Fresh Choice Closes Novato Location
Company says they lost their lease at the Vintage Oaks Shopping Center. Other business news: California Bay Nurseries closed.
Fresh Choice has closed their Novato location. The company says they lost their lease at the Vintage Oaks Shopping Center. 2/9/12
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Fresh Choice is the latest restaurant to bite the dust in Novato. It closed over the weekend after its lease expired, according to an email from Vintage Oaks Shopping Center leasing manager Kathy DeOchoa of Crosspoint Realty.
Fresh Choice had a different take on the closure. “We lost our lease and we wanted to stay in this location,” said Elena Fortuna, a district manager with the company.
“Sunday was our last day,” Fortuna said. “But we’re not going out of business – we’re just losing this site.
“We are very sad to leave Novato,” she said. “Business was good a this location until the very last day. We’ve been here 17 years.”
“We were that family restaurant that everyone could enjoy,” Fortuna added. She said that she is already seeing Novato customers at their Rohnert Park location.
Inside the building, the company was removing Fresh Choice furnitures and fixtures.
A note on the door informs customers that the company had lost their lease as of Feb.15, while another note added to try its nearest location. On the company’s website, Novato is still listed as a location, and Rohnert Park and Santa Rosa are the only other locations in the North Bay.
Customer Lisa LaScala and her son drove up at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, peered through the windows, turned around and headed back to the car. LaScala said that she hadn’t heard about the closure and that they had just come for a quick bite before a school meeting at San Marin High.
This is the second restaurant at the Vintage Oaks to close in the last two months. In December, Southern Pacific Smokehouse closed it doors abruptly, leaving a note on the door and a message on their Facebook site.
According to DeOchoa, the mall’s leasing company representative, “we are in discussions with numerous local restaurateurs and will hopefully have it re-leased and open again in the near future.”
The mall management held a foreclosure on the Smokehouse restaurant for back-payments on rent and future loss of rental income, and the nearly-new furniture and fixtures are in tact on the space. DeOchoa confirms that the site is move-in ready.
Ignacio Nursery Closes
After weeks of selling items at its 50% off sale, California Bay Nurseries on Entrada Drive in Ignacio has shut their gates and appears to be completely empty from the street.
In-N-Out Burgers has been looking at the nursery and the adjoining lot for a new Novato location. As previously reported on Novato Patch, the company had put the city approval process on hold while they worked on securing the site, according to senior city planner Steve Marshall.
In-N-Out spokespeople previously confirmed that they were completing the due diligence on the properties and considered the project in the early phase of development.
What do you think about the Fresh Choice closure? What eatery or business would you like to see in its place?
Tell us in the comments.
In This article
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Vintage Oaks Shopping Center
208 Vintage Way, Novato, CA -
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California Bay Nurseries
399 Entrada Dr, Novato, CA -
Craig Knowlton
3:02 pm on Thursday, February 9, 2012
We knew it wouldn't be long before this location closed. Our last time trying it was not a good experience at all.
Bill
5:06 pm on Thursday, February 9, 2012
Fresh Choice is a privately owned LLC with approx. thirty restaurants. It is based in Newark, CA.
It was about a year ago they announced a new long term lease at Vintage Oaks. Shortly before that they announced a new location would open at Northgate.
Hmmmmm, something else is going on here, I would say.
sheri
1:46 am on Saturday, March 17, 2012
I heard that they were taking over the old Chili's restaurant at Northgate too.
Douglas K
7:02 pm on Thursday, February 9, 2012
Thank you for the belated prognostication, Novato Tastebud Collective! Fresh Choice was actually a great deal to assemble your own platter o' salad greens, locally grown, for a low price. They were responsive to customers. When they cycled out cottage cheese and beets and my wife asked for their return a couple of times, voila, they were back on the menu! This was not high cuisine, to be sure, but fresh ingredients, well-labeled, friendly staff, and convenient. It seemed like there were a lot of young families and senior citizens (Not the Smokehouse chamberati). Few will be making the trek to Rohnert Park...
Maggie
8:12 pm on Thursday, February 9, 2012
I agree with Douglas, Fresh Choice was a place where you could get a healthy meal for not a lot of money and there were lots of ways to get discounts. As a vegetarian, there are not a lot of options for me in Novato! I'm sorry for the employees loss of their jobs as well. Very sad! This was a place for the average person to get some healthy food. I can no longer afford most of the healthy restaurants in Marin.
Steve B
6:44 am on Friday, February 10, 2012
In-n-out should go to Vintage Oaks. Too much congestion in Ignacio. Also, for dinner time, Vintage Oaks could handle the northbound traffic of all the Sonoma and Solano county residents that commute through our town.
sheri
9:23 pm on Thursday, March 15, 2012
I agree!
David Randolph
10:35 am on Saturday, April 7, 2012
Like there's no traffic congestion at Vintage Oaks with only one way in and out (no pun intended)?
Michael Jenkins
10:37 am on Friday, February 10, 2012
Yes let's watch all the healthy restaurants close. The ones serving locally grown produce and replace them with cheap fatty fast food that comes from outside Marin. Oh ya and watch our health care costs go through the roof from all the children and adults with diabetes. What is the real cost of cheap unhealthy food?
Kevin
4:02 pm on Friday, February 10, 2012
It's not called Healthy Choice It's called Fresh Choice. Most people that go to this restaurant will put so much ranch dressing on their salad that it counteracts any good from eating veggies! Then they line up for the dessert bar...
Herb Derpman
11:06 am on Friday, February 17, 2012
It appears to me that there is something wrong with the management at Vintage Oaks when it comes to retaining restaurants. What's next? Will Chevy's lease expire as well? Is Pasta Pomodoro next on the chopping block?
Michael Reyff
1:27 pm on Friday, February 17, 2012
Fresh Choice was hands down the best value eatery in Novato. Alot people could a very healthy diverse meal for a very reasonable price. It is too bad that the Estate of James Earl Cambell and Fresh Choice could not come to terms. I have been eating there since they opened way back.
David Randolph
10:37 am on Saturday, April 7, 2012
A "diverse" meal? Cripes, that overused word sneaks in everywhere these days.
ccvaulter
6:43 pm on Wednesday, March 14, 2012
major bummer... it was great place to take hungy kids or get a quick salad... would love to see another salad bar go in there!
Worry
6:57 am on Thursday, March 15, 2012
according to vintage oaks management the fresh choice space is already leased and will become a retail (non food) operation. fyi.
sheri
9:29 pm on Thursday, March 15, 2012
I loved the idea of Fresh Choice but I don't know if they put preservatives or what on their produce because I would get a stomach ache every time I ate there!
I didn't eat too much salad and soup. But it made my stomach feel strange for days and I felt really run down. My kids liked it though.
Their soups in comparison to Sweet Tomato (a similar restaurant in the east and south bay) has so little clams, chicken or flavor! Also, I never get sick at Sweet Tomato. So I'm not sorry to see Fresh Choice go. I just hope something better with truly healthy home style food comes there instead of another junk food chain.
Smoke House on the other hand closing is very bizarre. I never ate there because their menu seemed over priced but it's strange that they didn't pay their rent and got kicked out after spending so much time and money on the place.