This is a list of current and former companies operating in, or based in, Hayward, California. Significant local divisions of national and international companies are included, as are local businesses. Former companies that have closed, been acquired by other companies, or moved are also listed. Other economically or culturally important institutions, such as shopping malls, colleges, and nonprofit organizations, are included.
Southland Mall is the largest shopping center in Hayward. It houses the anchor department stores Sears, Kohl's and Macy's, and other retailers. In addition to a Target store at the Skywest Commons mall, the city's major retailers include Home Depot and Office Depot. A Costco Business Center is located there.[1]
Hayward has a large number of manufacturing businesses and corporate headquarters, including high-tech companies, and is considered part of a northern extension of Silicon Valley.[2] (Companies manufacturing in Hayward are in bold text.)
According to the city's 2014 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,[44] the top employers in the city, representing 6.5% of total city employment, were:
According to the city's 2013 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,[45] the top employers in the city, representing 8.2% of total city employment, were:
According to the city's 2012 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,[46] the top employers in the city, representing 6.8% of total city employment, were:
According to the city's 2011 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,[47] the top employers in the city, representing 8% of total city employment, were:
According to the city's 2010 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,[48] the top employers in the city that year, representing 7% of total city employment, were:
According to the City's 2009 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,[52] the top employers in the city that year were:
† indicates employers wholly located or headquartered in Hayward
Two businesses which had significant employment in fiscal year 2000–2001, Mervyns (2,000), and Pacific Bell (940), no longer operate in Hayward.
The economy of Hayward in the first half of the twentieth century was based largely on the Hunt Brothers Cannery. It was opened in Hayward in 1895 by brothers William and Joseph Hunt, who were fruit packers originally from Sebastopol, California.[54] The Hunts initially packed local fruit, including cherries, peaches, and apricots, then added tomatoes, which became the mainstay of their business. At its height in the 1960s and 1970s, Hunt's operated three canneries in Hayward, at A, B, and C Streets; an adjacent can-making company; a pickling factory; and a glass manufacturing plant. From the 1890s until its closure in 1981, Hunt's employed a large percentage of the local population. The air around Hayward was permeated by the smell of tomatoes for three months of each year, during the canning season. The canneries closed in 1981, as there were no longer enough produce fields or fruit orchards near the cannery to make it economically viable. Much of the production was moved to the Sacramento Valley. The location of the former canneries is marked by a historic water tower with the Hayward logo.[55] A housing development now occupies much of the former cannery site.[56]
Much of the Bay coastal territory of Hayward was turned into salt ponds, with Oliver Salt and Leslie Salt operating there.[57][58] Much of this land has in recent years been returned to salt marshes. A 1983 image of the ponds appears on a 2012 US postage stamp.[59]
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