Hayward is located between San Lorenzo and Union City on the East Bay in Alameda County. It currently hosts a population of 153,104 individuals, making it the third biggest city in Alameda County and the sixth largest city in the San Francisco area. Other suburbs which have been incorporated into the city are Mount Eden, Russell City, and Schafer Park.
The Southland Mall is the largest shopping center within Hayward, providing various stores comprising mega corporations Macy's and Sear's. Other major chain stores located here include Home Depot, Office Depot, and Target (that is located at the Skywest Commons Mall). There is a large variety of manufacturing businesses that are located within Hayward too, such as Kobe Steel (that operates Kobe Precision), and PepsiCo (A bottling group facility). The soft drink company Shasta has chosen to make Hayward the home of its head office, as has Gillig Corporation (a manufacturer of school buses), Dust Networks and Andersen Bakery.
Bianchi USA, Costco Business Center, Bianchi Bicycles, Azuma Foods International, Nhey Kagawa and Manheim San Fransisco Bay all have a factory or facility within Hayward. the founder of Simm's Custom Cycles, Rob Simms, chose Hayward to be its headquarters. Chaosium, a role-playing game publisher, is likewise based there.
City hall has had three locations within Hayward. The tallest building in downtown Hayward is among the old City Hall buildings, that is presently abandoned. The Hayward Public Library is also located downtown, together with the Hayward Area Historical Society, white runs the museum. Before claiming for bankruptcy, the headquarters for Mervyn's department store chains were located there too. The only movie theatre in the city, the Cinema Place complex, could be found downtown.