Is Safeway eyeing Larkspur?

It passed under the radar earlier this year, but the ownership of the property currently occupied by Lucky's Market in downtown Larkspur changed hands in March. The new owner, who picked up the property for just $4.0 million, is Vons, otherwise known as Safeway. 

New stores spotted in Larkspur

Two new stores have recently popped up on Redwood Highway in Larkspur/Greenbrae. First, the space at Cost Plus Plaza that was vacated by Party America has been filled by Mattress Discounters. Trader Joe's. also took a portion of the space that was adjacent to their store and expanded into it. The remainder was snapped up by the mattress store.

Further north, on the corner of Rich Street, the unit previously occupied by Golf Mart has been taken over by a toy store, going by the name of Toy World. Not sure if the business is connected to Solaria's Toy World in the nearby Bon Air Center, or whether the name is just a coincidence.

Trader Joe's to expand in Larkspur

A proposal before the Larkspur planning commission this week reveals that Trader Joe's intends to expand its Larkspur store into part of the adjacent unit which was recently vacated by Party America.

The grocer is seeking approval of a circulation assessment permit, which will allow it to take over a 2,600 square foot piece of the unit, which was offered to the market last month for $42 per square foot. The Larkspur store has proved very popular since opening last year, despite some fears of major traffic congestion at peak shopping times.

Weekly news roundup

In San Rafael there is a public hearing tonight (9-21) at 8.00pm where the City Council will be discussing the proposed Mi Pueblo grocery store at 330 Bellam Blvd.

If you want to have your say on the revised plans for the relocation of Corbett's ACE Hardware store to 800 Magnolia in Larkspur, there's a Planning Commission hearing September 22nd.

In Novato, All Star party rentals has relocated from Grant Avenue to Olive Avenue. Meanwhile, eleven stores on Grant Avenue have signed up for Novato Redevelopment Agency's Grant Avenue Facade Development Program. The program provides up to half the cost of improvements to the building's exterior.

The renovation of Northgate continues on schedule, with the grand opening of Kohl's planned for Sept 30th. In case you missed it, the latest announcement of new stores to take space in the mall includes a 2-level, 28,000 sq.ft Forever 21, and new-to-Marin fashion stores Hot Topic (think Twilight T-shirts) and North Bay shoe retailer Sole Desire.

Trader Joe's Larkspur to open Friday

Get out your Hawaiian shirts and head down to Cost Plus Plaza for the grand opening of Trader Joe's new store this Friday.

Trader Joe's is privately owned by the German group that also owns Aldi, and is notoriously reluctant to disclose information about its operations. This is something that has earned the wrath of organizations like Greenpeace, which set up the spoof Traitor Joe's website to highlight their concerns about the company's seafood purchases.

Larkspur downtown

Larkspur is located on the eastern side of Mt Tamalpais and contains an historic retail and commercial downtown area centered on Magnolia Avenue.


The city is currently celebrating its 100th year and a series of improvements are planned for the downtown area. As the photos below show, there's a diverse mix of buildings in the town, reflecting both its early history as a small working town and more recent past as the center of an afluent neighborhood.

There's 50+ retail stores in the downtown area. Cafes & eateries are the most prominent category; home furnishings and womenswear boutiques are also well-represented, with the rest being a mix of local services.

Starting at the south end of the town, the Lark Creek Shops is a small strip of stores located beside the beautiful Lark Creek Inn and the redwoods of the Madrone Canyon. The buildings are in poor condition but there are some popular local businesses here, including the Lingerie Shoppe and Yankee Pier.

Next there's one of the city's newer additions: the very popular Picco restaurant and wine bar.
At the intersection of King and Magnolia is the historic City Hall building, north of which starts the main part of the downtown shopping strip.
Emporio Rulli is the cafe with the awesome pastries and cakes. There's also a wine bar and one of the few places with outside tables. Fabrizio is a highly-rated Italian restaurant. Left Bank is also always busy with its french-influenced menu. The town's watering hole is The Silver Peso, complete with shuffleboard.There are more eateries at the northern end of the town, including Burritoville, the Ward Street Cafe, sushi at the King of The Roll and Fukusuke and pizza at Cafe Lucano.The town has several signature boutiques, including Nicolette, Gala and Canvas

And Swing is a great kids clothing store. A few stores focus on home furnishings, ranging from the pricey custom-made furniture to everyday gifts/furnishings. Stores to note include Coquelicot, Susana, L'Ambiente and Country Gift Shop.

The Northern end of downtown is a mess, with poor quality developments arranged around surface parking lots. The Lucky supermarket is a second rate grocery store, just about good enough for essentials.

But the whole area could do with a serious makeover.

Trader Joe's to open at Cost Plus Plaza

Reports that Trader Joe’s is planning to open a store at Cost Plus Plaza in Larkspur is welcome news to all TJ fans in Southern Marin. As much as we love shopping there, the trek up to the crowded San Rafael outlet, never sure if you are going to get a parking space, can be more pain than pleasure.

Okay, the Cost Plus Plaza isn’t that great a location. Easy enough to get to from the south (Lucky Drive exit), but more difficult when leaving, having to loop around and under the freeway and requiring a left turn out of the car park that the Larkspur city planner will want to take a good look at. Parking should be okay – there are approx. 200 spaces in the car park, which also features some great palm trees sitting in shopping bag-shaped concrete planters.

The extra traffic that Trader Joe’s will bring should be good news for the other tenants at the center. Cost Plus and Bevmo will face increased competition for the liquor trade, but this should be outweighed by new business from additional customers brought to the Plaza by the Trader.

The other stores at the center are Vitamin Shoppe, Mens Wearhouse and Party America, each occupying fairly large units. If TJs is successful the Plaza’s owners may look to re-lease some of these stores to higher-paying tenants, possibly subdividing into smaller units, which gross more rent on a per square foot basis. Think coffee shop, drugstore, bakery, etc.