From early 2020 until this summer, one corner of Plaza North on North McDowell Boulevard was a 90,000-square-foot empty building facing Lucchesi Park. The grocery stores on the other side of the lot kept running the whole time. That has now turned around. The old Kmart building is fully leased and open. Raley's, which carried the plaza through most of those empty years, is scheduled to close on Jan. 26, 2027.

So Plaza North is in an unusual window. For about five months, from late August through late January, every storefront that has anchored Plaza North at one time or another is open at once. The holiday season sits right in the middle of that window.

How long the corner sat empty

Kmart opened in 1980 as the anchor of the 19-acre shopping center. When it closed in February 2020, the Petaluma Argus-Courier reported, it was the last Kmart in Sonoma County. The building also had a dine-in restaurant and an outdoor furniture and garden department, and it anchored the plaza for four decades.

The building's history since then has a few dates worth knowing:

1. February 2020. Kmart closes all of its California stores. Apart from a few seasonal Spirit Halloween leases, the building stays dark.
2. Early 2022. Home Depot proposes moving into the site and withdraws the plan a few months later.
3. March 2025. City staff review building permits for three tenants: Boot Barn, Hobby Lobby and a second Petaluma Grocery Outlet. Community Development Director Brian Oh told the Argus-Courier, "We look forward to welcoming all three shortly."
4. The following year. A renovation of about a year splits the single building into three separate units.
5. Early July 2026. Boot Barn opens, followed by Hobby Lobby in mid-July.
6. Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. Grocery Outlet opens in the middle unit, and Mayor Kevin McDonald leads the ribbon-cutting.

That works out to more than six years of vacancy, followed by three openings in about eight weeks. The Home Depot proposal shows the site was not short of interest. Getting to an answer just took a long time, and the answer was to divide the space for three tenants instead of filling it with one.

The new middle store is a second Grocery Outlet with a different operator

Grocery Outlet works through independent operators. A family or individual runs each store under the brand, a model the company began using in 1973. In Petaluma, that means two stores with two operators:

• East side, Plaza North: operated by Victor Soares, between Boot Barn and Hobby Lobby.
• West side, River Plaza Shopping Center on Washington Street: operated by Michael Billeci. The company planned to keep this original location open.

The company describes its stock as "unexpected and rare finds" alongside fresh produce and meat, and its marketing promises savings of 30 to 60 percent. In practice, because the buying is opportunistic, the shelves change from week to week. With the new store, east-side shoppers have a Grocery Outlet without going to the River Plaza location.

The timing matters too. The Argus-Courier noted that the new store opened "within a few minutes' walk" of the Raley's that had just announced it was closing.

The grocery side that held steady is the side that changes next

Through all six years of vacancy, the plaza's grocery stores stayed open. Raley's sits next door to Trader Joe's and near Lola's Market, which specializes in Mexican groceries. The plaza's 43 suites have also included Soban Korean Cuisine, iWashToo and Fruta All-Natural Ice Cream.

The Raley's closing is part of a wider pullback by the West Sacramento-based company. According to the Argus-Courier's report, Raley's plans to close at least six stores in California and Nevada by June 2027, including Brentwood, Roseville and Elko, Nevada. Chief Marketing Officer Carol Barsotti told the paper that "local market conditions and the long-term financial sustainability of these locations" were among the reasons.

The Petaluma store has 48 employees. The company said it would offer transfers to other stores to "as many affected employees as possible" before the doors close.

Onita Pellegrini, CEO of the Petaluma Area Chamber of Commerce, told the Argus-Courier what comes next for the building:

"We hope that the location will ultimately bring another strong business or community-serving use to Petaluma."

That is a familiar hope at this address. The Kmart corner went through a proposal that fell apart and a year of renovation before it reopened as three stores. Large anchor spaces at Plaza North have tended to change slowly.

The countdown, from this Thursday

As of this week, Raley's has 82 days left before its scheduled Jan. 26 closing. That puts all of Thanksgiving, the December holidays and New Year's inside the last stretch when the plaza has both its old grocery anchor and its new tenants open together.

The holiday calendar on the east side and across town runs through that same window:

• Saturday, Nov. 7, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The 20th Annual Cottages of Petaluma Holiday Craft Faire takes place at the Cottages clubhouse, 576 N. McDowell Blvd., up the same corridor as Plaza North. Admission is free. The vendor list includes ornaments, wreaths, handmade cards and pinecone owls, with coffee and cookies for shoppers. Parking is in the lot across from the clubhouse.
• Saturday, Nov. 28, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Santa and Mrs. Claus arrive by tugboat at noon at the River Plaza Shopping Center, 54 E. Washington St., home of the original Grocery Outlet. The Pacific Empire Chorus and face painting start at 11:30. Afterward, the event points visitors downtown for Small Business Saturday, with free shop-small swag bags while they last.
• Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2027. Raley's scheduled closing date at Plaza North.

Where the rest of Petaluma's grocery map sits

After late January, east-side shoppers will still have Trader Joe's, Lola's Market and the new Grocery Outlet at and beside Plaza North. Elsewhere in the city, Petaluma has two Safeway stores, two Lucky stores, Sprouts Farmers Market, the original Grocery Outlet at River Plaza, and the locally owned Petaluma Market on Western Avenue.

At Plaza North, the grocery lineup moves from a traditional supermarket toward a specialty market, a discount grocer and Trader Joe's, all a short walk apart. The old Kmart building, empty for six years, now holds the plaza's newest stores.

Tracking how an anchor tenant comes and goes along a corridor like North McDowell is part of how I read a neighborhood for the people who live there. If you own a home on Petaluma's east side and want to talk through how the changes at Plaza North fit with your own plans, Daniel Casabonne is glad to sit down with you. Request a private consultation.