Modesto mall loses major retailers, gains new restaurant as it awaits Dave & Buster’s
Change seems to be the one constant at Modesto’s Vintage Faire Mall these days.
The northwest Modesto shopping center has seen a handful of its major brands leave in what we all hope are the waning days of the pandemic, after surviving the open-closed-open again-closed again roller coaster of the last 15 months. But a new restaurant, with familiar owners, has also emerged at the mall. And there’s the big new Dave & Buster’s still looming.
Coach, one of the original stores in the mall’s outdoor The Villages extension, has closed. The high-end maker of handbags and other accessories opened in November 2008 when the expansion celebrated its debut. Now Apple and Chico’s are the only remaining retailers from that era still operating in that section of the mall.
Coldwater Creek and Bebe were the other original stores in the newest section, and have both since closed.
Also closed inside the mall is Abercrombie & Fitch, a youth-focused men’s and women’s apparel brand. The store first opened in Vintage Faire in 2001, but after 20 years, it’s gone the way of Modesto’s Sears, the Gap and Forever 21 and has left. But the Abercrombie Kids store on the mall’s second level remains open.
New mall retailers fill holes left by Gap, GameStop
A handful of other retail vacancies are scattered through the mall, and some new stores have opened in empty spaces left by previous major brand departures. Those include Rainbow (which replaced the Gap store), and Q-Luv (which replaced Garage) and Gypsy Moon Essential Oils (which replaced GameStop).
Another high-profile change is the arrival of Fire Grill & Bar, in the former Buckhorn BBQ space. If it seems familiar it’s because husband-and-wife owners Rich and Christine Loudermilk still own the restaurant. But earlier this year they left the Northern California Buckhorn franchise to strike out with their own concept.
Fire Grill & Bar, positioned at the front of the outdoor Villages extension (which originally housed Coldwater Creek), is now one of the only independent, non-franchise or corporate restaurants at the mall.
The Loundermilks opened Buckhorn, a popular Bay Area and Sacramento chain known for its tri-tip and barbecued meats, in the mall in January 2019.
But Rich Loudermilk said the uncertainties of the pandemic made dropping their franchise a necessity. As an independent restaurant they have more flexibility to change the menu and adjust pricing. So while you’ll see some familiar offerings, they have also added some new dishes.
“We needed to offer a different menu and added things including a lot of comfort food,” he said.
More menu items, beer at newest Vintage Faire restaurant
So now you’ll find Philly cheesesteaks, chicken wings, pasta dishes, garlic fries, potato skins and more salads on the menu. They’re alongside its large selection of burgers and sandwiches (most ranging in price from $10 to $13) and barbecue meat plates (choices include smoked tri-tip, charbroiled chicken breast, smoked sausage, pulled pork, baby back ribs and two sides from $17 to $21).
They also dramatically dropped the price on kids meals, which now start at $4.50. And for 21-and-up crowd they plan to nearly double their draft beer selection with the addition of eight new taps to their existing 10. The restaurant carries Dust Bowl and Blaker brewing company brews, and will add more local and regional craft selections by next month, once the taps have been installed.
They’ve kept largely the same look, including its 25-foot live-edge wooden bar and high ceilings. And now the restaurant — which is open daily from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekends — offers full-service alongside its existing quick-service, dine-in, patio seating or takeout. The restaurant seats about 170 inside and another 40 outside.
The Loudermilks, who also own two Round Table Pizzas in the Sonora area, said the menu additions and other changes have proven popular with customers. Still, he said, the only way they were able to survive the shutdowns and a couple closures due to employees with COVID-19 was through help from the federal Paycheck Protection Program.
He said business at the mall has been picking up, but still not to pre-pandemic levels. Yet Loudermilk said he’s seeing new faces in the restaurant, which is encouraging.
For more information on the new Fire Bar & Grill visit firebarngrill.com or call 209-857-3905.
Dave & Buster’s still under development at Modesto mall
But the biggest question mark right now for Vintage Faire Mall is when its long-anticipated Dave & Buster’s will be completed and open. The combination sports bar, video arcade and entertainment center is taking over the top floor of the former Sears anchor space in the north Modesto mall.
But since it was revealed more than two years ago that the chain was coming to Modesto, the site has remained empty. Work was completed last fall on the new Dick’s Sporting Goods, which moved from its Dale Road location to the bottom floor of the former Sears, and it opened last October.
Dave & Buster’s paused all of its construction projects at the start of the pandemic, and shut down all of its more than 140 locations for several months. All of the U.S. sites have since reopened and the company opened its new Fairfield location earlier this month, its first in Solano County.
The Modesto location would be its first site in Stanislaus County and the entire Northern San Joaquin Valley. The company has 17 California locations and its closest open locations are in Milpitas, Concord and Fresno.
Inquiries to Dave & Buster’s corporate headquarters in Texas were not returned, and Vintage Faire’s parent company, Macerich, did not respond to requests for comment either. But Vintage Faire spokeswoman Annie Amies said the company is still coming to the Modesto mall, but is now slated to open in 2022. Previously it had been projected the center would open in fall 2021.
This story was originally published June 28, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
