Every grocery change on Los Gatos Boulevard this year goes back to one move. In April, Whole Foods left its longtime space at Cornerstone Shopping Center for a new building about a block away. Four months later, Nob Hill Foods said it would leave the corner it has held for nearly 56 years. Within days, the empty Whole Foods space had a new tenant.
If the announced timelines hold, the Boulevard ends up in 2027 roughly where it started, with two major grocers near the Blossom Hill and Los Gatos-Almaden intersection. They will just be different stores in different buildings. The one property with no answer yet is the corner Nob Hill is leaving.
One Block, Then a Chain Reaction
Here is the order things happened in 2026, based on announcements and local reporting:
- March 18: Whole Foods announces a new store at 15650 Los Gatos Blvd., at Los Gatos-Almaden Road.
- April 15: The new 43,130-square-foot store opens, replacing the old Whole Foods location.
- May 20: North 40 developer Harmonie Park Development announces that Manresa Bread and Mentone have signed leases at The Junction.
- August 18: Cilker, which manages Cornerstone, announces that Gus's Community Market will take the former Whole Foods space and Club Studio will take the former Rite Aid.
- Mid-August: Nob Hill confirms it won't renew its lease at Los Gatos Boulevard and Blossom Hill Road when it expires in 2027.
Each step left space for the next one. The rest of this post follows that chain.
What the New Whole Foods Changed
The new Whole Foods sits on the former Chevrolet dealership site next to Tesla. Whole Foods' announcement highlighted a bigger parking lot, more seating, and a coffee and juice bar, with regular hours of 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. The prepared-food counters include hot and salad bars, pizza, sandwiches, and sushi. There's also a bakery. Outside, the Los Gatan reported plastic tables that seat four.
The seating and prepared food matter beyond convenience. The new store works partly as a place to eat lunch, so it competes with nearby cafés as well as with the grocer across the street. The move also put Whole Foods directly across the road from Nob Hill. The Los Gatan called it "The Battle of Blossom Hill grocers" and noted it "ended before it had much of a chance to heat up."
The 56-Year Corner With No Successor Yet
Raley's, the Sacramento-area company that owns Nob Hill, said it decided to leave after reviewing the store's performance and current economic conditions. This is part of a broader trend for the company. Raley's closed its Mountain View store in May and a Roseville store in January.
So far, the reporting gives only the year the lease runs out, 2027. No final day has been announced, and no replacement tenant has been named. That makes Nob Hill's corner the biggest unknown on the corridor. Every other empty space in the chain already has a signed lease.
For day-to-day shopping, the rest of town's grocery options stay the same. There's a large Safeway on the east side of Highway 17 near downtown, plus two other Safeway locations. Lunardi's is about five blocks north of the new Whole Foods.
Cornerstone Filled Both of Its Empty Spaces
Two longtime tenants left Cornerstone, and Cilker lined up replacements for both before the year was out. Cilker Vice President Mary Egan described the new leases as "a strategic repositioning of the property."
| Address | Previous tenant | Incoming tenant | Size | Announced timing | Status as of Sept. 30 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15980 Los Gatos Blvd. | Whole Foods | Gus's Community Market | 18,000 sq ft | Spring 2027 | Lease signed |
| 15920 Los Gatos Blvd. | Rite Aid | Club Studio | 19,000 sq ft | September 2026 target | No confirmed opening found |
The sizes are worth comparing. Gus's is taking 18,000 square feet. The new Whole Foods a block away is 43,130, so Gus's will be less than half its size. Club Studio describes itself as a mix of boutique fitness classes and wellness services. In mid-August it was reported as set to open the following month. As of the last day of September, we couldn't find any report confirming it has opened.
Gus's Is Expanding Outside San Francisco for the First Time
Gus's started in 1981 as Haight Street Market in San Francisco's Haight Ashbury neighborhood. Founder Gus Vardakastanis built it with his wife, Georgia, and his father. Today his sons, Dimitri and Bobby Vardakastanis, run the business. All five current stores are in San Francisco, on Noriega Street, Haight Street, Harrison Street, and Channel Street, plus Canyon Market.
Los Gatos will be the company's first South Bay store. The Mercury News reported that it will include an in-house café partner. With the café, a footprint well under half the new Whole Foods, and a family-run neighborhood-market model, Gus's looks closer to Lunardi's up the street than to the new Whole Foods down the block.
The Junction Is the Slow Part of the Story
The rest of the corridor will change over months. The North 40 piece will take years. Manresa Bread and chef David Kinch's Mentone have signed for 7,170 square feet in the Spur Building at The Junction, at the corner of Los Gatos Boulevard and Walker Street. For Kinch, it's a partial return to Los Gatos. He stepped back from running Manresa in 2022 and still works with The Bywater on North Santa Cruz Avenue. The first Mentone is in Aptos. Manresa Bread already has a downtown location on North Santa Cruz Avenue.
In late May, Kinch described the timeline this way:
"The race has started... I can't wait for it to open."
He was talking about hiring an architect and getting permits, which he said would take "the next 19 or so months." Counting from late May 2026, that points to around the end of 2027. Groundbreaking was expected in September. We haven't found any report confirming it happened. The Junction's website describes about 68,000 square feet of retail and dining with more than 300 finished homes on site. It still lists founding leases as available and names no other signed tenants.
That means the North 40 food space will probably come last. The new Whole Foods is open now. Gus's is planned for spring 2027. The Junction's first restaurants are on a longer timeline.
What Still Needs a Date
These items have been announced but not confirmed. Each will change what's on the Boulevard once it's settled:
- Nob Hill's last day. Reporting so far says only "2027."
- A new tenant for the Nob Hill corner. None has been named.
- Club Studio's opening. It was targeted for September, and no opening had been confirmed as of Sept. 30.
- Gus's opening day. The announced timing is spring 2027.
- The Junction groundbreaking. It was expected in September and hasn't been confirmed.
- More Junction tenants. Founding leases are still listed as available.
If you're keeping track of the Boulevard, these six items are the ones to watch. Our Los Gatos neighborhood guide covers the rest of town, and our earlier post on the downtown Entertainment Zone covers what has changed closer to Main Street.
If you live near Los Gatos Boulevard and want to talk through how these changes, or whatever eventually goes into Nob Hill's corner, could affect your part of town, Aaron Buntin is happy to walk through what we're seeing on the ground.
