In mid-August, the Mill Valley Briefing walked every block of downtown and counted 93 street-level storefronts. Sixteen had no open business. Nine of those sixteen already had a signed tenant. Two and a half months later, the storefronts that have opened share one trait. Each one needed less work than the spaces still waiting. A kids' shop moved into a former kids' shop. A restaurant moved into a room that had been a restaurant since 1947. The spaces still dark are the former bank and the former post office, which are being rebuilt for uses they were never designed for, plus seven spaces that had no announced tenant in August.
That order explains what downtown will look like on December 6, when Winterfest fills the plaza. It also suggests where the next fight over downtown's empty spaces will be.
The August baseline, and why it overstated the emptiness
The Briefing's survey, published August 16, 2026, reported two vacancy figures. Only the seven spaces with no tenant lined up count as truly vacant, which is 7.5% of 93. The Briefing set that against a national retail vacancy rate of 6% in the second quarter of 2026 and a historical average of 7.4%, both from Cushman and Wakefield. Add the nine spaces under renovation and the figure rises to 17.2%, because nobody walking by can go into any of them. Some buildings had been dark for years, including 57 and 60 Throckmorton.
The gap between 7.5% and 17.2% is the pipeline. One of the nine is a real estate office. Here is where the other eight stand as of late October.
Address or space | Incoming use | Status in late October 2026 |
|---|---|---|
17 Throckmorton, former El Paseo | Lima Nikkei, Peruvian-Japanese | Open for dinner, taking reservations |
12 Miller, former Sprout | Milkweed Kids, baby and kids mercantile | Open daily since September |
38 Miller | Dorado 806, art exhibitions | First show ran September 18 to October 17 |
34 Miller, former Urban Remedy | Bootjack, coffee and bakery | Preparing to reopen, no date announced |
38 Miller, Suite 9, former Gravity Tavern | Delphine, coastal Mediterranean | Announced for summer 2026, not yet open |
Next to 55 Throckmorton | Indoorra, kitchen and wardrobe cabinetry | Still incoming |
55 Sunnyside, former post office | Wonderhouse, family coworking | "Coming Soon" |
60 Throckmorton, former Bank of America | Treehouse MV, retail and coworking | Under construction |
The first to open needed the least
Milkweed Kids held its grand opening on Saturday, September 12, at 12 Miller Avenue, in the space Sprout used to occupy. By September 15 it was open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. as a baby-and-kids mercantile with a play space. It replaced a children's store with another children's store, so the space needed very little change.
Lima Nikkei followed a similar path at 17 Throckmorton. The address has a long restaurant history. The Marin IJ describes El Paseo as a downtown fixture since 1947, bought from Sammy Hagar by Ki Yong Choi in 2019. The Mill Valley Chamber reported that Paseo Bistro would close on December 20, 2025. In July, the Briefing noted a sign naming Lima Nikkei as the incoming tenant, with Edwin Raul Sandoval and Ana Antonia Sandoval listed as the liquor-license owners. By mid-October it was serving diners. Lima Nikkei's own site credits founder and owner Edwin Sandoval and lists a menu of sushi, tiradito, ceviche, robata, katsu and cocktails. It is open Sunday through Thursday from 4 to 9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 4 to 10 p.m.
Dorado 806 at 38 Miller opened its exhibition "Lesser Known Monsters" with a reception on September 18, and the show ran through October 17. The Chamber profiled the project and its founders, Amelie Laurice and Meghan DeRoma.
Bootjack looks next. WhatNow reported on October 25 that the bakery is "rounding the corner" toward reopening at 34 Miller Avenue as a coffee, bakery and to-go bites spot on the plaza, with its daily offerings made in a commissary kitchen. No date has been posted. Bootjack first opened in September 2020 at 17 Madrona Street, in the cottage that had housed Bay Village Bakery around 2001.
The same bakery lineage opened first at Strawberry
The Bay Village name has a second thread this fall. Chad Robertson and Elisabeth Prueitt ran Bay Village Bakery in downtown Mill Valley from 1999 until early 2002, when they left to open Tartine in San Francisco's Mission District. In August, the Marin IJ reported that they had come back to Mill Valley with a cafe at Strawberry Village. Tartine Mill Valley is at 800 Redwood Highway Frontage Road, Suite 125. It is open daily from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., with pastries and savory dishes made on site and indoor-outdoor seating for 120. In the same center, Cholita Linda opened its first Marin location at Suite 801, run by Vanessa Chavez and Murat Sozeri and open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
The two biggest food openings of the season landed in a shopping center with ready-made suites. Downtown's smaller, older buildings are filling more slowly, and the pace depends on how much each building has to change.
The conversions take longer for a reason
The two spaces with the largest permits are also the two furthest from opening.
- 60 Throckmorton. The Briefing's mid-year permit report puts the former bank's tenant-improvement permit at $2,297,000, issued in January 2026. The City Council approved the conversion in November 2023 after denying an appeal over parking and valet plans. In December 2024 the Planning Commission amended the approval, dropping the original restaurant and roof deck in favor of retail, a gallery, coworking and private offices.
- 55 Sunnyside. The former post office was permitted in May for conversion into Wonderhouse, a family coworking space, at $1,798,346. In August the Briefing listed it as opening this fall. Wonderhouse's site still reads "Coming Soon."
Delphine is a middle case. It is a restaurant going into a space that was previously a bar. The owners of Troya, including Berk Kinalilar, announced a coastal Mediterranean concept in April with a summer 2026 target. Summer has passed, and Delphine's site still reads "Coming Soon."
The city already lowered the cost of opening
A business opening in one of these spaces today faces cheaper rules than it would have a year ago. On November 17, 2025, the City Council adopted Ordinance 1362. Under it, a change to a use with a higher parking ratio in an existing nonresidential building requires no added parking on parcels with less than 5,000 square feet of nonresidential floor area. Larger parcels owe only the difference.
On April 20, 2026, the council voted to update its commercial regulations, adding Administrative and Temporary Use Permits with a $1,954 fee. Ordinance 1368 took effect May 20. It keeps Conditional Use Permits for certain uses. Under the city's notice, many qualifying restaurants, services and studios can now open in commercial areas with no use permit at all, subject to district and size limits. The city's handout puts the Conditional Use Permit fee at $5,647, down from $7,389. In the Briefing's August report, Councilmember Urban Carmel described what he had heard from prospective owners under the old rules:
"Putting $8,000 or $10,000 into the city coffers before I even sell one item is just a huge hurdle."
These summaries are general information, not legal or financial advice. Anyone planning a business in one of these spaces should check the specifics with the city and their own advisors.
Seven addresses with no tenant
These are the seven spaces the Briefing listed in August as empty with no tenant announced:
- 23 Sunnyside, formerly Kim Eagles-Smith Gallery, where work was underway inside
- 77 Throckmorton, formerly Mili
- 88 Throckmorton, formerly Peet's Coffee
- 108 Throckmorton, formerly Chandler Gallery
- 111 Throckmorton, formerly Two Neat
- 153 Throckmorton, formerly Oska
- 32 Miller, a former real estate office
Jim Welte, executive director of the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce, told the Briefing that part of what keeps some corners dark is "developers who have money to purchase, but don't yet have a vision for their space." The lower-tier permit now costs $1,954, and smaller parcels no longer have to add parking for a change of use, so for these addresses the city's cost of opening is no longer the main obstacle. The Briefing keeps a storefront tracker and updates it as signs go up.
Where the season's foot traffic will be
The December calendar brings people downtown while the papered windows are still up.
- Holiday Craft Fair, Saturday, December 5, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Mill Valley Community Center, 180 Camino Alto. Free.
- Gingerbread House Decorating Party, Sunday, December 6, sessions at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
- Winterfest, Sunday, December 6, 1 to 5 p.m., downtown. Free, with performances, children's activities and a tree lighting.
- Mill Valley Lumber Yard Holiday Faire, December 11 to 13 at 129 Miller Avenue, with Santa photos, a dog parade, a makers market and live music.
On Winterfest afternoon, Lima Nikkei opens for dinner at 4 p.m., an hour before the festival ends. If Bootjack reopens before then, the plaza will have a bakery again at 34 Miller.
If you are thinking about what your Mill Valley home needs before it goes on the market, Allison Salzer can walk through it with you and price the work against what it should return. Get your instant home valuation to start.
