Between April 2026 and mid-2027, the grocery stretch of Los Gatos Boulevard near Blossom Hill Road will have changed three ways. Whole Foods moved up the street into a store twice the size of its old one. Nob Hill Foods, at the corner for nearly 56 years, has confirmed it will leave when its lease expires in 2027. And the space Whole Foods left at Cornerstone Shopping Center is going to Gus's Community Market, a San Francisco family grocer that has never run a store outside the city.
Taken one at a time, each looks like ordinary turnover. Taken together, they show a deliberate choice about scale. The empty supermarket box at Cornerstone could have gone to another large grocer. Its landlord picked a smaller store built around service counters instead.
The Bigger Store Opened First
Whole Foods opened at 15650 Los Gatos Blvd. on April 15, 2026. The store is 43,130 square feet and open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. The Los Gatan reported that it sits a couple of blocks north of the old store, on the corner of Los Gatos Boulevard and Los Gatos Almaden Road. The lot was a Chevrolet dealership that closed in the 2008 recession, and it is next to the Tesla sales and service center, which the paper said opened the year before. Sand Hill Property Company developed the site.
The size jump is the main story. The previous Whole Foods served Los Gatos for 32 years, and the new building is about twice as large. The company's opening announcement lists what the extra space holds:
- A made-to-order coffee and juice bar
- More than 2,000 items from California suppliers
- Prepared foods with salad and hot bars, plus pizza and sushi
- A bakery, a cheese department, and full-service meat and seafood counters
- More than 500 wines and more than 330 craft beers
That list explains much of what came next. A store this size covers nearly every grocery category at once, and the stores around it have to decide how to compete with that.
Four Months Later, a 56-Year Run Comes to an End
In mid-August, the Los Gatan reported that Nob Hill Foods would not renew its lease at Los Gatos Boulevard and Blossom Hill Road. The paper put the decision at four months after the new Whole Foods opened directly across Los Gatos Almaden Road from Nob Hill. Nob Hill is owned by Sacramento-based Raley's. A Raley's spokesperson said the decision followed a review of the store's performance and current economic conditions.
The Los Gatos store is part of a wider pattern for the company. Raley's closed its Mountain View store in May and its Roseville store in January, and it keeps seven other Bay Area locations. TheStreet reported that Raley's said it would try to place as many affected employees as possible at its other stores.
The exact timing is less settled than the decision. Local coverage says only that the lease expires in 2027. A September 13 summary of Silicon Valley Business Journal reporting puts the closing in June 2027. Until Raley's announces a final day, treat June as the reported target, not a confirmed date. No replacement tenant for the Nob Hill site has been announced.
Why the Old Whole Foods Space Went to a Smaller Grocer
Cornerstone's landlord is Cilker, a Los Gatos company founded in 1945 as a family agricultural and real estate business. When Whole Foods and Rite Aid left, Cilker had two large vacancies at the same center. It filled both with long leases and reported spending about $2.5 million on the two spaces. Gus's signed for 15 years with options, and Club Studio signed for 10.
Cilker Vice President Mary Egan described the plan this way:
"a strategic repositioning of the property"
She said it brings in two new community-minded businesses while handling the departure of two long-standing tenants.
The grocery choice is where that repositioning shows. According to the Business Journal summary, Cilker chose Gus's for a smaller, service-heavy model rather than another big-box format. The bet is that shoppers from Almaden, Cambrian and Willow Glen will notice the difference in the aisles and at the counters.
The numbers show the gap in format. Gus's space at 15980 Los Gatos Blvd. is reported at 18,125 square feet. East Bay Times coverage rounds it to 18,000. That is less than half the size of the new Whole Foods a couple of blocks north. The two stores won't be competing on how much they stock.
Here is what Gus's has said the Los Gatos store will carry:
- Produce, full-service meat and seafood, sushi, specialty groceries, beer and wine
- House-baked breads, which its San Francisco stores don't yet offer
- Prepared-food bowls you can customize
- A café with an indoor-outdoor patio
Gus's started as Haight Street Market in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury in 1981. It was founded by the late Gus Vardakastanis, his wife Georgia, and his father, and their sons Dimitri and Bobby Vardakastanis run it today. The company has five San Francisco locations on Noriega Street, Haight Street, Harrison Street and Channel Street, plus Canyon Market. Los Gatos will be its first South Bay store.
One correction is worth knowing if you followed the early coverage. The Los Gatan later clarified that Cornerstone has not been sold and that Sand Hill Property Company has never owned it. Sand Hill's role was developing the new Whole Foods site.
Cornerstone Is Becoming a Grocery-and-Gym Stop
The second Cornerstone vacancy was the former Rite Aid at 15920 Los Gatos Blvd., which is going to Club Studio. The Orange County-based chain combines boutique classes, a full gym floor and wellness services under one membership. Reporting from September put its target opening at that month. Club Studio's official location page now lists the Los Gatos Blvd. address and operating hours. No public opening date has been confirmed.
With both leases signed, Cilker reports the center is fully occupied. Its other tenants include Hanna's Noodle Bar, SkinSpirit and Shepherd & Sims. A gym and a grocery café in the same center make one parking lot useful for more trips each week, and the landlord built the plan around that pairing.
The Calendar From Here
Taking the reported dates together, the corner has a sequence worth watching:
- April 15, 2026. Whole Foods opens at 15650 Los Gatos Blvd.
- September 2026. Club Studio's reported target for 15920 Los Gatos Blvd.
- Now, October 2026. Nob Hill is still operating at Los Gatos Blvd. and Blossom Hill Rd., and the former Whole Foods space at Cornerstone is waiting for Gus's.
- April or May 2027. Gus's Community Market's target opening at 15980 Los Gatos Blvd.
- June 2027. Nob Hill's reported closing month, with the lease expiration confirmed only as 2027.
If both 2027 targets hold, there will be a stretch of several weeks next spring when Whole Foods, Gus's and Nob Hill are all open within a few blocks of one another. After that, the corner settles into its new shape, with one large-format store and one smaller counter-service market.
The Stores That Stay Put
Not every grocer on this stretch is changing. Lunardi's remains at 720 Blossom Hill Road at Los Gatos Boulevard, in the Kings Court Shopping Center. The Los Gatan also notes a large Safeway on the east side of Highway 17 near downtown, and says two other stores also serve the town.
For a quick reference, here is where everything sits:
- Whole Foods Market. 15650 Los Gatos Blvd., open now, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily
- Nob Hill Foods. Los Gatos Blvd. at Blossom Hill Rd., open until its 2027 lease end
- Gus's Community Market. 15980 Los Gatos Blvd. at Cornerstone, targeting spring 2027
- Club Studio. 15920 Los Gatos Blvd. at Cornerstone
- Lunardi's. 720 Blossom Hill Rd., Kings Court Shopping Center
Long leases, a fully occupied center and a new specialty grocer all affect how buyers see the blocks around Los Gatos Boulevard, and a careful valuation accounts for them. If you own nearby and want to know how changes along the Boulevard figure into your home's value, Bill Lister offers a free home valuation and consultation based on appraisal experience and close knowledge of Los Gatos.
