While the famed Union Square in downtown San Francisco appears to be coming back, another retail power center is emerging about an hour north of the city, The San Francisco Chronicle reports. A shopping complex east of fast-growing Santa Rosa “could become the next retail mecca,” Staff Writer Julie Johnson notes, thanks mainly to a steady infusion of what she describes as “a new type of premium brands,” including Anthropologie, Vuori and Warby Parker, as well as such stomach-oriented attractions as Disneyland’s Salt & Straw ice cream and a Shake Shack.
The growth in Santa Rosa retail hasn’t been happening in the city’s downtown or its two large indoor shopping malls. Instead, it’s been taking place east of town in the Montgomery Village shopping center. That once-sleepy neighborhood complex was born in the 1950s, complete with a covered-wagon motif that has been retained in select spots as the complex has modernized. It is a 280,000-square-foot outdoor marketplace where about 60 businesses open to sidewalks connecting low-slung buildings.
So, how did the complex go from moribund to bustling? Writes Johnson:…