A FLOCK OF GROCERS … Going out for a quart of milk will get a lot easier, with four new grocery stores getting closer to opening in this area. The Fresh Market, a North Carolina-based, European-style market, will open its first West Coast store in Palo Alto’s Edgewood Plaza on Embarcadero Road. “The Fresh Market will be breaking ground soon in Edgewood Plaza for an expected opening in late 2012 or early 2013,” said Thomas Fehrenbach, city economic development director. Meanwhile, construction is well underway for the new market on the northeast corner of El Camino Real and San Antonio Road in Mountain View. It is expected to open under the Sprouts Farmers Market banner due to Sprouts’ recent merger with Sunflower Farmers Market. The grocer is taking over the former sites of Rasputin Music and DSW Shoes (Rasputin moved and reopened earlier this year at 1939 El Camino Real in Mountain View). Close behind is Miki’s Farm Fresh Produce, gearing up for a late summer/early fall move-in date in Alma Plaza on East Meadow Drive in Palo Alto. Lastly, the 64,700-square-foot Safeway on the southeast corner of El Camino Real and San Antonio Road in Mountain View is now estimated to be completed by the end of the year, city planner Melinda Denis said. (A Safeway official had said the company was shooting for 2013, possibly.)
THE RETURN OF DITTMER’S … Sausage lovers won’t have to wait much longer. Dittmer’s Gourmet Meats and Wurst-Haus is putting the finishing touches on its new Los Altos store, scheduled to open this month. Located at 4540 El Camino Real in the former Wells Fargo Bank building in the Village Court Shopping Center, the 5,000-square-foot-space has undergone a major transformation. Although the shell of the building remains, the interior has been redone, with artistically tiled walls, new wood floors and at least seven refrigerated display cases to hold the varieties of sausages and smoked and fresh meats. A fire in January 2011 severely damaged the original Dittmer’s at 400 San Antonio Road, Mountain View.
WORKOUT PLUS WASH … A new car wash opened last month at the Oshman Family Jewish Community Center, 3921 Fabian Way, Palo Alto. Operated by valet parking service All About Parking, it promises to wash patrons’ cars while they work out at the JCC fitness center. Prices start at $15 for an exterior wash and range to more than $100 for detailing.
Heard a rumor about your favorite store or business moving out, or in, down the block or across town? Daryl Savage will check it out. Email shoptalk@paweekly.com.
Heard a rumor about your favorite store or business moving out, or in, down the block or across town? Daryl Savage will check it out. Email shoptalk@paweekly.com.
Heard a rumor about your favorite store or business moving out, or in, down the block or across town? Daryl Savage will check it out. Email shoptalk@paweekly.com.
I love these Shop Talk articles. Thank you for keeping us in the know!
Anyone else think that all of the new grocery stores mentioned in this article are in really terrible locations? These are all on busy streets away from residential areas, which forces people to drive to them and encourages more traffic from out-of-towners. As far as I know, there are no bike lanes on any of these streets (Embarcadero, El Camino, San Antonio, Alma), or are the developers going to be adding those at some time?
They are all being built in existing shopping centers. More traffic is good–it means more people visiting, shopping and spending money in Palo Alto–though I doubt that there will be many out of towners coming to the postage stamp sized grocery stores in Palo alto. The jewel will be the 65K sq foot Safeway on San Antonio. That is in Mountain View, so Palo Alto has no say in the matter. Stores have learned their lesson–do not build in Palo Alto–build near the border and they will come.
I hope that the Edgewood Shopping Center store does a brisk trade w/residents & commuters, as well as out of towners heading to Stanford events. Right now, the center looks like the Eastern Bloc & is just blight.
I agree with the comment on locations. Terrible. These are the small things that make PA such an unlivable town compared to the surrounding cities. Its the poster child for inconvenient living in the area. And while we’re at it, what the hell has happened to down town!?!?! Its like lower Market St in SF with all the street people taking over the parks and panhandling.
Just recently we ate downtown at Pizza My Heart and decided to take an evening stroll with our daughter on University. The scene was surreal: “Why is that man giving himself a shot(junky shooting up in the park)”Why did that man want our money?”(aggressive pan handler). We made it one single block and decided to get the hell outta there. This was at approx 6:30 pm on a weeknight walking around the block of Univ/Ramona/Lytton/Emerson.
I will NEVER take my family to Downtown PA again.
What happened to the Berkeley Bowl? Did I miss something? Was really looking forward to it opening on Alma?