By Wednesday afternoon, employees at Peet's Coffee and Teas in downtown Novato will politely escort out their loyal clientele, lock the doors and start packing for their move about a mile away into a sparkling new building on Redwood Boulevard.
Meanwhile, in the on-deck circle, Tagliaferri's Delicatessen — an institution on the west side of town — is poised to pounce on the Peet's location on Seventh Avenue as soon as some upgrades are made.
The transition isn't news — the intentions were announced in the summer, first by Peet's and then by Tagliaferri's — but the timing of the closures and openings is hot off the press. The two parties later arranged for an extention to Peet's lease at the corner of Grant Avenue and Seventh Street.
Joelle Faucher, shift manager at Peet's, said there have been notices posted inside the shop at the Downtown Novato Shopping Center to communicate the relocation plans to the customers. The employees are scheduled to close the doors at 1 p.m. Wednesday and, if all goes smoothly, reopen at 5 a.m. Friday at 7370 Redwood Boulevard in a new building being finished between a Shell station and the McDonald's restaurant.
"It's just a matter of packing and unpacking," Faucher said. "We've had signs, posters and fliers up and hope people know about the move. It shouldn't be that hard from our perspective."
Thad Logan of RetailWest, the commercial real estate company charged with the 7370 Redwood location, said Peet's will occupy 1,800 square feet, leaving open two other spots — 3,800 square feet and 2,335 square feet — in the new complex that are still available. No other leases have been signed for those spots, Logan said.
The old Peet's will become Tagliaferri's Deli by early February. Al Tagliaferri, who owns the deli with his son, Brian, said they are meeting Thursday with construction foremen to coordinate what will be taken out and what will remain. There are a number of upgrades that need to be made to turn the place into a deli, he said.
"Our goal has been to be there by the Super Bowl (on Feb. 3), but whether we hit that goal or not depends on how it goes with the agencies we're dealing with and getting all the approvals we need," Al Tagliaferri said. "It's sort of been a moving target. I'm cautiously optimistic."
The full-scale remodel should start Jan. 14 and take two to three weeks, he said. The deli's current location, at the Square Shopping Center at Wilson Avenue and Novato Boulevard, will be closed a few days before the new deli is ready to open, he added.
The vacancy will be another blow to the Square, which will have 12 empty spots out of 22 store locations. The biggest tenant remains a CVS store, right next to a long-vacant grocery location. The owner of the shopping center, Jeffry Chang, nor his representatives from Horizon Properties have said anything publicly about the center's long-range plans.
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