Chris Y.
Yelp
Surprisingly, I've never actually been to City Center Bishop Ranch after it had been officially completed a bit back. Of course with how bad the timing is that right after it's built, soon after we hit the whole COVID issue, it's certainly not where it probably could and should be.
It's in a fairly busy part of Bollinger Canyon, as it's right across from another shopping center, and just blocks away from a couple of others off of Market. If you're driving down Bollinger you really can't miss the building, as it's in its own, very opened spaced parking lot. From the outside, it looks like a nice building, sort of like a what you'd see in SF, with very high ceilings, and lots of open space and clear windows. From the outskirts looking in, definitely feels more like a convention center as well if you don't go inside. It's got the outlet style vibe, so there's a main open area in the center of the structure that doesn't have a roof over it, and small walkways on the sides where smaller shops would occupy. Overall, aesthetically speaking, it's a nice place. I've been told that pre-COVID, this was actually also a nice place to bring your kids, as they had plenty of play areas, a water fountain area, and some other things kids could pick up and play with. However, right now, none of that was there, understandably, so interested to see what that would be like once it's safe to return.
Now, let's get to the shops. While the places looks great, it is unfortunately hampered by how empty half of the structure is. There are many empty spaces that just aren't occupied by an actual store, so it's just an empty part of the building. I would say maybe 60/40 occupied currently, and I'm not sure if this is because of COVID, or some other reason, but I was also told from a frequenter that even before, only maybe 50% of the place had shops there.
The stores themselves are just kind of, not quite as accessible as I thought they would be. They're kind of all over the place, but not necessarily in a good way. Most of the shops that are there, weren't really of interest to me, and it just feels like this place is trying to give off too much of a shi-shi feel to all of the shops. I understand it's great that you have this great structure, and aesthetically very pleasing, but the store fronts that are opened here are just incredibly hit or miss, unless you're somebody that's coming here specifically for a particular store located, it's not really a whole lot for those who may want to just come down to peruse and maybe find something they'd like. Wish there was better variety here, but again, not sure if this is due to COVID, or it's always been sort of like this from a storefront perspective from the start.
While there are certainly a couple of places that would be good for food and drinks, all the other shops just really feel like it's trying too hard to appeal to a certain crowd in the surrounding areas that I'm not sure it's really being targeted correctly, especially considering they're literally right across the street from another shopping center that's more accessible, and then just down the street from another as well. Just kind of feels like a miss. Definitely want to see this place a bit more at its full capacity though once things start to normalize again. Lots of potential, just wish I could see it currently.