By next summer, the stretch of Los Gatos Boulevard around Blossom Hill Road should still have two full-size grocery stores. That was also true at the start of 2026. What changes is who they are and where they sit. Whole Foods has already moved up the street into a store about twice its old size. Nob Hill Foods, on the boulevard since 1971, plans to close at the end of June 2027. Gus's Community Market, a family-run San Francisco grocer, is due in spring 2027 in the space Whole Foods left behind.
So the corner keeps the same number of grocers and loses its longest-running one. All three moves have happened, or will happen, within about 15 months. Below is how that sequence played out and the dates still ahead.
Whole Foods Moved First, and Doubled Its Size
Whole Foods opened its new store on April 15, 2026, at 15650 Los Gatos Blvd. That's a couple of blocks north of the corner of Los Gatos Boulevard and Los Gatos Almaden Road, where the old store had served shoppers for 32 years.
The new building covers 43,000 square feet, twice the size of the old space. It sits on the lot of a former Chevrolet dealership, next to the Tesla sales and service center that opened the year before. The Mercury News described the store as far larger than the one it left.
Location matters as much as size here. According to the Los Gatan, the new Whole Foods sits directly across Los Gatos Almaden Road from Nob Hill. Since April, two full-service grocers have faced each other across one intersection, and they will keep doing so until Nob Hill closes.
Four Months Later, the Longest-Running Store Announced Its Exit
The Los Gatan called it "the Battle of Blossom Hill grocers" and noted that it "ended before it had much of a chance to heat up." In August, Raley's, which owns Nob Hill, confirmed it would not renew the lease at 15710 Los Gatos Blvd. The store will close at the end of June 2027.
Carol Barsotti, Raley's chief marketing officer, explained the decision in a statement to the Mercury News:
"Following careful review of store performance and broader economic conditions, and with the lease up for renewal, we have made the decision not to extend the lease."
Barsotti also said the company has been proud to serve the community at this location since 1971, and that Raley's will try to place as many affected employees as possible at its other stores.
The Los Gatos store isn't the company's only closure this year. Raley's closed its Mountain View store in May and its Roseville store in January, the Los Gatan reported. Nob Hill anchors El Gato Village, the shopping center Prado Group bought for $33 million in 2022. No replacement tenant for the grocery space has been announced.
Cornerstone Filled Both of Its Empty Anchor Spaces
Whole Foods' move left a large opening at Cornerstone Shopping Center, one block from Nob Hill. The Rite Aid there had also closed. Cornerstone is managed by Cilker, a Los Gatos asset and property management company. Mary Egan, a Cilker vice president, told the Los Gatan that the new tenants represent "a strategic repositioning of the property," as two longtime tenants, Whole Foods and Rite Aid, were replaced.
Both spaces now have tenants, and neither is a copy of what it replaced.
The former Rite Aid is now a fitness club. Club Studio opened at 15920 Los Gatos Blvd in early September. Its October 6 announcement lists four studio rooms for strength classes, indoor cycling, hot yoga and reformer Pilates. The official grand opening is set for November 14, 2026, with giveaways and local vendors, and a ribbon-cutting with the Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce is planned before that.
The former Whole Foods is getting a smaller, specialty grocer. Gus's Community Market has signed for 18,000 square feet at Cornerstone. It will be the company's first store in the South Bay. Its address will be 15980 Los Gatos Blvd, and the opening is expected in spring 2027.
Compare the sizes. Gus's 18,000 square feet is well under half of Whole Foods' new 43,000-square-foot store just up the boulevard. Gus's is arriving at the corner as a neighborhood-scale market. According to What Now San Francisco, the store will include a cafe run with a coffee-roaster partner that hasn't been named yet, plus a bakery program.
The company's history fits that format. Gus's began as Haight Street Market in San Francisco in 1981. Gus Vardakastanis founded it with his wife, Georgia, and his father, and their sons, Dimitri and Bobby Vardakastanis, run it today. There are five San Francisco locations: Noriega Street, Haight Street, Harrison Street, Channel Street and Canyon Market.
The Calendar From Here
With these dates in order, the corner is unlikely to go months without a second grocer. If Gus's opens in spring as planned, it and Nob Hill will both be open for a few months before Nob Hill closes.
- April 15, 2026: Whole Foods opens at 15650 Los Gatos Blvd.
- Early September 2026: Club Studio begins operating at 15920 Los Gatos Blvd, in the former Rite Aid.
- November 14, 2026: Club Studio's public grand opening at Cornerstone.
- Spring 2027: Gus's Community Market is expected to open at 15980 Los Gatos Blvd.
- End of June 2027: Nob Hill closes at 15710 Los Gatos Blvd.
Opening seasons can slip. Nob Hill's date is firmer, because it's tied to the end of a lease. The order still matters: the new grocer is scheduled to open before the old one closes.
Farther North, the Boulevard Is Adding Early Mornings and Late Evenings
The grocery changes are one part of a longer shift along the boulevard. Farther north, at the North 40, Harmonie Park Development signed two food businesses in May for The Junction. This 68,000-square-foot retail and dining area takes its name from the railroads that shaped the town.
Mentone, from chef David Kinch, and Manresa Bread, led by head baker Avery Ruzicka, will share 7,170 square feet in the Spur Building at Los Gatos Boulevard and Walker Street. Kinch's first Mentone is in Aptos, and he is still involved with The Bywater on North Santa Cruz Avenue.
This is not an opening you can plan around yet. In May, groundbreaking was slated for September. Kinch told the Los Gatan he expected about 19 months of work on architecture and permits. Counted from May 2026, that points to around the end of 2027.
The planned hours show who it's meant to serve. Kinch said they hope to open at 7 a.m. for Manresa Bread and stay open until about 9:30 or 10 p.m. for Mentone. He pointed to new housing going up along Los Gatos Boulevard and to Good Samaritan Hospital's $1.3 billion expansion nearby. "There's going to be a place for all those medical workers to go," he told the Los Gatan.
Both projects show the same trend. Gus's is adding a cafe and bakery to a smaller grocery store, Club Studio filled a former pharmacy, and The Junction's first tenants are a bakery and a restaurant. Along this part of the boulevard, the empty spaces are going to places built for longer visits.
What Stays Where It Is
Some things on the town's grocery map aren't changing. The Los Gatan notes that Lunardi's, the specialty grocer, is about five blocks north of the new Whole Foods. A large Safeway sits east of Highway 17 near downtown, and two more Safeway stores serve the town.
Between now and spring, the only scheduled event on the corner is Club Studio's November 14 grand opening. After that, the dates to watch are the Gus's opening and the end of June 2027, when Nob Hill closes after more than 55 years on Los Gatos Boulevard.
If you own a home near Blossom Hill Road, it's reasonable to wonder how a new grocer, a new fitness club and a planned Kinch restaurant affect what your home is worth. Sunaina Arora follows changes like these along the boulevard and can show you how they compare with recent sales near you. Get your instant home valuation.
