The Battle of Blossom Hill grocers has ended before it had much of a chance to heat up.
Four months after Amazon-owned Whole Foods opened a giant new store directly across Blossom Hill Road from Los Gatos mainstay Nob Hill Foods, the family-owned California-based grocer has thrown in the towel.
Nob Hill, based in Sacramento, confirmed this week in media statements that it will leave Los Gatos after nearly 56 years at its premium site at Los Gatos Boulevard and Blossom Hill Road, choosing not to renew a lease that expires in 2027.
Raleys, Inc., which owns Nob Hill, closed its Mountain View Store in May and its store in Roseville in January. The 91-year-old grocery company has seven other locations in the Bay Area, seven on the Central Coast and 235 nationwide..
At the same time, one of San Francisco’s prime custom grocery companies, Gus’s Community Market, announced it will open its first South Bay store at the former Whole Foods site, one block away in the Cornerstone Shopping Center.
Los Gatos also is served by a large Safeway store on the east side of Highway 17 near downtown. Specialty grocer Lundardi’s is located about five blocks north of the new Whole Foods site.
Earlier this month, Sand Hill Property Company announced the sale of the Cornerstone site for $46 million. A Raley’s spokesperson said the decision to leave Los Gatos came after Raley’s reviewed the store’s performance and current economic conditions. Raley’s opened its first grocery store in Placerville in 1935 and grew in California and Nevada before expanding to more states through grocery store acquisitions.
Cilker, a Los Gatos-based real estate asset and property management company, this week was to announce the plans of Gus’s Community Market to open its specialty store in Los Gatos in 2027.
The family-owned San Francisco grocer known for fresh groceries and neighborhood service has signed a lease for 18,000-square-foot space at Cornerstone Shopping Center.
That’s not the only new business at the prime retail Los Gatos Boulevard site.
The addition of Gus’s Community Market follows the opening this year of Club Studio, set to open next month, at the same Cornerstone center. Club Studio fitness center combines boutique exercise classes with wellness services
Cilkers Vice President Mary Egan said the new businesses at the former Whole Foods site represent “a strategic repositioning of the property” by bringing in two new community-minded businesses while managing the departing transition of two legacy establishments, Whole Foods and Rite Aid.
“For decades, this top-tier center has been a pride of ownership for the investment group,” said Keyston Smith, CEO and President of Cilker. “We are thrilled to successfully complete the strategic asset management and leasing plan that brings new and vibrant tenants to the Uptown Los Gatos community.”
“Cornerstone is a beautiful upscale shopping center that still retains the original small town, friendly, and relaxed feel of Los Gatos that we all love,” said Dr. Stacey Hein, an internal medicine practitioner with an office located near the shopping center.
Founded as a family agricultural and real estate company in 1945, Cilker is a Los Gatos-based real estate-centered multiple-family office providing asset and property management services. Gus’s Community Market first opened as Haight Street Market in 1981 in San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury neighborhood.
Founded by the late Gus Vardakastanis, his wife Georgia and his father, the market set out to provide locals with a place to serve their families, meet neighbors and create relationships. Gus’s sons, Dimitri and Bobby Vardakastanis, who came up in the grocery business under the careful tutelage of their father, currently oversee the family business. Gus’s currently includes five store locations in San Francisco on Noriega Street, Haight Street, Harrison Street, Channel Street and Canyon Market.
