month before Park & Shop in 1951.

Skip ahead 70 years from its opening and Park & Shop Center is now home to no less than three dozen eateries with a diverse international flavor and a mix of other retail businesses. P&S sales rank behind three other regional Concord shopping centers that have opened within a mile and a half of Park & Shop in the ensuing decades.

The P&S business model of having multiple owners for various parts of the center (there are now at least 25 reported owners involved in the half-mile long complex) has proven a challenge for a coordinated operation.

Sunvalley changed everything

Everything changed in the summer of 1967 when Sunvalley Shopping Center opened as the largest air-conditioned mall in the world right off Interstate 680. Among the businesses who migrated from P&S to Sunvalley was JC Penney, which bookended the mall with Sears.

Ten years later The Willows opened on Diamond Blvd. on the opposite side of I-680 from Sunvalley. Completing the set of regional centers 40 years after The Willows debuted was The Veranda located next door on Diamond Blvd. land that had been a large Chevron office complex.

In the most recent report from the City of Concord on retail sales tax revenue Sunvalley is still a half million dollars below pre-pandemic levels while The Veranda is the only Concord center showing tax revenue above 2018-19 levels, which is somewhat skewed because the center was still in its infancy after a late 2017 opening.

The Monument Corridor is another major source of sales tax revenue largely driven by Costco on Detroit Ave.

Editor’s Note: The author’s parents, John and Cathy Bedecarré, move their young family to Concord in 1955 to be close to their new family business, Park & Shop Cleaners, which was one of the original stores in the new center. The family ran the business for 15 years on the Salvio St. side of Park & Shop. Jay Bedecarré was a kindergarten student at Wren Ave. School when he was handing out fliers in front of the family laundry during the three-day opening celebration Oct. 27-29, 1955 that touted 100,000 visitors.