The Commons Is Awake Again: What's New Along La Verne's Foothill Boulevard This Fall

"This is the best response we've had from the three cities, everyone has been so welcoming," Haven Haus Cafe owner Daniel Torres told the University of La Verne's Campus Times in September, about two months after his La Verne location opened. The cafe isn't in Old Town. It's at 1532 Foothill Blvd. in The Commons at La Verne, the shopping center that collected most of the city's new openings this year.

Since July, a cafe, a Mediterranean restaurant and a grocery store have opened within a few doors of each other, and the largest of the three opened last week in the building the 99 Cents Only Store left in late 2023.

The building 99 Cents Only left in November 2023

The single-story, 22,040-square-foot building at 1504 Foothill Blvd. has a longer history than most people know. A city staff report from September 2025 lists Pep Boys there from February 1994 through 2008. After a 2008 remodel, the 99 Cents Only Store moved in and stayed from March 2009 until November 2023.

Grocery Outlet's applications went in during the summer of 2025. The plans called for exterior paint, an automatic sliding entrance, a new storefront window, a rear delivery door and a wider access ramp. Per the city's records, the Planning Commission approved the grocery and alcohol-sales permits on September 10, 2025, and the Development Review Committee approved the facade changes on November 4, 2025.

Grocery Outlet held its grand opening Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. The celebration had been pushed back after evacuations during the Weymouth battery fire. The store is open daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. The staff report also gives a geographic detail. When the store was proposed, the only other Grocery Outlet nearby was in Upland. Now there's one on Foothill in La Verne.

The building may not be finished filling in. A December 2025 city agenda report described a proposal to divide 1504 Foothill into two suites, with new storefront windows, a new door and an extended canopy. At that point, the city said, the second tenant hadn't been confirmed.

Breakfast, groceries and falafel in one parking lot

With the grocery store open, The Commons covers most of a weekday on its own. The three newest arrivals have very different hours, so each one fills a different part of the day.

Haven Haus Cafe, 1532 Foothill Blvd. The La Verne Chamber listed a ribbon-cutting for July 7, 2026. It's the third Haven Haus, after Rancho Cucamonga and Temecula, and the name comes from Haven Avenue in Rancho Cucamonga. Torres told Campus Times the La Verne location exists because "we have a big clientele based in Rancho Cucamonga and a lot of them are from the La Verne area." The menu runs from eggs Benedict to a spicy jalapeño egg burger, with food priced from $10 to $16. Coffee, matcha and tea drinks run $6 to $10, and the full bar pours mimosa flights and sangria for $8 to $20. Hours are 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays and 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. Torres recommends the Mediterranean plate, or the protein bowl if you want "something filling that won't feel too heavy." A server told the paper the cafe had been "super busy every single day of the week."

Zata Healthy Mediterranean Food, 1548 Foothill Blvd. La Verne Daily News reported on Sept. 12 that Zata had opened near the Vons. It's a new local option for falafel.

Grocery Outlet, 1504 Foothill Blvd. It opens at 7 a.m., the same hour as Haven Haus, and stays open until 9 p.m., hours after the cafe has closed.

That's a full day in one lot. You can get coffee and chilaquiles when the cafe opens, eat a Mediterranean lunch two doors down, and stop for groceries on the way home after work, all without moving the car.

The rest of Foothill is changing too

The Commons has the most going on, but it isn't the only part of Foothill Boulevard that changed hands this year. Read in order of address, the boulevard has seen more openings and closures since summer than any other part of the city:

At the west end, Sí Roma's posted menu leans on Italian bread and soft cheeses. The Va Bene Solo comes on a toasted Italian baguette with house-made pesto, Provolettine, stracciatella, herbed artichokes and a tomato mix. Desserts include tiramisu, pistachio cake, lemon bites and cannoli. The shop announced an Aug. 1 grand opening, and its official menu page lists the La Verne address and hours.

Farther east, Los Jarritos Cafe Y Cocina in the La Verne Plaza center keeps a short week. It's open Wednesday through Saturday starting at 8 a.m. and closed Sundays. FedEx Office is run by a three-person staff under store manager Jonathan Greene. Its Oct. 13 grand opening will include giveaways and a raffle for a free 3-by-5-foot banner.

One block off the boulevard, Larios Meat Market at 1912 Arrow Hwy. celebrated its grand opening on Sept. 12 with music and free tacos. Between Larios and Grocery Outlet, the south half of town gained two grocery stops in the same month.

What's closing, and what's still unclear

The turnover goes both ways. Today, Oct. 4, is I.V. Juice Bar's last day at 2320 Foothill Blvd., after five years in La Verne. Owners Edgar and Jeannette Hernandez wrote in a note on the door, "thank you for sharing a piece of your lives with us and allowing us to become a small part of yours." Their first location, in Rancho Cucamonga, will stay open.

At 1400 Foothill, the Carl's Jr. has caution tape across the drive-thru, covered doors and windows, and signs that read "Store is closed," with no explanation. La Verne Daily News reported that a California Carl's Jr. franchisee is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The paper also said it couldn't confirm whether the La Verne restaurant belongs to that franchisee, and this location wasn't on the published list of leases the franchisee asked to reject. So it's unclear whether the closure is permanent.

Old Town has news of its own. Aoki Japanese Sushi in Old Town is temporarily closed, according to a notice on its front doors. The notice mentions a February-March opening, but the wording leaves its plans unclear. It's the only Old Town change in this fall's reports. Everything else is on Foothill.

Fitting Foothill into an October weekend

The new Foothill stops sit alongside the city's usual October calendar, which is mostly at Heritage Park and the Community Center. Upcoming dates:

• Heritage Harvest Pumpkin Patch, Heritage Park, 5001 Via de Mansion: Fridays through Oct. 30 from 4 to 8 p.m., Saturdays through Oct. 31 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sundays through Oct. 25 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tractor rides, a petting farm and a country store.
• Oct. 10: The Heritage Harvest Vendor Faire runs 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with more than 40 vendors. The La Verne Community Center Craft Fair runs 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 3680 D St.
• Oct. 13: FedEx Office grand opening at 1335 Foothill Blvd.
• Oct. 17: The city's Trunk-or-Treat, 5 to 8 p.m., at the Community Center.
• Oct. 23 to 25: University of La Verne Homecoming & Family Weekend.
• Oct. 24: Pumpkin Patch Classic Car Show at Heritage Park, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Oct. 31: Old Town merchants host a family trick-or-treat candy walk at Mainiero Square, D Street and Third Street, from 1 to 4 p.m.

For a Saturday at the pumpkin patch, the hours line up easily. Haven Haus serves until 4 p.m. on weekends, and the patch stays open until 8 p.m., so you can have a late brunch on Foothill, head to Heritage Park in the afternoon, and stop at Grocery Outlet before it closes at 9.

At The Martindale Group, we keep track of what opens and closes along corridors like Foothill Boulevard because those changes shape daily life on the streets around them. If you'd like to talk through how The Commons and the rest of the boulevard affect your part of La Verne, schedule a free consultation and we'll go over it with you, block by block.