-March 29,2019-
Visalia/Tulare: Another O’Reilly Auto Parts store is planned at a former motorcycle store at 1745 E Mineral King in Visalia, east of Downtown and visible from 198. it is the fourth for the chain in the city. In Tulare, O’Reilly Auto Parts has purchased 1.3 acres of land at 315 North J ST with plans to build a new store there. The auto parts retailer bought the land from the Orosco Group. City planner Josh McDonnell says construction of a new store would likely take most of this year.
Exeter:The town’s first brewery Bell Craft Brewery and tap room is going to open in the former Exeter Sun warehouse at 130 N E St. Owner is Brent Bell who began as a home brewer.
Lemoore:The city will get its fourth grocery store when Grocery Outlet opens a location at 1160 N. Lemoore Avenue in the Lemoore Plaza Shopping Center, in a vacant spot there.The company has applied for conditional-use permit this month.
Hanford:After limiting cannabis operations in town to medical-use only, the Hanford City Council did an about-face this month updating the ordinances to allow recreational cannabis, adopt regulations for cannabis delivery, opening up an application period, and updating the municipal code to ensure consistency with the State of California. The city will permit storefront dispensaries as well. The move comes as no cannabis companies have moved forward with plans in the city despite hopes for big revenues for the city form taxes and fees. Major players have pulled up stakes including Genezen and Premium Extracts. The State now allows deliveries of medical and recreational cannabis everywhere, so individual cities cannot prohibit such transactions from taking place says a city report.All of the sales would generate sales taxes and Measure C taxes for the City of Hanford because that is where the base of the operations would be located.
Hanford:Yogurt is out a the Fargo Shopping Center and Starbucks is going in where Yowserz Yogurt used to be.
Hanford will get an America’s Tire Store outlet on 11th Ave next to Baskin Robbins.The retailer is not to be confused with American Tire Depot that also has a store in Hanford.
Visalia:Main Street stores eye move east. Visalia developer JR Shannon is developing more new retail spaces along east Main Street this month according to plans filed withe City of Visalia.
Next to the new brew pub and Stacked Hamburgers, Shannon is planning to open two more side-by-side storefronts at 601 East Main. According to the filing one of the spaces could be leased by Sierra Bicycle Werks who already has a long time location at 123 E Main St.
“We haven’t signed all the papers yet but we are looking at the possibility of moving east” says owner David Mendonca who bought the business last September.The new space won’t be much bigger than the space they already have but ”it seems like that is where Downtown is moving” figures Mendonca. He adds that the 2 new food and drink places are drawing a crowd and “it’s our demographic”.
This was once the former car sales part of town and then when they left, antique stores moved in. Now its seem the place to be. Rents are more affordable as an added bonus.
The other new store moving this direction, also a JR Shannon project, is Pitty’s BBQ looking to locate an open flame wood fired grill eatery at 509 E Main, a location being vacated by a hair salon.The applicant for the new BBQ is Katherine and Joseph Aguilar.
The city council a few years back helped nurture this trend when they permitted new brew projects along East Main.
Visalia/Tulare: Jack N The Box is on the march with plans for two new locations, one off Plaza and Hwy 198 at 105 N Ferne St getting a permit this month and new eatery at Bardsley and Mooney in Tulare. Franchisee Randy Robertson owns some 30 locations in the Central Valley.