By the middle of 2027, the stretch of Los Gatos Boulevard around Blossom Hill Road should have as many full grocery stores as it has today. They just won't be the same stores in the same buildings. Over about fourteen months, Whole Foods moved across the road into a much larger building, and Nob Hill Foods set a closing date after more than five decades. A San Francisco family grocer that has never operated outside its home city also signed a lease for the space Whole Foods left behind. This corner has been the weekly grocery stop for much of Los Gatos and for neighbors in Monte Sereno, and its familiar errand is being rebuilt one tenant at a time.
The Los Gatan called it the Battle of Blossom Hill grocers and said the contest ended before it had much chance to heat up. The order of events explains why the corner ends up rearranged rather than smaller.
The Sequence, Store by Store
| Date | What happens | Address |
|---|---|---|
| April 15, 2026 | Whole Foods opens its relocated store | 15650 Los Gatos Blvd. |
| September 11, 2026 | Club Studio opens in the former Rite Aid | 15920 Los Gatos Blvd. |
| Spring 2027 | Gus's Community Market is expected to open in the former Whole Foods | 15980 Los Gatos Blvd. |
| End of June 2027 | Nob Hill Foods closes | 15710 Los Gatos Blvd. |
Lunardi's, at 720 Blossom Hill Road in the Kings Court Shopping Center, is the corner's third grocer today and does not appear in any of this year's announcements.
Whole Foods Moved Across the Road and Nearly Doubled
The new Whole Foods opened on April 15, 2026, at 15650 Los Gatos Blvd. The building has 43,130 square feet, nearly twice the size of the store it replaced. It sits on the former Chevrolet dealership site, which Sand Hill Property Company redeveloped with a Tesla showroom and service center next door. San José Spotlight reported that plan in December 2024 and projected an opening in late 2025 or 2026. The store opened in April 2026, within that window.
The extra space goes mostly to food you can eat on the spot. The store added a coffee-and-juice bar, a larger prepared-foods area, and specialty departments for cheese, meat, seafood and alcohol. The Los Gatan's preview listed hot-food and salad bars, pizza by the slice or whole pie, Genji sushi made daily, and bread baked fresh each day.
The move matters for the rest of the story because it left an 18,000-square-foot grocery space empty at Cornerstone, one block away. That empty space set up everything that followed.
Nob Hill's Decision Came With a Date
In August, Raley's confirmed that its Nob Hill Foods at 15710 Los Gatos Blvd. will close at the end of June 2027. Carol Barsotti, Raley's chief marketing officer, said the company had served the community at that location since 1971. She said, in comments reported by Silicon Valley, the decision followed "careful review of store performance and broader economic conditions, and with the lease up for renewal." Raley's also said it will work to place as many Los Gatos employees as it can at its other locations.
The Los Gatos store is one of several recent changes for the company. The Los Gatan noted that Raley's closed its Mountain View store in May and its Roseville store in January. Nob Hill anchors El Gato Village, which Prado Group bought for $33 million in 2022. What follows Nob Hill on that site is the biggest open question on the corner.
Who Gus's Is, and What It Brings
Gus's Community Market started in 1981 as a produce shop on Haight Street in San Francisco. The founders were the late Gus Vardakastanis, his wife Georgia, and his father. Gus's sons, Dimitri and Bobby Vardakastanis, now run the business. It has five San Francisco stores, on Noriega Street, Haight Street, Harrison Street and Channel Street, plus Canyon Market. Los Gatos will be its first store outside the city.
The company's own description of its departments gives a fair idea of what will fill the old Whole Foods space. It calls produce a core department and highlights its meat cutters, humanely raised local meat, housemade sausage, and seafood delivered fresh six days a week. SFGate reported that the Los Gatos store will carry more prepared foods than the company's other locations, along with bowls and house-baked breads.
Gus's also plans to partner with a coffee roaster in Los Gatos but had not named one as of August. Andytown Coffee Roasters works with Gus's in the Mission District, which is not the same as being the Los Gatos partner. Cilker manages Cornerstone. According to The Mercury News, its CEO, Keyston Smith, described the leases as completing a plan that brings "new and vibrant tenants to the Uptown Los Gatos community." The Los Gatan also ran a correction. The Cornerstone site has not been sold, and Sand Hill Property Company has never owned it.
The Spring 2027 Overlap
The timeline has a stretch that is easy to miss. Gus's is targeting spring 2027, and Nob Hill plans to stay open through the end of June 2027. If Gus's opens on schedule, the corner will have four full grocers for a short time: Whole Foods at 15650, Nob Hill at 15710, Gus's at 15980, and Lunardi's at 720 Blossom Hill Road. Then Nob Hill closes and the count drops back to three, where it started.
How long that stretch lasts depends on a date nobody has announced. "Spring" could mean March or it could mean late May. If Gus's opening slips into summer, there may be no overlap at all, and the gap would come right after Nob Hill closes instead.
Cornerstone also has more reasons to visit in the meantime. Club Studio opened on September 11, 2026, in the 19,000-square-foot former Rite Aid at 15920 Los Gatos Blvd. The gym combines boutique classes with wellness services. By spring, the center that lost two longtime anchors will have a gym and a grocer in their places, two doors apart.
Beyond the Boulevard, the Los Gatan also points to a large Safeway east of Highway 17 near downtown. That gives anyone whose routine is tied to the downtown side of Los Gatos another option that none of this affects.
What Is Still Unsettled
Three details will shape the next year on this corner, and none has a public answer yet:
- Gus's exact opening date. The latest reporting says only spring 2027.
- The Los Gatos coffee partner. SFGate reported that Gus's plans one but had not named it.
- What goes into the Nob Hill building after June 2027. Raley's August statements about the closure did not address what comes next for the building.
The third question has the most local weight. El Gato Village has had a grocery anchor since 1971. Whatever its owner chooses next will decide whether the corner keeps three grocers or eventually gets a fourth again.
If you have lived near this corner for years and want to understand how changes like these affect your part of town, Knight Roberts Real Estate is happy to talk it through with you, whether you are thinking about selling soon or not. Michael and Don have watched Los Gatos Boulevard change for decades, and that history helps put the next year in context.
