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Business & Tech

Sprouts & Shutters: New Spas, Beer-Tasting Room and Harvest Wine Celebration

Here's the latest roundup of retail, restaurant and other business news in the Tri-Valley area.

Wondering what’s moving into your neighborhood shopping center? Our biweekly Sprouts & Shutters column highlights the latest Tri-Valley restaurant, retail and other business news.

Livermore

Livermore officials broke ground on the on Aug. 26. The shopping center is scheduled to open Nov. 2012, off El Charro Road near the golf course. Confirmed merchants include Neiman Marcus Last Call, Nike Factory Store, Saks Fifth Avenue, Banana Republic Factory Store, J. Crew, Cole Haan Company Store, Michael Kors and Tommy Hilfiger. Read more in Patch’s

Livermore’s new Relax Avenue Day Spa opened on South L Street in July. The new business offers massage therapy, reflexology, hot stone treatments, facials and acupuncture.

Governor Brown recently proclaimed September California Wine Month, so celebrate by attending Livemore’s upcoming 30th Annual Harvest Wine Celebration. The wine event, which runs 12 – 5 p.m. Sunday and Monday over Labor Day weekend, features more than 40 wineries sharing their wines plus live music, food tasting and art vendors. For tickets and the event schedule, visit lvwine.org. View our video report on the .

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Beer-tasting room Tap 25, originally slated to open in July in Livermore’s Blacksmith Square, should open at the end of September. Tap 25, which will feature 25 rotating handles of American craft beer, is still waiting on its liquor license and final inspection. Read more in .

Dublin

Dublin residents Michael and Natalie Elola are gearing up to open their new retail store, The Lucky Garden on Aug. 30. The gardening and hydroponics supply shop will be located next to NY Giant Pizza & Gyros and Clock Shop in the Village Green shopping center on Village Parkway.

eCosway, a global franchise headquartered in Malaysia, opened a retail shop in Dublin's Ulferts Center on Dublin Boulevard Aug. 6. The store, located next to Sushi House of Saki, sells health supplements, skin care, diet, car care and household products, many with an eco-friendly focus. You can see examples of these products at ecosway.com.

Opening update: Johnny Garlic’s opened Aug. 18 in Dublin’s Hacienda Crossings shopping center in Fuzio’s old spot near the movie theater. Read with celebrity chef Guy Fieri, who talks about his new restaurant and specialty dishes.

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Pleasanton

A new Maui Wowi opened in Pleasanton on Hopyard Road June 3. Maui Wowi serves Hawaiian coffee and fruit smoothies next to Kinder's and near Eddie Papa's in the Gateway Square shopping center. The owner’s Maui Wowi in Dublin was replaced by a bank last fall.

The popular mobile food truck trend just hit Pleasanton. Each Friday from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m., “Stoneridge Street Eats” brings several gourmet food trucks to the Southeast corner of the mall (in front of Macy’s Women’s and Sears). Some of the featured vendors include Chinese food by Livermore’s The Whole Bowl, Korean fusion by Mountain View’s BBQ Kalbi, desserts by Pleasanton’s That’s Sweet and Filipino dishes by San Jose’s Wow Silog. The weekly Stoneridge Street Eats runs through Nov. 18.

Opening update: Pleasanton has big restaurant openings set for this week: Handles on Main, previewed in the , opens Aug. 29 on Main Street in the historic Pleasanton Hotel. And a new California Pizza Kitchen, previewed in the , opens Aug. 29, in the Stoneridge Shopping Center. 

Danville and Alamo

Alamo will get a new coffee shop soon: Peet’s Coffee & Tea plans to open its first store on Alamo Plaza this fall. The Bay Area based coffee store chain replaces Yellow Wood Coffee & Tea, .

InSpa, a Seattle-based day spa chain, will open Oct. 1 in Danville’s Blackhawk Plaza, across from Patrizia Marrone Footwear & Accessories. InSpa offers massages, facials, manicures, and waxing plus sells spa skin care products and accessories. Get a preview at inspa.com.

Aphrodite’s Grecian Medical Spa moved from Dublin to the Danville Medical Plaza on San Ramon Valley Boulevard in July. You can see a list of Aphrodite’s services, including facials, massages and anti-aging procedures, at grecianmedispa.com.

Opening update: Prim Affordable Couture, previewed in a , opens this week in the Danville Livery next to Luna Loca. Owner Alicia Shaffer, who co-owns Prim Affordable Couture in downtown Pleasanton, says she’s still moving inventory and hopes to open the Danville store Aug. 31.

San Ramon

Need to sell some gold jewelry or coins? West Coast Gold Buyers, a gold-buyer franchise, opened a 1,300 square foot store Aug. 13 in San Ramon in the Diablo Plaza shopping center next to Dainty Donuts. West Coast Gold Buyers buys gold and silver coins and gold, silver and platinum jewelry.

You can also bring your valuables to another new business in San Ramon: Auction House is now accepting consignments of art, jewelry, vintage furnishings and collectibles for its first biweekly auction, set for Sept. 28.  Auction House, owned by Alamo resident Gary Gapp, occupies 5,000 square feet of the old Total Sports building on San Ramon Valley Boulevard. Diablo Motors, profiled in the , runs its new 20,000 square-foot showroom at the same location.

Did you miss Patch's last retail and restaurant roundup? Read about these and more in our last Sprouts & Shutters column:

  • and in Danville
  • and in San Ramon 
  • and in Dublin
  • and in Pleasanton 
  • and in Livermore

Know of a restaurant or shop opening or closing in the Tri-Valley? Please send me a news tip at patchsprouts@gmail.com.

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