"It leaves the center with no places to eat!" Tiburon resident Michael Hancock wrote on Nextdoor in June, after Thep Lela closed at Strawberry Village. The family-owned Thai restaurant shut on June 21 after 33 years at the center. Lease talks with the owner had failed, and the restaurant had been running month to month since its lease ran out in December.
Eight weeks later, Tartine was baking morning buns at the center, and Cholita Linda was serving Cubanos right across the roadway. The quick version of the story is that the food came back. The longer version runs about four years and shows something more lasting. The businesses leaving Strawberry Village mostly sold goods you took home. The businesses replacing them sell time spent on site: a meal at a table, an hour-long class, a treatment.
The Departures Had Something in Common
EDENS, a Washington, D.C.-based real estate firm, bought Strawberry Village in October 2022. The Ark's reporting traces a steady run of exits since then:
- Mike's Camera, a five-decade tenant, closed in 2023 after lease negotiations failed.
- Pizza Antica left in 2023.
- Spanish Table and Woodlands Pet Food & Treats left in 2025.
- Bella boutique left in early 2026.
- Thep Lela closed in June 2026. The Ark noted it was one of the few businesses at the center owned by Strawberry residents.
Woodlands didn't close. It moved to The Cove shopping center. Owner Rob Hansen told The Ark the move came from both finances and a directive from EDENS to vacate the space for Barry's Bootcamp, a fitness chain based in Los Angeles. Several current and former tenants told the paper that rents had risen significantly since the sale. EDENS has said the property is performing well.
Rent disputes at this center started before EDENS. Woody's Yogurt, a 20-year tenant, closed in 2020 and cited rent increases under the previous landlord.
Set the closures side by side and a pattern shows. Camera gear, pet food, Spanish Table's shelves and boutique clothing are all things you buy and take home. The two restaurants on the list were the exceptions.
What Moved Into the Gaps
In March, EDENS told The Ark that seven new businesses would open at the center in 2026. Nearly every one it named was a place to eat or a place to work out. Here is how things stand in early October:
| Business | What it is | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Hot Yoga Republic | Hot yoga, hot Pilates, power yoga | Open, Suite 804 |
| Hydration Room | IV therapy and injections | Opened June 12, 2026 |
| Club Pilates | Pilates studio | Opened June 25, 2026 |
| Tartine Mill Valley | Bakery-café, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily | Formal opening Aug. 19, 2026 |
| Cholita Linda | California Latin, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily | Opened mid-August 2026 |
| Lulu Dae's | Sweetshop in the former Woody's Yogurt space | Open |
| Barry's | Fitness studio in the former Woodlands space | Breaking ground, no date posted |
| Baan Thai Reserve | Thai restaurant and bar, 615 Strawberry Village | Announced for 2027 |
Club Pilates opened between Hot Yoga Republic and Hydration Room. Once Barry's opens, that stretch of the center will have four wellness businesses in a row or close to it, all built around appointments and class times. In March, EDENS also said it had signed two more retailers, one in wellness and one in interior design, without naming either.
Tartine Came Back About 24 Years Later
Tartine is the biggest food arrival, and for longtime Mill Valley residents it's a return. Chad Robertson baked the bread and Elisabeth Prueitt made the pastry at Bay Village Bakery, which started in Point Reyes Station. They later moved the bakery to downtown Mill Valley, closed it in early 2002, and went on to open the first Tartine in San Francisco's Mission District. The brand now has three cafés in San Francisco, a fourth set to open downtown there in 2027, seven in the Los Angeles area and six in Seoul.
This time they came back to Strawberry Village, not downtown. The Mill Valley café is 3,091 square feet. Studio BBA designed it with floor-to-ceiling windows, blond wood tables and indoor-outdoor seating for 120. The bread is still baked in San Francisco. The pastries, cakes and savory dishes are made on site. The menu includes:
- A soft-scramble tartine with labneh, white cheddar, smoked trout roe and horseradish
- A pressed ham and Gruyere sandwich with pickled green tomatoes and jalapeños
- A double grass-fed smash burger on a sweet potato bun
- A morning bun latte, to go with the morning buns in the case
Tartine began serving off and on from Aug. 13 and held its formal opening on Aug. 19. It's open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily at 800 Redwood Highway Frontage Road.
Cholita Linda covers the hours Tartine doesn't. Owners Vanessa Chavez and Murat Sozeri started at the Jack London Square farmers market in 2008, opened in Oakland's Temescal neighborhood in 2014, and have since added Berkeley, Alameda, Walnut Creek and San Francisco's Ferry Building. East Bay readers may know the Alameda location from the Park Street and Spirits Alley weekend loop. The Strawberry Village space was fully renovated and seats about 70 indoors, with more tables outside. It serves Baja fish tacos, picadillo made with Niman Ranch beef, and frozen palomas until 9 p.m. daily. Chavez told the Marin IJ why they chose this spot for their first Marin location: "From our experience, it's a community that values good food, and there are lots of small businesses that do things really well."
A Plaza Designed to Hold People
The tenant shift matches the renovation that came before it. Strawberry Village was built in 1964 and covers 175,385 square feet. EDENS's renovation added new lighting, landscaping, outdoor seating, signage, and a reimagined central plaza and green space meant for live music and events. Three murals by Bay Area artists Erin Fong, Nicole Mueller and Nora Bruhn followed. EDENS's Alexander Ragonese described the goal in the company's announcement of Tartine:
"We are aware of the need for a gathering space for residents of Tiburon, Belvedere, Mill Valley and Sausalito and are excitedly seeking our next iteration of retail and restaurant partners to execute on this vision."
The center's regular calendar follows the same idea. Here's what's coming up this month:
- Tuesdays, 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.: Strawberry Village Farmers Market. Its season runs June through November, so the October 6 market leaves only a handful of Tuesdays before it ends for the year.
- Second Saturday, 8 to 9:30 a.m.: Marin's Motor Social, a cars-and-coffee meetup. The next one is October 10.
- Through today, October 4, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.: A wool& pop-up sale in Space 540, next to Bluemercury.
The tenants are also using the plaza themselves. On September 26, Hot Yoga Republic teamed up with Jake and JT and StretchLab Mill Valley for a morning of back-to-back workouts and free assisted stretches. All proceeds went to Play Marin, a nonprofit that runs sports and enrichment programs for kids and teens. That event shows the new tenant mix working the way EDENS described it, with studios holding classes and events at the center itself.
What's Still Open-Ended
In March, five of the center's 55 leasable spaces were vacant. EDENS said three would still be empty after the year's openings: the former Pizza Antica, Spanish Table and Mike's Camera spaces. That count is from March, and some names have changed since then.
Barry's website says the studio is "breaking ground" and asks visitors to sign up for opening dates, but it doesn't give one. Thai food is coming back as well. EDENS has announced Baan Thai Reserve at 615 Strawberry Village for 2027, with Pad Thai, curries, Pad See Ew and a bar serving Asian-inspired cocktails. The announcement doesn't say whether Baan Thai Reserve is taking Thep Lela's former space. Either way, the center will have a Thai restaurant again sometime in 2027.
A tenant mix like this one shapes how a neighborhood center feels from one year to the next. It also factors into how buyers weigh the nearby streets. If you live near Strawberry and are wondering what these changes might mean for your own plans, Katie & Mark Lederer can put together a tailored home strategy that accounts for the neighborhood you have now. Our Marin neighborhood page is a good place to start.
