The project page for The Willows Shopping Center makes one promise in plain type: "all eight new tenants anticipated to be open by the end of August 2026." October has started. Four of those eight now carry a "NOW OPEN" label on the center's tenant grid, and four do not.
The split is easiest to understand by sorting the stores rather than counting them. California Fish Grill, Mendocino Farms, Philz Coffee and Postal Annex are the ones open. Between them they handle a morning coffee, a sandwich at lunch, a seafood dinner and a box that needs shipping. Boba Bliss, Cold Stone Creamery, HOTWORX and Luxe Nail Lounge are the ones still waiting, and they cover dessert, a sweet drink, a manicure and a heated workout. So for now, the renovated building at 1975 Diamond Boulevard has its weekday errands and meals in place. The stops people make on an evening out or a Saturday afternoon are not open yet.
What Building C Is, Next to Eureka!
Building C is the part of The Willows anchored by Eureka!. The center describes the work as turning it into roughly 14,000 square feet of new retail and restaurant space. Eureka! has stayed open the whole time, and construction has happened in phases to keep the disruption down. The plan also includes new facades, upgraded patios, more landscaping, and what the center calls "thoughtfully integrated artistic placemaking elements."
The page planned for tenants to open "on a rolling basis starting in June." The order they actually opened in follows that weekday pattern.
The Order the Doors Opened
- Mendocino Farms opened on July 27, according to a Bay Area Telegraph review that called it a fancy new sandwich shop for Concord.
- California Fish Grill started serving in late July. Its ribbon-cutting with the Concord Chamber came on August 19.
- Philz Coffee held its grand opening on Wednesday, August 26, in Suite C108. It is the chain's first café in Concord.
- Postal Annex shows as "NOW OPEN" on the center's tenant grid. The sources don't give its opening date.
In one month the building went from a single anchor restaurant to coffee, a fast-casual lunch counter, a seafood dinner spot and a shipping counter, all in the same structure. The Philz opening matters most for daily habits. Before August 26, anyone in Concord who wanted Philz had to drive to another city for it. Now it is a few doors from where they already park for lunch.
The Four Still Marked "Coming Soon"
None of the four remaining tenants has posted a public opening date. Each one's status, as of October 1:
| Tenant | What it is | Status on October 1 |
|---|---|---|
| Boba Bliss | Boba drinks | The Willows store page reads "COMING SOON" and gives no date |
| Cold Stone Creamery | Ice cream | Cold Stone's own Concord page reads "Coming Soon" and gives no date |
| HOTWORX | Heated fitness studio | The official Concord page is in presale. An August 30 report gave a late-September target with no specific day |
| Luxe Nail Lounge | Nail salon | The Willows store page reads "COMING SOON" and gives no date |
HOTWORX has the most public detail of the four. Its Concord studio page invites people to sign up during presale and be among the first to work out once it opens. Bay Area Telegraph's August 30 headline described the concept as a workout in 125-degree heat. The same story said the space was still under construction and aiming for a late-September opening. Late September has now passed and the official page still shows presale. The studio page is the most reliable place to check for a real opening day.
Cold Stone and Boba Bliss are the two that bring dessert and drinks to a building that already has two sit-down meals. Once they open, someone could have dinner at California Fish Grill or Eureka! and get dessert without moving the car. That dinner-then-dessert stop doesn't exist in Building C yet.
September 24 and the Mural
The center scheduled its official Building C celebration for September 24, 2026. The Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce event listing set it for Thursday, 3 to 4 p.m., with the ribbon-cutting at 3:30. A copy of the same listing on MyGovTools gives 6 to 7 p.m. instead. The advance notice promised remarks, a ribbon-cutting, photos, refreshments from one of the new tenants, and the unveiling of a mural by Noah Elias.
Every account of that day found so far was written before it happened, and no write-up from after the event has turned up. The center's project page also still talks about the celebration in the future tense. That makes the mural the easiest thing to check in person. If the Noah Elias piece is up on Building C, the "artistic placemaking" promised on the project page has started to show up on the building.
The celebration was planned for a building that was only half open. The center's own wording suggests it doesn't see the Building C party as the end of the project, since it says "additional updates and future phases of the project will be announced soon." No scope or schedule for those later phases has been published.
The Rest of the Center This Fall
Spirit Halloween opened its seasonal store at The Willows in Suite A-010, according to a Bay Area Telegraph report on August 25. It is in a different building from the Building C work, and like most seasonal costume shops, it will likely be gone once the holiday is over.
Contra Costa Halloween Con, held on the same stretch of Diamond Boulevard, has moved to Sunday, November 1, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Hilton Concord, 1970 Diamond Boulevard. Anyone going to the convention can walk to the open Building C restaurants for lunch, since the Hilton's address is just across the numbering from The Willows.
Downtown has a couple of fall additions too. The Concord AANHPI Heritage Celebration Night Market runs on second Fridays from October 9 through November 13, 5 to 9 p.m., at Todos Santos Plaza. Claycord reported on October 1 that a sign at the Grant and Salvio location promises a Blast & Brew opening "at the end of October." One reader pointed out that the sign doesn't say which year.
What to Check Before Your Next Trip
- For coffee or lunch: Philz in Suite C108 and Mendocino Farms are both open.
- For dinner: Building C has California Fish Grill and Eureka!.
- For shipping: Postal Annex is open.
- For dessert, boba, nails or a heated workout: check the individual store pages on willowsshopping.com, Cold Stone's Concord location page, or the HOTWORX Concord studio page before you go. As of October 1, none of them lists an opening date.
- For the mural: look for the Noah Elias piece on Building C.
The center's Instagram, @WillowsConcord, and its Willows Insider email list are where it says updates on the eight new tenants will be posted. Those channels will likely announce opening dates for the remaining four before any news story does.
Changes at a shopping center you visit every week can also change what a home nearby is worth, and that is the kind of thing Jake Kemper and the Lupe Kemper Team keep track of around Concord. If you're wondering what your home near Diamond Boulevard and The Willows is worth this fall, request a free home valuation and we'll go over it with you.
