A grocery store with deep Mexican-American roots is finally about to fill a retail space in South San Jose that has sat empty for years. Vallarta Supermarkets is preparing to open before the end of 2026 inside the former Toys R Us and Babies R Us building at 2179 Monterey Road, and the family-owned chain could hire as many as 200 workers to staff it.
The new location, listed by the company as San Jose #75 - Monterey Rd on Vallarta Supermarkets' own store finder, will mark the chain's first Bay Area outpost, according to The Mercury News. Reporter George Avalos, writing for the Bay Area News Group, detailed how the company is preparing the store's interior for opening inside a space that had sat vacant at The Plant shopping center for several years after Toys R Us closed. The site sits near the corner of Monterey Road and Curtner Avenue, the paper reported.
Vallarta has leased 63,700 square feet at The Plant for the new store, per the same account, which will operate as a full-service supermarket stocked with traditional foods and items native to Mexico. Shoppers can expect a large produce section, a full-service butcher counter, and an on-site bakery and tortilleria, along with sundries, cleansers and pre-packaged goods, the Mercury News reported.
Hiring Underway for the South San Jose Store
According to a San Jose City Hall document described in the Mercury News report, Vallarta Supermarkets currently employs approximately 8,000 people and could add up to 200 new positions at the San Jose store. A planning document on file with the city describes the proposed supermarket's features, the paper noted. Separately, Indeed currently lists 25 Vallarta Supermarkets job postings in San Jose, spanning roles in grocery, cashiering, produce, the tortilleria, deli, bakery, cake decorating and maintenance.
Earlier reporting from SFGATE in November 2024 described the same site as the chain's planned first Bay Area location, with an opening then expected in the second half of 2026 and a cocina prepared-food section among its planned amenities. SFGATE put the store's footprint at 65,000 square feet, while a Silicon Valley Business Journal search snippet from June described a 60,000-square-foot store targeted for a late November opening — the two outlets differ on the exact size, and neither figure can be confirmed as settled.
Landlords Betting on Foot Traffic
The Plant shopping and restaurant center is owned by Arc Capital and Milan Capital, according to the Mercury News, and the ownership group expects the new grocery anchor to generate plenty of foot traffic at the center. Placing Vallarta between a Target and a Home Depot is expected to attract significant customer flow and help boost the shopping center's broader revitalization, the owners said, per the same report.
A Family Business Built Since 1985
Vallarta Supermarkets started as a Mexican meat market in 1985, according to the Business Journal, and the Gonzalez family that founded the chain still owns and operates it today, per Progressive Grocer. The Mercury News reported the chain now operates 66 stores altogether — 65 in California and one in Arizona — as it pursues what the paper described as significant expansion.
That growth has been steady and geographically scattered. The chain opened stores in Modesto, Colton, Park Mesa Heights and Hemet in 2025, according to the Los Angeles Times, which also reported the company's goal of opening about five new locations per year. Vallarta made its first move outside California in January 2026, opening a store in Glendale, Arizona at 5836 W. Camelback Road that spans more than 49,000 square feet and includes an in-house tortillería and panadería, according to Grocery Dive. That Glendale store ultimately created about 140 full- and part-time jobs, the Los Angeles Times reported, and Supermarket News reported the chain is eyeing 10 to 15 more Phoenix-area locations over the next decade.
Just days before the San Jose news broke, Vallarta opened its first Duarte store on Wednesday in a former Best Buy at 1470 Mountain Ave, according to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. That 45,839-square-foot location marked the chain's 66th store overall and added 200 jobs ranging from department staff to store leadership roles, the Tribune reported — a hiring scale that closely mirrors what San Jose's planning document anticipates for Monterey Road.
Vallarta has told the Business Journal that it hopes to eventually open more stores in San Jose or nearby areas, and The Packer reported the company intends to keep expanding its footprint while staying true to its roots in authentic food and community gathering spaces. For now, South San Jose shoppers are watching one storefront: the long-dark space at The Plant that's finally coming back to life.
