Located on the East Bay in Alameda County, the city of Hayward sits between San Lorenzo and Union City. Hayward has a population of 153,104 individuals, making it the sixth largest city within the San Francisco area, and the third biggest city within Alameda County. Some suburbs that have been incorporated into the city are Russell City, Schafer Park and Mount Eden.
The biggest shopping center in Hayward, Southland Mall, offers a variety of stores including the mega centers Sears and Macy's. Among the major chains which are located in Hayward are Office depot, Home Depot, and Target (which is located at the Skywest Commons Mall). There is a large variety of manufacturing businesses which are located in Hayward too, like Kobe Steel (which operates Kobe Precision), and PepsiCo (A bottling group facility). The soft drink company Shasta has decided to make Hayward the home of its head office, as has Gillig Corporation (a school bus manufacturer), Andersen Bakery, and Dust Networks.
Bianchi Bicycles, Bianchi USA, Costco Business Center, Azuma Foods International, Nhey Kagawa and Manheim San Fransisco Bay all have a facility or factory within Hayward. the founder of Simm's Custom Cycles, Rob Simms, chose Hayward to be its head office. Chaosium, a role-playing game publisher, is also based there.
Within Hayward, City Hall has had three locations. Amongst the old City Hall buildings, that is presently neglected is the tallest building within downtown Hayward. The Hayward Public Library is also located downtown, along with the Hayward Area Historical Society, white runs the museum. Prior to claiming for bankruptcy, the main offices for Mervyn's department store chains were situated there too. The Cinema Place complex, the only movie theatre in the city, could be located downtown.