{"id":493491,"date":"2026-10-12T11:48:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T11:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/493491\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T11:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T11:48:10","slug":"fresh-crop-of-bay-area-merchants-breathe-life-into-old-big-box-sites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/493491\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresh crop of Bay Area merchants breathe life into old big box sites"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE \u2014 Just a few years after experts insisted an Amazon-spawned \u201cretail apocalypse<\/a>\u201d would doom several of the Bay Area\u2019s big-box store sites, a growing number of the large commercial properties that once were home to Walmart, Kohl\u2019s, Fry\u2019s and other chain stores are finding new life.<\/p>\n

While some have pushed for\u00a0the expansive land hosting these stores to be turned into housing<\/a>, a fresh crop of merchants is busy scouting for existing locations that could help them tap into a Bay Area economy awash\u00a0in wealth created by the AI boom.<\/p>\n

\u201cRetailers want to be here,\u201d said David Taxin, a partner with Meacham Oppenheimer, a commercial real estate firm. \u201cThis area has so much disposable income.\u201d<\/p>\n

As of March, the San Jose metro area had the nation\u2019s highest median household income at $175,500, according to a report from market-focused digital publisher Visual Capitalist<\/a>. The San Francisco-San Mateo metro area was second at $141,300.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe South Bay is so strong, it\u2019s a very resilient market,\u201d said Jim Fletcher, a Bay Area commercial real estate executive. \u201cThe Valley Fair-Santana Row corridor and the Blossom Hill Road corridor are some of the strongest retail areas in California.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former shopping malls set to be repurposed include Vallco<\/a>, a dead and mostly demolished retail center in Cupertino that is slated to be replaced by a mixed-use neighborhood of homes, shops, restaurants and offices.<\/p>\n

The purchase by a real estate firm of two empty retail buildings at Stoneridge Mall<\/a> in Pleasanton leaves the future unknown for the sites that once hosted Nordstrom and JC Penney<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In North Oakland, the proposed development of two housing towers<\/a> could trigger the demolition of an existing Trader Joe\u2019s grocery store.<\/p>\n

A new wave of ethnic markets is also taking over empty stores around the Bay Area.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are seeing a fairly significant push from ethnic grocers \u2014 South Asian, East Asian, Hispanic,\u201d said James Chung, founder and principal executive with The Econic Co., a commercial real estate firm. \u201cThey have entered the market fairly aggressively the last five years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The opportunities for transformation are plentiful. In one notable instance, a fire that destroyed a Home Depot hardware store in South San Jose in 2022 eventually created an opportunity for Dick\u2019s Sporting Goods<\/a> to redevelop the Blossom Hill Road site into an experience-oriented House of Sports.<\/p>\n

A few miles to the east, near the corner of Monterey Road and Blossom Hill Road in South San Jose, Altitude Trampoline, Ace Pickleball Club<\/a> and City Sports Club now occupy a building that once contained a Walmart superstore.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are very busy, and we have a ton of repeat customers,\u201d said Namaad Jackson, general manager with Altitude Trampoline Park<\/a> at 5502 Monterey Road. \u201cWe have found a great location here.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to several real estate executives, most of the properties are in high-profile locations, leading them to believe that there were issues with the struggling retailers who left, not the area in which they operated.<\/p>\n

As a result, a classic supply-and-demand dynamic has emerged yet again, said John Cumbelich<\/a>, founder and CEO of real estate firm John Cumbelich & Associates.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lack of new retail supply (space) just as you have new demand entering the Bay Area,\u201d Cumbelich said. \u201cWe are seeing a rise in development costs and construction costs, which has created an environment where demand will swamp supply.\u201d<\/p>\n

In San Jose, Vallarta Supermarkets<\/a> is taking over a spot where Toys \u2018R Us and Babies \u2018R Us once operated in The Plant shopping center.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of times, the only new opportunities for a regional retailer or a grocery store is to backfill second-generation space,\u201d Chung said.<\/p>\n

Sports Basement now occupies a longtime Barnes & Noble bookstore spot. Next door, Hobby Lobby is operating in a one-time Bed Bath & Beyond store in a retail hub near the interchange of State Route 85 and Almaden Expressway.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat Hobby Lobby store is a home run, and Sports Basement is off to a great start,\u201d Fletcher said.<\/p>\n

Urban Air Adventure Park<\/a> has filled up a former Fry\u2019s Electronics store on Willow Pass Road in Concord. Fry\u2019s closed that store and all of their others in 2021.<\/p>\n

At least two empty Fry\u2019s Electronics sites are headed for tech-oriented futures. In North San Jose, Supermicro Computer is redeveloping a Fry\u2019s site into a tech campus, with construction underway on a building that is poised to loom over the old Mayan-themed headquarters.<\/p>\n

In Fremont, an old Fry\u2019s is being marketed as a site for advanced manufacturing or artificial intelligence uses.<\/p>\n

\"AA drone view of a closed Fry\u2019s Electronics on Osgood Road an Automall Parkway in Fremont, Calif., on Wednesday, August 19, 2026. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

For nearly a decade, Korean grocery store H Mart has orchestrated a Bay Area expansion<\/a> that began with the retailer\u2019s first Northern California locations, both in San Jose and both in former grocery store spaces. In Dublin, H Mart created a grocery and dining operation at a one-time Orchard Supply Hardware space.<\/p>\n

In January, the company disclosed plans to reuse a shuttered Kohl\u2019s two-story department<\/a> store in Fremont. In what will be H Mart\u2019s largest U.S. operation, the retailer plans an Asian supermarket<\/a> on the first floor, while the second floor will feature a food hall, restaurants, a bar and entertainment spaces.<\/p>\n

\"Jung-taekJung-taek Lim, Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in San Francisco, center, cuts the ribbon among elected officials during the opening ceremony for H Mart in Dublin, Calif., on Thursday, March 26, 2026. (Shae Hammond\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

T&T Supermarket, another Asian grocery chain, leased a former Walmart store at Westgate Center<\/a> in Southwest San Jose. In Newark, T&T has also taken over a one-time Macy\u2019s store at Newpark Mall<\/a>, where the retailer plans its largest grocery site in California.<\/p>\n

Sprouts, an organic food-oriented grocer, struck a deal to lease a long-vacant site where Orchard Supply Hardware had operated for years on Cottle Road in South San Jose.<\/p>\n

Ross Dress for Less<\/a> has been pursuing spaces<\/a> in San Jose and Martinez properties<\/a> where drug stores once operated, spaces that have also drawn the interest of specialized tenants.<\/p>\n

Trudys Brides and Special Occasions<\/a> took over a former Walgreens in San Jose\u2019s Willow Glen neighborhood in a move out of a longtime Campbell spot. Goodwill moved into a closed Rite Aid store on East Capitol Expressway in San Jose.<\/p>\n

Grocery Outlet has filed proposals to open markets in Oakland<\/a> that were previously occupied by Walgreens.<\/p>\n

With current conditions, retailers are poised to intensify their hunts for existing and empty store locations, some experts said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe supply of retail (space) inventory is shrinking,\u201d Cumbelich said. \u201cWhere are these new users going to go except to existing sites?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE \u2014 Just a few years after experts insisted an Amazon-spawned \u201cretail apocalypse\u201d would doom several of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493492,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[389,184,387,7,8,390,3010,391,392,1335,4978,7626,332,383,394,1533,181,41706,100,3271,14293,143,33494,2650,388,1969,5347,22494,88,90,89,5406,198,94685,200,201,398,1689,6994],"class_list":["post-493491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-alameda-county","tag-bay-area","tag-business","tag-california","tag-california-news","tag-central-contra-costa","tag-commercial-real-estate","tag-concord","tag-contra-costa-county","tag-development","tag-downtown-san-jose","tag-dublin","tag-east-bay","tag-economy","tag-fremont","tag-keywee","tag-latest-headlines","tag-newark","tag-news","tag-north-oakland","tag-north-san-jose","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-real-estate","tag-pleasanton","tag-real-estate","tag-retail","tag-retail-development","tag-retail-jobs","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-real-estate","tag-santa-clara-county","tag-social-alert","tag-south-bay","tag-south-san-jose","tag-tri-valley","tag-walnut-creek","tag-west-san-jose"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}