Vintage Faire Mall gets a Garage. New eateries also opening soon at the Modesto mall

Modesto’s Vintage Faire Mall now has a Garage. Just don’t expect to find old tools and dusty boxes filled with holiday decorations inside.

The young women’s clothing retailer Garage opened at the mall Thursday, on its lower level around the corner from Forever 21 just off Center Court. The new clothing shop features casual wear targeted at high school-age girls and older with a selection of shorts, tops, dresses, swimwear and more. The shop is the first to open among a handful of other businesses coming soon to the popular shopping complex in northwest Modesto.

Garage Store Manager Hilda Vargas said the shop aims to create a fun atmosphere for people. The Canadian chain has an app that encourages customers to use it for discounts and various perks. Inside, the store has chill-out spots with overstuffed chairs and beanbags for people to sit. You can even power up at its charging stations and or listen to your music on headphones available for people to use while shopping.

“We’re about creating a culture and getting customers in here for a fun, chill experience,” Vargas said.

The store exclusively sells the Garage brand of clothing. Items range in price from $15 to $35 for tops, $30 to $40 for shorts and around $60 for jeans. The store also runs specials daily, like buy-one-get-one-free offers and other deals. And, given its teen fanbase, it heavily promotes itself on social media where it has 1.2 million followers and encourages customers to use the hashtag #iweargarage.

The next closest Garage stores are in malls in Roseville and Pleasanton. The Modesto shop opened with 15 employees. Its hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday. For more information call 209-524-4790 or visit www.garageclothing.com.

But Garage isn’t the only new offering coming to the mall. In its second-floor food court, a new restaurant will replace the El Favorito Taqueria which closed in April. The corner dining space, which was once home to Taxi’s Hamburgers, will now be home to another Mexican eatery called Taqueria and Fru Juice. It is expected to open later this summer.

Another Mexican-themed eatery is is coming to the lower level next to Stride Rite shoes. Fruta Land & Ice cream will be a Mexican fruit and ice cream shop. Fruta Land is taking the place of the Perfume Corner, which is moving to a larger location on the lower level in Center Court. It is expected to open later this month. And then there’s the Buckhorn BBQ, which we first reported on last year, scheduled to open in June.

Vintage Faire Marketing Manager Annie Amies said two other vacant spots on the mall’s lower level, the old Teavana site and the former Body Shop space, are in the process of being filled and should have tenants by the fall, if not sooner.

Elsewhere around the Business Beat:

If you’re looking to satisfy your tri-tip fix, fear not, it is coming to you.

The Tri-Tipery Food Truck is now permitted for Stanislaus County and has its weekly schedule set. The truck will stop from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays at J.S. West on D Street (not its other Seventh Street location) in Modesto, Thursdays at the Cipponeri family property at the corner of Geer and Lander avenues in Hilmar and Fridays at Garton Tractor on Highway 59 in Merced. Co-owner Jana Nairn said the truck is still looking for a permanent Turlock location to park on Wednesdays.

But if you’re hungry right now, the truck is taking part in Sunday’s Modesto Porchfest concert series. You can catch them at 906 Stanford Ave. in Modesto from 11:45 a.m. to 5 p.m. Follow the truck on Twitter at www.twitter.com/tri_tipery.

This story was originally published May 19, 2018 at 2:31 PM with the headline "Vintage Faire Mall gets a Garage. New eateries also opening soon at the Modesto mall."