Montclair Village closed more long-running businesses in 2026 than in any recent year. Grinders closed after 35 years, Pagarung Thai after more than two decades, and Perle Bar after nine. Rite Aid's large store has been empty since mid-2025. Almost every one of those spaces now has a named next occupant, and in most cases the new tenant was public within weeks of the closure. A Village with that many endings has very few windows left without a plan behind them.
The details are spread across a summer of local columns and restaurant roundups. Put together, they show a district that is replacing tenants faster than it is losing them.
The ledger, space by space
| Space | What closed | What's coming | Status heading into late October |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6200 Antioch St. | Pagarung Thai Cuisine, open since 2005 | Piggie's, brunch and dinner | Slated for mid-October, pending Fire Department inspection |
| 2069 Antioch Ct. | Grinders, after 35 years | Go Banh Mi | Catering orders now, walk-up "coming soon" |
| 1991 Mountain Blvd. | Rite Aid, closed July 2025 | CVS Pharmacy, relocating | Shelves stocking, move expected by December |
| Perle parklet, 2058 Mountain Blvd. | Perle Bar | Montclair Blooms wildflower mural | Painted |
| 2059 Mountain Blvd. | Highwire Coffee, shut in March | Highwire Coffee, reopened | Serving daily by July |
Two spaces sit outside the table because nothing has been announced for them. The first is the Perle Bar dining room itself. The second is the small CVS storefront at 2000 Mountain Blvd., which will empty once the pharmacy moves across the street. Those two addresses are the Village's open questions for 2027.
Antioch Court turned over its two oldest tenants
The two longest-running closures were both on or around Antioch Court, and both already have successors.
Grinders closed this spring when owner Peter York retired, ending a 35-year run, Berkeleyside reported in May. By September, the East Bay Times' Eye on the Hills column was reporting that Go Banh Mi would open its new location in the space, with walk-up service for its grilled meat, tofu and fried egg sandwiches "reportedly coming soon." For now, Go Banh Mi's website takes catering orders only, with a $200 minimum, and lists individual pickup as coming soon.
Pagarung Thai Cuisine at 6200 Antioch St. had opened in 2005. According to Oaklandside's August closures roundup, a handwritten sign on the window announced it had closed for good. The East Bay Times reported that it had been running on sporadic hours since the pandemic. That column also reported that an ownership-change application for the site had already been filed by Bay Bridge Hospitality LLC, the company behind Piggie's. Piggie's is a mother-daughter restaurant. Alex Piyapanee is a bartender and sommelier who spent 11 years at Daughter Thai. Her mother, Nat Kongthai, comes from hotels and wrote many of the recipes.
The opening date has already moved once. The September plan was brunch starting Oct. 1, with dinner added after a soft opening. By early October, the East Bay Times described the plan as brunch and dinner Tuesday through Sunday, starting mid-October, and quoted Piyapanee on what was holding it up:
"The only thing still pending is our Fire Department inspection. We're still hopeful everything will line up soon, but that's the one thing that could potentially push our opening back a little."
Piyapanee expects her mother's morning porridge to become a signature dish. It is a savory oatmeal with assorted mushrooms. The name reflects the menu, which includes an Asian braised pork dish, and the fact that both women were born in the year of the pig. The September column described sandwich boards around the Village advertising the opening, in the space behind Safeway. If the doors are not open yet, the inspection is the likely reason.
The largest move is across Mountain Boulevard
The biggest space in the turnover is the former Rite Aid at 1991 Mountain Blvd. Rite Aid gave up the 27,000-square-foot store when it closed in July 2025 as part of a bankruptcy liquidation. CVS Pharmacy has leased it. By mid-September the lights were on and merchandise was filling the shelves, the East Bay Times reported, and the move was reportedly expected to be finished by December.
CVS's own store locator still lists the pharmacy at 2000 Mountain Blvd. Over the summer, the current store cleared out its middle section to make the pharmacy at the back easier to reach. Prescription pickup stays on the old side of the street until the move is complete.
This move works differently from the restaurant turnovers. When CVS fills the larger empty space, the smaller one it leaves becomes empty. The Village swaps a large vacancy for a small one, and the small one is easier to lease. Even so, it is the one vacancy this round of moves creates rather than resolves.
Where no tenant arrived, the Village Association painted
Perle Bar opened in 2017 as a California-French restaurant. It reopened in 2025 as Perle Bar with a California-Vietnamese concept, then closed permanently this summer, according to Oaklandside. No successor has been announced for the dining room. The wooden outdoor parklet the restaurant built during the pandemic did not stay empty, though.
The Montclair Village Association painted it with wildflowers, including Indian paintbrush, California tidytips and lupine. The mural is part of a new initiative called Montclair Blooms. Daniel Swafford, the MVA's executive director, told the East Bay Times that the goal is for more public art to "sprout up" in the Village to attract business and bring the community together. He cited Copenhagen as the inspiration. Information on volunteering and donating is set to appear on montclairvillage.com.
The mural shows the same approach as the restaurant turnovers. When a closure leaves something behind on the street, a new use is assigned to it.
The businesses that stayed changed how they operate
Several closures did not stick. Highwire Coffee, one of nine shops in the Emeryville-based chain, shut its Montclair location abruptly in March because of operational problems. By July it was serving coffee and pastries daily again at 2059 Mountain Blvd. and gradually adding hours, the East Bay Times reported.
Other businesses expanded inside the space they already had. Healthy Life Vitamins at 6130 Medau Place added a wellness suite with infrared sauna, red-light therapy, aromatherapy and a 4D massage chair. The East Bay Times reported the price as $69 an hour.
The Shop, a boutique at 6123 La Salle Ave., now sells beyond its walls. Owner Ali Baker runs live clothing auctions on Poshmark and Whatnot when foot traffic in the Village is slow. She draws as many as 30 people at a time, which keeps the inventory in the store turning over. Her stock includes specialty European brands sold at steep discounts, down to $7 kids' shorts and a $15 rack of one-of-a-kind designer pieces.
Some businesses are holding steady while their other branches close. In mid-October, Oaklandside reported that the Montclair locations of Oh G Burger and Sliver Pizzeria remained open even as other branches of both closed. Just outside the Village, Payakk at 5761 Thornhill Drive opened about a year ago. Its seasonal menu runs August through November, Berkeleyside reported, and it hosts vinyl listening parties with Bay Area DJs every other Friday.
Sunday, Oct. 25 brings it all to one plaza
The Village's next big gathering is three days after this post goes up. Halloween Fun in Montclair Village runs Sunday, Oct. 25, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Village Plaza. It is free and open to all ages. It is also the last event in this year's Picnic on the Plaza series, which brought "Salsa & Sangria" to the Antioch Court plaza in September. The plaza day overlaps with the Montclair Village farmers market, which runs every Sunday year-round, rain or shine, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at La Salle and Moraga avenues.
A morning that covers both:
- 9 a.m. The farmers market opens at La Salle and Moraga.
- 10 a.m. The plaza program starts. Stop at the MVA booth for a scavenger hunt card for the haunted hunt at the farmers market, which has prizes.
- Late morning. Pick up a free trick-or-treat bag, courtesy of Flair Travel and Pelago, for collecting treats from market vendors and Village shops. Bringing your own bag works too.
- Midday. The plaza has DJ music, face painting by Lily's Art, a photo booth hosted by Najee Tobin of Rough Thesis Photography, the Oakland Fire Department's parade rig, craft tables, lawn games and a "haunted house."
- 1 p.m. The market closes. The plaza program continues until 2 p.m.
The MVA's page still shows last year's list of trick-or-treat businesses and says the 2026 list will be posted closer to the event, so check the Halloween page before planning a route through the shops. A walk from the plaza to Antioch Court will pass the old Grinders and Pagarung spaces, with the Perle parklet mural nearby on Mountain Boulevard.
The Village is also working on one more successor. Tom and Nancy Lehrkind are working with the city to reopen the historic Montclair Firehouse, which has been closed for years.
When a long-running tenant leaves, the value of a commercial block depends on how quickly someone takes the space. That is the same question owners in the Oakland hills ask when they think about their own homes. If you would like a quiet conversation about what this year's turnover in Montclair Village means for your property, Roh Habibi and The Habibi Group are glad to help. Book a Confidential Real Estate Consultation.
