Cupertino's Long-Empty Storefronts Are Filling In, and Hashi Market Is Only the Start

"It's a central place for California. Apple is here. Everyone knows it." That is how Ava Liu, head of operations at Hashi Market, explained to SFGATE why a New York grocer picked Cupertino for its first West Coast store.

The answer is reasonable, but it leaves out what local drivers care about. The building Hashi took over at Crossroads, at 20558 Stevens Creek Boulevard, had been empty since 2023, when Sprouts Farmers Market moved out. On October 9, a line that started at 7:30 a.m. filled the center's parking lot.

Hashi got the headlines, but it is part of a larger pattern. This fall, Cupertino's main commercial corridor started filling spaces that had sat empty for years. The tenants now in the city's permitting pipeline are mostly small places you might use every week.

The vacancies that ended this fall

The City Manager's newsletters have tracked these openings one at a time. Put side by side, the main thing they have in common is how long each space sat empty.

Of the vacancies the city dated, the Preferred Bank space ran longest. The bank's 3,280-square-foot regional office replaces a Vitamin Shoppe and ends a vacancy that started in 2019. It is open to customers Monday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

At Marketplace, Jingege & YaoYao opened in late August in a 4,370-square-foot space. The Chinese restaurant is open daily from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.

A few blocks away, Specialty's Café & Bakery is planned for the former Le Boulanger at 20488 Stevens Creek. It will take about 6,550 square feet, and the city reported in early October that tenant-improvement plans had been submitted.

Why Hashi had to be big to fill that building

A 20,000-square-foot former supermarket is hard to re-lease. It needs a tenant that will bring people back regularly. Hashi does that by carrying far more than a typical grocer.

Palo Alto Online's first look described these sections:

• A large snack section and pantry staples like seaweed, soy sauce and miso
• Frozen mochi ice cream and taiyaki
• Produce, seafood, sushi and bakery counters
• A beauty aisle stocked with Canmake Tokyo products
• A kitchen goods aisle with pans, cups, bowls and plates

Operations manager Justin Li told Palo Alto Online that the name means "bridge." He said the store carries Japanese items not typically found at other Japanese markets, especially products from Hokkaido. SFGATE reported Hokkaido beef, rice, cheesecake, premium chocolate, and melons that sell for $59.

For people who live nearby, the prepared-food counters may matter more than the melons. SFGATE described three large kiosks selling chicken katsu bentos, curry bowls, salmon teriyaki and $26 A5 wagyu rice bowls, plus a full wall of sushi rolls and nigiri. Liu told the outlet that sushi would soon be 30% off after 8 p.m., a practice Hashi uses at its New York stores. The store is open 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily, so that discount would cover the last three hours of every day.

Opening day showed how much interest there was. SFGATE counted about 1,700 shoppers by the end of the day, with cashiers ringing up about 300 transactions an hour for most of the morning. The Mercury News reported hundreds of people lined up that morning with reusable bags. Some had come from as far as Grass Valley, three hours away.

Cupertino may not be the only Bay Area Hashi for long. The company already owns Marina Food Market in San Mateo and Marina Grocery in Milpitas and Union City, and it is weighing whether to convert them. Li told the Mercury News the chain expects about 10 new stores between now and mid-2027. For now, the Crossroads store is the flagship. Liu told SFGATE the company "really put a lot of passion and energy and effort into this location."

One storefront went the other way on Main Street

Not every change this fall was an opening. Oren's Hummus at Main Street Cupertino, 19419 Stevens Creek Boulevard, served its last meal on Friday, September 11, 2026, after 10 years. What Now San Francisco reported that the closure affected only the Cupertino location and that staff could transfer to the chain's other Bay Area restaurants. The company also said its hummus is headed to local grocery stores by early 2027.

For longtime Main Street regulars, that space is now a spot to watch. The center's online directory still lists Oren's, but that page dates from January, months before the closure.

The next wave is small, and most of it is food

The city's October 14 newsletter shows where Cupertino's retail activity is heading. Four businesses are set to join Nineteen800, the mixed-use complex on Vallco Parkway. All four had submitted tenant-improvement plans and were in permitting at the time:

1. CoCo Ichibanya Curry House, 2,804 square feet, 19900 Vallco Parkway, Suite 100
2. LX Fitness, 1,600 square feet, 19900 Vallco Parkway, Suite 150
3. More Yogurt, 1,567 square feet, 19900 Vallco Parkway, Suite 160
4. Baby Café, 3,615 square feet, 10088 North Wolfe Road, Suite 100

All four are much smaller than Hashi. Together they cover about 9,586 square feet, less than half of Hashi's 20,000. The mix is a curry house, a gym, a yogurt shop and a café.

The city's list is longer than Nineteen800. In coverage of the Hashi opening, Bay City News, via SFGATE, reported that city officials named Kunjip Express, EE Sushi, CoCo Ichibanya Curry House and DuoDuo Snacks among the Asian-themed businesses in Cupertino's permitting process.

Mayor Kitty Moore gave the same outlet the city's view: "Cupertino continues to evolve while staying true to what makes it special."

Hashi also fits a regional trend. The Mercury News listed T&T Supermarket, which opened in June at San Jose's Westgate Center, and Fugetsu Japanese Market, which opened its third South Bay store in Santa Clara in August. Within Cupertino, the effect is that shoppers now have a reason to stop at a corner of Stevens Creek they used to drive past.

Where to see the corridor during the holidays

The easiest way to see the changes in one trip is Main Street Cupertino's Holiday Boutique on Saturday, December 5, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. in Town Square at 19419 Stevens Creek Boulevard. The Cupertino Chamber of Commerce listing promises shopping, restaurants, music, Santa and hot chocolate. From Town Square, it is a short drive along Stevens Creek to Jingege & YaoYao at Marketplace, open until 9:30 p.m., and Hashi's prepared-food counters, open until 11 p.m.

If you own near Stevens Creek and want to know how this fall's changes show up when buyers compare blocks, Annemarie Heynig at Bay Area Home Sales can walk you through it. Schedule a Free Consultation and bring your questions about your corner of Cupertino.