If you live anywhere near the bay area and you’re looking for a fun way to spend time with your friends or family that’s indoors, look no further than Great Mall in Milpitas, CA.
“Great Mall, the largest indoor outlet and value shopping destination in Northern California, provides the ultimate shopping experience with more than 200 outlet and value stores ranging from jewelry to women’s apparel to sporting goods. Great Mall is home to Last Call by Neiman Marcus, Coach Factory Store, Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH, H&M, Forever 21, Abercrombie & Fitch Outlet, Gap and Michael Kors.. Shoppers can dine at great restaurants including Dave & Buster’s, Olive Garden Italian Restaurant and Outback Steakhouse, or catch a movie at Century Theatres 20.”
My kids and I chose to spend a hot summer day there to beat the heat and have some fun family time together. Not a difficult feat at Great Mall! When we first arrived they wanted to explore the mall itself, which is essentially a large circle with entrances located all the way around. They were excited to check out stores such as Ghirardelli and Hot Topic, while I was happy to peruse the goods at Guess and Coach. Everyone found something to buy and bring home that was reasonably priced and well valued. When the workout of shopping began to take it’s toll, we took a break at Dave & Busters, located right inside the mall with access from the outside, as well. 
We enjoyed some drinks and appetizers from their menu’s generous selection, and then afterwards we played a few games. The game selection is huge, with a variety of different things you can do. Some are ride on and some are physical. We did a bit of both and had a blast competing, too.
We could have spent hours at D&B but we wanted to get back to the other opportunities awaiting us at Great Mall. The next stop, after more shopping of course, was Bounce-a-rama! This is the place to go if your kids need to move their little bodies, with a great deal of bounce houses and slides for them to climb on. 
There’s even a littles section for the tots who shouldn’t be with the big kids — genius! I saw a lot of happy kids there, including my own who were happy to jump and slide to their hearts content.
As the day wrapped up, we knew there was one more thing to be done. We had to take advantage of a fabulous movie theater being located right at the mall, so we walked over to the Century Theaters 20 and got our tickets to Finding Dory. We set our tired bodies down into the spacious leathery seats, nibbled our popcorn and laughed (and possibly cried) our way through a wonderful movie that really came to life on the big screen at this theater. A perfect ending to a perfect day!
Like I said — if you’re looking for a place to spend time with loved ones, or even if you just need to get out and get some great shopping done with lots of options, visit Great Mall for a fun family day out . Young or old, there is always something to do or somewhere delicious to eat (did I mention ColdStone Creamery?).
Merrie is a writer for the Jen is on a Journey and you can also find her at her blog, Sleepless Mornings: Merrie is the mother of two beautiful children, newly married, a scrapbooker, a baker, and always fun to be around!
Media visit and gift cards were offered in exchange for honest review, all opinions my own.
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