The Awakening of a Once-Sleepy Shopping Center

While the famed Union Square in downtown San Francisco appears to be coming back, another retail power center is emerging about an hour north of the city, The San Francisco Chronicle reports. A shopping complex east of fast-growing Santa Rosa “could become the next retail mecca,” Staff Writer Julie Johnson notes, thanks mainly to a steady infusion of what she describes as “a new type of premium brands,” including Anthropologie, Vuori and Warby Parker, as well as such stomach-oriented attractions as Disneyland’s Salt & Straw ice cream and a Shake Shack.

The growth in Santa Rosa retail hasn’t been happening in the city’s downtown or its two large indoor shopping malls. Instead, it’s been taking place east of town in the Montgomery Village shopping center. That once-sleepy neighborhood complex was born in the 1950s, complete with a covered-wagon motif that has been retained in select spots as the complex has modernized. It is a 280,000-square-foot outdoor marketplace where about 60 businesses open to sidewalks connecting low-slung buildings.

So, how did the complex go from moribund to bustling? Writes Johnson:

“Montgomery Village always had the makings for a vibrant retail mecca: popular local businesses, a grocery store, outdoor spaces and thousands of homes (with potential shoppers) nearby. But the shopping village seemed to have plateaued as a quiet afternoon destination for retirees over the past decade.

“Then, in 2021, Boston-based WS Development purchased the site from a local family, and began a slow transformation. The company punched through walls to open up a key walkway and tore down a wood-paneled steak-and-potatoes restaurant, replacing it with a pilates studio and an outpost of Berkeley-based brewery Fieldwork. Boomer-oriented apparel retailers like Talbots and Soft Surroundings are gone, replaced with popular retailers such as Free People and Sephora.”

Johnson notes that some residents have expressed concerns to Mayor Mark Stapp that big brands could edge out Santa Rosa retailers. But so far, Montgomery Village has kept most, if not all, of its local businesses, she writes.