Sprouts Claims the Old Orchard Supply on Cottle, Opening Early 2028

Sprouts Farmers Market signed a lease for the empty Orchard Supply Hardware box at 5651 Cottle Road. The grocer told the Business Journal it expects to open in early 2028. A public hearing on the remodel is set for September 15. Dollinger Properties bought the 4.3-acre site for $7.3 million in 2025 after the hardware store went dark in 2018.

The work would add about 5,568 square feet to the old building, tear out 1,200 square feet of mezzanine, recut the floor into four tenant spaces, and redo the parking circulation. One of those spaces is slated for a preschool or daycare. Sprouts would not name the operator. Earlier city files had floated a Goddard preschool and a fitness tenant; those plans appear to have shifted toward grocery plus child care.

This would be Sprouts’ sixth store inside San Jose city limits and one of more than twenty in the Bay Area. The lot sits inside Orchard Town and Country, the outdoor center that already holds Baskin-Robbins, Greek Spot, and Castillo’s Mexican Restaurant. Safeway and Target sit close enough that another grocer has to earn the trip. T&T just opened at Westgate. Gus’s is aiming at the old Whole Foods in Los Gatos for 2027. South San Jose is getting the same grocery scramble as the west side.

Source: Silicon Valley Business Journal

Chagee Adds a Westgate Shop This Winter After Valley Fair

Chagee Modern Tea House will open a second Northern California store at 1600 Saratoga Avenue inside Westgate Center this winter. The suite is 1,543 square feet, next to the new T&T Supermarket. The larger Valley Fair shop, about 2,500 square feet, is still slated for fall and is billed as the regional flagship. Two San Jose locations in one season puts the brand on both sides of West San Jose without a long drive between them.

The chain already runs most of its California shops in the south. These two bring the state count to 11. Loyalty members account for more than half of company revenue, and the Valley Fair room is supposed to carry the full spend-based program and the custom digital layer. Westgate may or may not get the same build-out. Either way, a tea counter next to T&T is a different errand than a mall destination at Valley Fair.

Westgate’s own marketing cites a daytime population of 197,254 inside three miles and an average household income of $246,773. That is the math behind putting a premium tea brand beside a large Asian grocer instead of waiting for another downtown lease. Saratoga Avenue already has Gong Cha in the same center. Chagee is aiming higher on price and presentation. No opening date besides “winter” has been posted. 

Brand site: https://chagee.us/

Source: Silicon Valley Business Journal

Fugetsu Packs Another Japanese Market Into the South Bay, and San Jose Already Has a Seat at the Table

Fugetsu Japanese Market & Goods has settled into a roughly 1,600-square-foot shop at 3409 El Camino Real in Santa Clara, giving the Osaka-born brand a third South Bay foothold after its takeout counter on Moorpark Avenue in San Jose and its okonomiyaki kitchen inside Rokko in Sunnyvale. Westsiders who already duck into the Suite 20 shop at 4342 Moorpark Avenue for boxed lunches now have a second grab-and-go stop a short drive north. The Santa Clara store soft-opened in March, then spent weeks selling only snacks and collectibles while the city sorted a permit issue. Fresh bento, onigiri, sushi, and desserts returned in mid-July, and the shop has kept daily hours around 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.

The new room sits in Nobili Plaza, a Biagini Properties strip with frontage on El Camino Real and parking right at the door. Mapo BBQ already shares the center, and ChaHalo tea, jeweler Joyalukkas, and Indo-Chinese restaurant Garam Mirchi have posted coming-soon signs. Inside Fugetsu, the mix feels less like a full supermarket and more like a Japanese department-store food hall shrunk to neighborhood size: premade plates from local kitchens, packaged snacks and drinks, plus shelves of anime goods, toys, and trading cards. That hybrid grew out of a pandemic rewrite. The company had planned a traditional sit-down restaurant for its second U.S. site, then rebuilt the idea around takeout meals and packaged favorites once dining rooms shut down.

The Santa Clara opening arrives in the middle of a wider South Bay run of Japanese market concepts. In April, restaurateur Lily Peng and the Taro San team opened Yutori at 3375 El Camino Real in Palo Alto, taking over the old Corner Bakery Cafe with matcha and coffee drinks, house-made pastries, and a convenience-store aisle of imported snacks, produce, and bento. Farther south, Downtown San Jose finally got a true grocer again when Sakura Market opened at 184 South Market Street, next to Spartan Village on the Paseo. The Osaka Marketplace team filled a long-empty storefront with imported groceries, cosmetics, a matcha counter, a self-serve ramen station, a sushi buffet sold by weight, and plans for a sake and beer bar.

That Downtown location matters as much as the food. San Jose’s core lost its last conventional grocery when Safeway closed in 2019, and residents, hotel guests, and SJSU students had to leave the neighborhood for everyday staples. Sakura will not replace a full supermarket, but it puts rice balls, sashimi, snacks, and household goods within walking distance of the Signia hotel and the Paseo. Pair that with Fugetsu’s existing West San Jose market and the brand’s Sunnyvale dining room, and the city now sits inside a tighter web of Japanese retail instead of watching it collect only on the Peninsula.

A grand opening stretch at the Santa Clara Fugetsu runs Friday, September 5 through Monday, September 7, with samples and giveaways. After that, keep both local addresses in the rotation: 4342 Moorpark Avenue in San Jose for a quick Westside pickup, and 3409 El Camino Real when the drive up El Camino makes more sense. Downtown shoppers can walk into Sakura at 184 South Market Street, Suite 120, most days from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Source: Silicon Valley Business Journal

Campbell’s Restaurant Shuffle Adds New Cocktails, Sushi, and Dumplings

Campbell’s downtown has spent the past year swapping nameplates faster than a Friday night reservation list. Lira, the contemporary dining room that opened in January 2025 at 368 East Campbell Avenue with San Jose native and “Next Level Chef” winner Tucker Ricchio in the kitchen, shut after New Year’s Eve. Ricchio had already left in June 2025. The owners later said the fine-dining math no longer worked. Into that 110-seat room, including the patio, Jason Seele of Los Gatos Soda Works is building Trial | Error, a modern cocktail bar with small plates, aiming for an October opening and evening hours around 4 to 11 p.m.

A few blocks over, A Bellagio closed after more than two decades of Italian dinners at 33 South Central Avenue. Honō Izakaya & Sushi has already taken the address, with a bar in the middle of the room and a Japanese fusion menu that started drawing first-time reviews in July. Opa! left 276 East Campbell Avenue after a chain-wide collapse and Chapter 7 filing. Elia, the Pleasanton-born Greek and Mediterranean group, moved in with mezethes, weekend brunch, and late hours that stretch toward midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. Mexican spot Distrito Federal at 379 East Campbell Avenue has been reported as temporarily closed under a court-appointed receivership, another reminder that even busy storefronts can stall.

The Pruneyard told a cleaner story. Bellevue-based Dough Zone Dumpling House opened June 5 at 1875 South Bascom Avenue, Suite 405, in the old Patxi’s Pizza space between Trader Joe’s and Humphry Slocombe. The 3,167-square-foot shop is the chain’s sixth Bay Area location and sits alongside existing Dough Zone rooms on Lundy in North San Jose and on Cherry in South San Jose. Xiao long bao, Q-Bao, and dan dan noodles now have a Campbell address for anyone who already makes that Bascom drive.

Hamilton Avenue is lining up the next wave. Dutch Bros and Chipotle have floated drive-thru plans. Earlier reporting also pointed to an Apni Mandi Indian supermarket and a Da Vien Vietnamese coffee shop along the same corridor. Downtown still waits on Ainsley’s Spout House, the Scottish-Californian beer garden Alan Hicks has been building into the old Ainsley Corporation offices on Harrison Avenue. City staff have framed the turnover as concept replacement rather than a hollowed-out district, which is the generous reading. The honest one is simpler: some rooms could not carry white-tablecloth rent, and operators with cocktails, sushi, dumplings, and mezze moved faster than the vacancies.

Source: Silicon Valley Business Journal

Hoka Brings Its First Bay Area Store to Santana Row

Hoka plans to open its first Bay Area storefront at Santana Row this fall, filling the roughly 850-square-foot space previously occupied by Arc’teryx. The outdoor apparel brand relocated to a larger location at Westfield Valley Fair, creating the opening for the popular performance footwear company. Marketing materials already posted at the site confirm a fall debut.

The arrival aligns with broader shifts toward active lifestyles at the mixed-use center. A 60,000-square-foot Life Time fitness club is also preparing to open in the former Best Buy space. Reformation, the Los Angeles-based women’s clothing brand, is preparing a more than 2,000-square-foot store next to Sezane for a fall opening as well. Johnny Doughnuts celebrated the launch of its fifth location at the Row in late June, while the upscale cocktail bar Flora is expected later this year in the former Rosie McCann’s space.

Santana Row has experienced some turnover on the dining side. Vine Hospitality’s portfolio-wide closures eliminated LB Steak, Left Bank and Meso Modern Mediterranean, removing more than 175 jobs from the center. Those vacancies form part of the ongoing evolution that has also brought in new retail and fitness options.

Source: SVBJ

Tang Bar Expands to San Jose: Sichuan Hot Pot Arrives in Vietnam Town

Tang Bar is coming to 909 Story Road in The Shops at Vietnam Town. This San Francisco-founded restaurant specializes in Sichuan-style Chinese cuisine, focusing on fast-casual hot pot and malatang. Set to welcome guests later in January, the new spot adds to our city's diverse food scene, drawing from a brand already established in San Francisco, San Mateo, Rancho Cucamonga, and Bellevue, Washington.

The 1,600-square-foot space, complete with a patio, represents an $800,000 investment and plans to employ 40 to 50 people with competitive compensation, including benefits like medical coverage, tuition reimbursement, and retirement contributions. Tang Bar stands out by sourcing produce from nearby Gilroy farms and supporting local vendors, enhancing the community's economic ties while delivering fresh ingredients.

Diners can look forward to a do-it-yourself hot pot experience, selecting meats, vegetables, seafood, and broths, or opting for malatang, a numbing spicy hot dish prepared in the kitchen and served in a large bowl. Positioned near Grand Century Mall and other Asian eateries, including Vietnamese favorites and fellow hot pot spot Long Men Bay, Tang Bar fits seamlessly into this vibrant area, promising flavorful meals that celebrate cultural fusion.

As competition grows in the fast-casual hot pot market, Tang Bar's arrival underscores San Jose's appeal as a hub for diverse eateries, catering to a large population with tastes for bold, authentic flavors.

Source: SVBJ

Empire Armadillo Debuts Today in San Jose with BBQ and Deli Fusion

Empire Armadillo officially opens its doors today at 878 Blossom Hill Road in the Santa Teresa Main Street Shopping Center. This new spot takes over the former Armadillo Willy’s location, blending Texas-style barbecue with New York deli classics to create a unique dining experience.

The menu highlights smoked brisket, pulled pork, ribs, and house-made sides alongside deli offerings like pastrami, reuben, and french dip sandwiches. Seasonal specials add variety, including the Empire Stack with double meat portions and desserts such as homemade pumpkin cheesecake and banana pudding.

Retaining much of the original staff ensures continuity and a welcoming atmosphere rooted in the community. Empire Armadillo aims to serve as a gathering place for families, coworkers, and friends, emphasizing scratch-made food that honors both barbecue and deli traditions. Options for in-restaurant dining, free pickup, and catering make it versatile for any occasion.

Since opening in Sunnyvale, Empire Armadillo has earned rave reviews and guests love the quality, value, and personality the new ownership has brought to the brand. I'm sure the San Jose location will be a huge success as well. As a special incentive to come check them out today during the grand opening, the first 50 guests for lunch (starting at 11am) and first 50 for dinner (starting at 4:30pm) will get a free side.

Empire Armadillo BBQ Set to Open New Location in San Jose

A new barbecue spot arrives in San Jose in a few days, carrying forward a local tradition with Empire Armadillo BBQ & Deli. The restaurant takes over the former Armadillo Willy's space at 878 Blossom Hill Road, with a planned opening on November 20. This marks the second outpost for the concept, following a successful launch in Sunnyvale just over two months ago.

The new venue covers nearly 3,000 square feet and seats 60 indoors, plus a 10-table outdoor patio. Its position next to Westfield Oakridge, one of Silicon Valley's major retail hubs, promises steady foot traffic. Visibility from busy Santa Teresa Boulevard adds to the appeal, making it easier for locals and visitors to spot and stop by.

Diners can look forward to favorites like the brisket sandwich or plate, which have proven popular at the Sunnyvale site. Fresh additions include a refined pastrami sandwich and seasonal pumpkin cheesecake, alongside staples such as New York-style cheesecake and house-made banana pudding. The team also pursues a beer and wine license to expand offerings at both locations. This expansion creates 14 to 17 jobs, with wages starting above minimum levels and tips for roles like cooks.

Source: SVBJ

Mad Yolks Brings Fresh Breakfast to Willow Glen

San Jose welcomed a new spot for morning meals with the opening of Mad Yolks at 1087 Meridian Ave, Suite 40. The city joined in the celebration on November 3 with a ribbon cutting ceremony featuring Councilmember Mulcahy and owners Peter and Henry Wong shared remarks to mark the occasion. This addition strengthens the local food scene by offering a community-focused place for residents to start their day.

Brothers Henry and Peter Wong built Mad Yolks from a small pop-up into a full restaurant concept rooted in Santa Cruz. Their passion for quality ingredients and comfort food drives the menu, which features fresh, made-from-scratch items. As their third location and first in San Jose, the eatery emphasizes sandwiches, bowls and specialty drinks prepared with care. Local and organic sourcing plays a key role in their approach to elevated breakfast options.

Signature offerings include the BAE and Mad Chicks sandwiches alongside creative dishes like Curry Moco and Dirty Tots. Brioche buns baked in-house pair with homemade sauces for a distinctive taste. Beverages range from matcha drinks and cold brew to fruit teas, all crafted to order. This focus on fresh elements makes Mad Yolks a standout choice for brunch enthusiasts in the area.

Willow Glen drew the brothers because of its welcoming vibe filled with families and small businesses. In their own words:

"We chose Willow Glen because it’s a neighborhood with heart. Full of families, small businesses, and a real sense of community. It reminded us of why we started Mad Yolks in the first place: to bring people together over good food made with care. The walkable streets and local charm felt like the perfect fit for our brand and our mission to serve fresh, made-from-scratch breakfast in a warm and welcoming space."

The new location has already become a hit on Yelp. Mad Yolks is open from 8am-3pm, 7 days a week.