On the morning of October 9, hundreds of people lined up outside 20558 Stevens Creek Boulevard. The doors they were waiting for had been closed since Sprouts Farmers Market left in 2023. Inside, chefs cut a bluefin tuna in front of the crowd, and a Yosakoi dance group performed after the ribbon-cutting, The Mercury News reported. The first 200 shoppers got a free mystery gift bag holding $50 worth of Japanese products.
Barnes & Noble set November 4, less than four weeks later, as the grand opening date for its new store a few doors down, in the former Party City space next to TJ Maxx. That puts tenants into both of Cupertino Crossroads' dark anchor spaces within a single month. That fits what is happening across the city this year. Almost every new business on Cupertino's 2026 list is moving into a storefront another business left.
Three years dark, then a first West Coast store
The empty Sprouts space had been a fixture of the Crossroads parking lot for about three years. The City of Cupertino's October 10 press release called it a "long-vacant retail space that has remained empty since Sprouts Farmers Market closed in 2023."
The new tenant is a young company. Hashi Market was founded in New York in 2024, and Cupertino is its first West Coast location, according to Palo Alto Online's Peninsula Foodist. The same company owns Marina Food Market in San Mateo and Marina Grocery in Milpitas and Union City. It opened its first California Hashi on Stevens Creek before converting any of those stores. USA TODAY lists Milpitas, Union City and San Mateo among the chain's upcoming locations, along with stores in Manhattan, Brookline, Cambridge and Aurora, Colorado.
The opening is part of a wider wave of Asian grocers on the Peninsula. Palo Alto Online counts Mega Mart in East Palo Alto, Osaka Marketplace in Foster City and Fugetsu in Santa Clara. Cupertino's share of that wave is in a space that already had the loading dock, the parking and the grocery layout.
What is on the shelves
Hashi's aisles run well past sushi:
- Hokkaido products. Operations manager Justin Li told Palo Alto Online the store carries items not usually found at other Japanese markets, including Hokkaido melon cakes, Hokkaido crackers and other goods made with Hokkaido milk.
- Fresh counters. Produce, seafood, sushi and bakery sections. USA TODAY reports sashimi-grade seafood and chefs cutting tuna in front of customers.
- Ready-to-eat food. The Mercury News describes bento boxes and fruit-shaped ice cream. The frozen aisle carries mochi ice cream and taiyaki.
- Non-food aisles. A beauty aisle stocked with Canmake Tokyo, plus kitchen goods such as pans, cups, bowls and plates.
- Beyond Japan. Some Chinese, Korean and American brands are on the shelves too.
The store is open 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily, which makes it a late-evening option on this stretch of Stevens Creek.
"Hashi, the word, means bridge. So the goal and the mission statement of Hashi Market is to be that bridge where we're bringing Japanese culture to the U.S." Justin Li, operations manager, speaking to Palo Alto Online
A bookstore returns in a party store's footprint
The second Crossroads tenant brings back something Cupertino had gone without for years. In its October 28 announcement, Barnes & Noble described the store as "the return of a general bookstore to Cupertino." It listed the bookstores the city has lost: Crown Books, B. Dalton Bookseller, Waldenbooks, A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books and Stacey's.
At 18,000 square feet, the new store at 20740 Stevens Creek Boulevard is bigger than any of those earlier shops, according to the company. It has a Barnes & Noble Café, a newsstand, vinyl, stationery, toys and games. Local author Parini Shroff, who wrote Some People, was scheduled to cut the ribbon at the 10 a.m. opening on November 4. Store events are posted on the store's social accounts under @bncupertinoca.
The company's growth explains why a large, empty Crossroads space looked attractive. Barnes & Noble says it has more than 735 bookstores, up from fewer than 600 as recently as 2023. That is the same year the Sprouts space went dark. It also says it is on track to open 60 stores by the end of 2026. Cupertino is one of five Barnes & Noble locations the company scheduled to open on November 4. Store manager Jashee Yang described the site as being in "this central location of Silicon Valley and tech offices."
Both new Crossroads tenants are chains in expansion mode, and both chose an existing box over new construction. The rest of the city's 2026 list follows the same pattern.
The same move, up and down Stevens Creek
Through 2026, the city's business newsletters have tracked new tenants address by address. Most of them are moving into spaces with a previous occupant. The table pairs each one with what came before, where the city named it.
| Address | Previous occupant | Incoming business | What the city reported |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20558 Stevens Creek Blvd., Cupertino Crossroads | Sprouts Farmers Market | Hashi Market | Opened October 9 |
| 20740 Stevens Creek Blvd., Cupertino Crossroads | Party City | Barnes & Noble | Opening set for November 4 |
| 20803 Stevens Creek Blvd. | Vitamin Shoppe | Preferred Bank | Opened |
| 20488 Stevens Creek Blvd. | Le Boulanger | Specialty's Café & Bakery | Tenant-improvement plans submitted, about 6,550 square feet |
| 10370 S. De Anza Blvd., Villagio | Kee Wah Bakery | Kunjip Express | Building plans submitted |
| 21682 Stevens Creek Blvd. | Yummee Sandwiches | EE Sushi | In permitting as of October |
Other names on the city's list are going into existing commercial buildings too. Jin Gege & YaoYao opened in late August in a 4,370-square-foot unit at Marketplace, 19628 Stevens Creek Boulevard. Hokkaido Bakery has submitted plans for a 609-square-foot space at 10271 Torre Avenue in Cupertino Town Center. That makes Hokkaido baked goods the second Hokkaido-focused arrival in town this year, after the shelves at Hashi. At Nineteen800 on Vallco Parkway, the city's October 14 City Manager's Newsletter listed four businesses with tenant-improvement plans in: CoCo Ichibanya Curry House in Suite 100, LX Fitness in Suite 150 and More Yogurt in Suite 160 at 19900 Vallco Parkway, plus Baby Café at 10088 N. Wolfe Road, Suite 100. DuoDuo Snacks is also on the city's permitting list.
The city's year-to-date list of arrivals also includes Safar by Karim, NaiSnow, Miniso, Masakali Indian Cuisine, Charlie's Tea, BonBon Matcha and HSBC Bank. Taken together, the bakeries, curry, sushi and frozen yogurt coming through permits are being built inside shells Cupertino already had, along the same Stevens Creek and De Anza corridors residents already drive.
The rest of the season on the city calendar
With two new anchors on Stevens Creek, these are the next dates on the city and Chamber calendars:
- November 13: Night hike at McClellan Ranch Preserve, 22221 McClellan Road.
- November 14: Paper shredding and environmental recycling at De Anza College Parking Lot A, 21250 Stevens Creek Boulevard.
- December 4, 6 to 8 p.m.: Community Tree Lighting at Quinlan Community Center, 10185 N. Stelling Road.
- December 5, 8:30 to 11:30 a.m.: Breakfast with Santa at Quinlan, $18 for residents and $22 for nonresidents, with preregistration required.
- December 5: Holiday Boutique at Main Street Cupertino Town Square, 19419 Stevens Creek Boulevard, listed by the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce.
- December 11 to 20: The city's Santa Visits Your Home program, with visits outside homes in time slots between 5 and 8:30 p.m.
Event details can change, so check the city's event pages before you go.
If you own a home near the Stevens Creek corridor and want to know how shopping centers like Cupertino Crossroads figure into your home's value, VKG Real Estate Group can walk you through it. Start with a Free Home Valuation.
