Hashi Market didn't open until 10 a.m. on Friday, October 9, but people were already lining up at 7:30. By midmorning the queue had wrapped through the Crossroads parking lot, "snaking like a TSA queue," as SFGATE put it. Cashiers rang up about 300 transactions an hour for most of the morning, and roughly 1,700 shoppers had come through by the end of the day.
Next Wednesday, November 4, the same shopping center gets its second big opening of the fall. Barnes & Noble's store locator lists the Cupertino Crossroads store at 20740 Stevens Creek Blvd. as "Opening November 4th 2026." The bookstore and the market sit a few doors apart, and both are moving into spaces that sat empty for a long time. They are also built to draw people from well beyond Cupertino. The corner of Stevens Creek and De Anza has been a quick-errand stop for years. This fall it becomes a place people drive in for.
Two Big Spaces, Both Empty for Years
Neither of these is a small shop turning over. Here is how the two biggest spaces at Crossroads got to this fall:
- The former Sprouts Farmers Market at 20558 Stevens Creek Blvd. It had been empty since 2023, according to the City of Cupertino's September 30 City Manager's Newsletter.
- The former Party City at 20740 Stevens Creek Blvd. In April, San José Spotlight reported that a 19,200-square-foot Barnes & Noble was proposed for the building. The project was still under city review then, with no opening date.
- October 9, 2026. Hashi Market held its grand opening in the old Sprouts space.
- November 4, 2026. Barnes & Noble's scheduled opening date.
In April the City Manager, Tina Kapoor, told San José Spotlight that the city looked forward "to seeing this retail space serve the community and contribute to the vibrancy of the area." Seven months later, the space is days from opening.
Inside the Old Sprouts
Hashi Market started in New York City, where it has six stores. The Mercury News describes it as part supermarket, part department store. According to SFGATE, the Cupertino store covers 20,000 square feet. It carries imported Japanese snacks, produce, seafood, meat and sake, and it has its own bakery and two large aisles of beauty and lifestyle brands such as Senka, Canmake and Bonbory. Much of the stock comes from Hokkaido, including beef, rice, cheesecake, chocolate, and melons that sell for $59.
The prepared food is what sets it apart from a typical grocery run. SFGATE describes three large grab-and-go kiosks with chicken katsu bentos, curry bowls, salmon teriyaki and $26 A5 wagyu rice bowls. A full wall on the far right of the store holds sushi rolls and boxes of nigiri. Ava Liu, the head of operations, told SFGATE that the store plans to start taking 30% off all sushi after 8 p.m., a practice already used in its New York stores. The store is open daily from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Why Hashi Chose This Corner
Liu explained the choice to SFGATE:
"This is our flagship store in California, so we really put a lot of passion and energy and effort into this location... it's a central place for California. Apple is here. Everyone knows it."
Justin Li, the company's operations director, gave the Mercury News a similar answer. He said the Bay Area, "and Cupertino in particular," was a natural choice for a major expansion because shoppers here are "knowledgeable, curious and increasingly interested in high-quality products with a clear sense of origin." The chain is also looking at Bay Area sites in Milpitas, San Mateo and Union City, and it expects to open about 10 new stores by mid-2027. Cupertino opened first, and the City calls it Hashi's first California location.
SFGATE counts Hashi as part of a wave of Asian supermarkets opening around the Bay Area this year. T&T Supermarket opened in San Jose in June, Tokyo Central drew about 8,000 people to its Emeryville opening in February, and H Mart welcomed about 10,000 shoppers to its new Dublin store in March. Hashi's first-day crowd of about 1,700 was smaller than those. It still filled a parking lot that had been sitting next to an empty storefront since 2023. The opening also brought Cupertino coverage in SFGATE and USA TODAY, which the City highlighted in an October 16 news post.
A Bookstore Built Bigger Than the One in Los Gatos
The Barnes & Noble opening adds to that pull. San José Spotlight reports that the company recently closed several South Bay stores, including Almaden Plaza and Eastridge Mall in San Jose and the Pruneyard in Campbell. It opened a 7,000-square-foot store in Los Gatos in 2025. At 19,200 square feet, the Cupertino store is nearly three times that size. It is part of a national expansion that aims to open 60 stores in 2026, and Spotlight says it will carry curated books, toys and more in a modern layout. The store locator lists toys and games among its features.
Santa Clara University economist Audrey Guo explained the timing to San José Spotlight. "There's a segment of the market, particularly in discretionary spending, that is intentionally trying to support bookstores rather than online marketplaces," she said.
Put Hashi and Barnes & Noble side by side and Crossroads looks different. Its two largest spaces now hold a grocery that draws people from across the region and the biggest of the South Bay bookstores covered in the reporting above.
Along Stevens Creek, Other Spaces Are Filling More Slowly
The rest of the boulevard is changing too, one smaller space at a time. The City's newsletters track each step:
- Preferred Bank, 20803 Stevens Creek Blvd. Its new Silicon Valley Regional Office is now open in a 3,280-square-foot former Vitamin Shoppe space that had been empty since 2019. Hours are 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays.
- Jingege & YaoYao, Marketplace, 19628 Stevens Creek Blvd. This Chinese restaurant opened in late August in a 4,370-square-foot space and is open daily from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
- Specialty's Café & Bakery, 20488 Stevens Creek Blvd. Plans for the roughly 6,550-square-foot former Le Boulanger space have been submitted, according to the October 2 City Manager's Newsletter. No opening date has been announced.
- Chubby Cattle, Main Street Cupertino, 19349 Stevens Creek Blvd. Plans for a 4,263-square-foot restaurant were submitted in June.
- EE Sushi, Stanley Square, 21682 Stevens Creek Blvd. It is taking over the former Yummee Sandwiches space and was still in the city's permit process as of October 10.
Oren's Hummus served its last meal at 19419 Stevens Creek Blvd. on September 11, after 10 years in Cupertino, What Now San Francisco reported. The team said many Cupertino staff members would move to its other Bay Area locations, and the Los Gatos and Mountain View restaurants are still open.
A little farther from the boulevard, Kunjip Express has plans in for the former Kee Wah Bakery space at Villagio, 10370 S. De Anza Blvd. Hokkaido Bakery has plans for a 609-square-foot space at Cupertino Town Center, 10271 Torre Ave. The City's fall issue of the Cupertino Scene listed both as still going through permitting.
Planning Around the Crowds
Two openings in four weeks will keep the Crossroads lot busier than it has been in years. At Hashi's opening, people started lining up two and a half hours before the doors opened, and the line was still there at 11 a.m. Barnes & Noble opens on a weekday, Wednesday, November 4. Its first Saturday, November 7, is also the date a third-party events listing gives for the Cupertino Fall Flea Market, which runs 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Parking Lots A and B at De Anza College, 21250 Stevens Creek Blvd. Hashi's hours give you more room on a busy weekend. The store opens at 8 a.m. and stays open until 11 p.m., and once the planned discount starts, sushi will be 30% off after 8 p.m.
If you own near Stevens Creek and De Anza and you're starting to think about staying, downsizing or selling, it helps to know which nearby storefronts are open, which are still in permitting and which recently closed. To talk that through for your own block, Team NL Homes would be glad to sit down with you. Schedule a consultation whenever you're ready.
