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After decades serving the Mountain View community, Nob Hill Foods in the Grant Park Plaza shopping center is slated to close in late May.
The upscale grocery store is owned by The Raley’s Companies, which acquired the Nob Hill Foods chain in 1998.
“The Raley’s Companies leadership team has made the difficult decision to close our Nob Hill store on Grant Road in Mountain View,” company spokesperson Chelsea Carbahal said in a statement to the Voice.
Carbahal attributed the closure to economic considerations, noting that the store’s lease was up for renewal.
“After careful review of the store’s performance and economic factors, we have chosen not to extend the lease,” Carbahal said.
The Mountain View Nob Hill store is located in the Cuesta Park neighborhood, near the corner of El Camino Real and Grant Road. Nearby grocery stores include a 99 Ranch Market, Smart & Final and Nijiya Market. There is also a Safeway about a mile away at the corner of Cuesta Drive and Miramonte Avenue.
The news of the closure surprised several customers who were shopping at the grocery store Thursday afternoon.
“It sucks big time,” said George Harris, a Mountain View resident who was picking up a drink at the coffee counter inside the store. “It’s bad news for the community.”
Harris said the friendly and helpful employees were a big reason for why he was a regular shopper at Nob Hill Foods.
“There’s no other store like it,” he added.
Carrying a bag of groceries, Mountain View resident Mike Hatch also expressed disappointment about the store’s planned closure.
“It’s a huge store and very good,” Hatch said. “I hope something comes of it and fills the space.”
Last year, the city discussed the current Nob Hill Foods site, as well as the adjacent 99 Ranch Market and nearby businesses, as potential locations to rezone for multifamily housing. However, none of the property owners expressed an interest in redevelopment at the time.
A store manager declined to comment about the closure and instructed employees not to speak with a Voice reporter on Thursday.
Company spokesperson Carbahal told the Voice that the company would be working to place as many employees as possible at nearby Raley’s locations.
Other Nob Hill Foods stores in the region include locations in Redwood City, Santa Clara, Campbell, Morgan Hill and San Jose.
I cook a lot and find their selection of cheese to be surprisingly good. None of the nearby stores are as good, which is a shame.
I won’t miss them. Hope something good goes in there. Maybe a restaurant.
Pretty good store. I moved to another part of MV but this was my store for ~7 years. What a shame.
Can’t say I’m surprised. That store is at least 50% larger than it needs to be. That makes for a lot of rent paid to basically store all the overpriced housewares and knickknacks that nobody buys. Though they have very high quality meats and produce, it was always hard to justify the premium pricing. The hot and cold food bars always seemed to be closed at pretty early hours as well. It will be missed by us for the select items we buy there, but we’ll get over it. Should be interesting to see what moves in, if anything.
this stinks – this is a great store. friendly staff, kind patrons who always put their carts away. we shop here every week. what a bummer
Very disappointed to hear this