For many years, the Park & Shop shopping center on Willow Pass Road in Concord has not been easy on the eyes, but now, things are changing.
The following is from the City of Concord:
Some exciting improvements have been underway at Park & Shop Center at 1657 – 1855 Willow Pass Road in Concord. Local businesses and residents may have noticed some of the changes occurring as multiple property owners are completing façade improvements at their own expense in order to upgrade this center, the City, and the shopping experience for all customers.
The businesses that have new façades, signage, and/or awnings include: Caffe Moda, Quickly, China Wall Buffet, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Chick’s Donuts, Avenue, Far East Massage, Aim Computers, Korea House and Las Montanas Restaurant & Bar. The property owners of the McDonald’s and Starbucks buildings at 1847 and 1701 Willow Pass Road, respectively, are also currently working on design plans to transform these buildings in the next year as well.
These significant private investments by the Park & Shop property owners will bolster the shopping center’s position in the retail market trade area by retaining and attracting excellent tenants in the future.
{ 53 comments }
Good to know!
I am still mad at Park and shop for forcing Bay books out and the Indian returant Namaste
Wont help… I still go to pleasant hill, walnut creek, Brentwood and pleasanton to do my shopping. It’s an eyesoar, if the city wanted too (they obviously don’t) I’d like a really nice strip mall with shops, good restaurants etc. but I guess the city of concord is against that. So other cities will continue to get my buisness.
About time as that place is long overdue. Was getting to be an eyesore for being in the center of town. Now all they need to do is get rid of all the low life that hangs out down there. They do have a security company that patrols there but they are totally worthless from what I have seen over the last few years, Worry more about who parks there than the low life crap that goes on down there. Personally I avoid that place like the plague even when I worked close to there.
About time.
I agree with Dee they need to get rid of the low lifes.
I used to go there until I started getting hard looks from the low lifes that hang around the place.
I’m a mature woman and I don’t feel safe anymore there.
Taking my business else where.
overdue there. I work is being done by individual business owners not the owners of PNS. That entire strip mall needs more improvement than just the front signage. But the individual business owners are doing a great job and the mall is looking much better. I hope someone does something with that tower no one can see.
I rather like the Park and Shop, it has lots of good restaurants and interesting shopping. I’d take it over most of the boring and generic shopping centers you see in places like Brentwood, Pleasant Hill or Pleasanton. I really don’t understand the extreme negativity that I see about it here – the only thing I can conclude is that the main problem with the Park & Shop is that it has non-whites who shop there.
lipstick on a pig! the place will still smell like a trauff! and its patronage will still wear pajama pants to shop. ill pass on goin their (unless frys has a sale)
Joann fabrics is great, Mimi’s, and the all-you-can Chinese food place behind McD’s. So don’t say there is nothing worthwhile. and I don’t have to fight parking in the Crescent or WC as much.
Its a start, how about continuing the improvement by doing something with that tower that they call “art”.
I agree the storefronts need a facelift – so does the parking lot. Obviously, it was not originally designed to handle the amount of traffic that pours in there (although they do have a lot of spaces).
I hope I’m not the last to comment on the dire parking lot design that is at Park and Shop.
The problem I find is that there not enough parking. If the bigger stores would open up their back entrances, that could ease some of the parking issues.
I am sorry, but I dont know how those places stay in bussiness. It smells like PEE everywhere you go there. How can you go eat when you smell PEE. Its so darn gross.
It’s like putting lipstick on a pig. The place is difficult to get in and out of and filled with thugs just like the rest of Concord.
*Derisive snort* If they really want to make it better… Address the parking lot & driving lane issues. One-way lanes are not indicated, many blind corners, some of the turns are too sharp and then there’s that whole madness between the main buildings and Fry’s.
That’s good news,It is overdue makeover wise.Not to be a hater,But China Wall Buffet is absolutely disgusting.Me & my folks were so disappointed we walked out and barely ate anything.Didn’t even bother to get a refund.Only time in my entire life that has happened to me.
We went to Grocery Outlet last night and saw it all, I think it looks good.
Thank you City of Concord n shop Owners for making it look better…now lets keep up the good work.
Correct if I’m wrong, but won’t P&S still be a short walk away for the Lake Ellis/Monument “folk”? Yeah, about that, I’m still not going to shop there.
What is that saying from the last election, “Lipstick on a pig”. It may make it look nicer but it is still a dump.
Lipstick on a pig. First off, just because they’re making it look nicer doesn’t override the location. Second, maybe the reason people aren’t shopping there is not because of how it looks (okay, we know that’s a big contributor to why people aren’t shopping there), but what shops are there. Is there really that much demand for the merchants there? Third, I’d love to get a look at P&S’s financials. Why are the merchants footing the bill for these renovations?
Wait… did I read that wrong? I got the impression the merchants were paying for the renovations, but then I read it again. It’s a press release from the City, so that has to be factored into the writing style. Property owners are doing this “at their own expense.” Gee… who else would be paying for it? The City? Color me unimpressed.
THEYR’E GONNA TRY TO POLISH A TURD???
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!
Truly sad to see-Park & Shop used to be a really cool place to shop now it’s just a major Sleaze-O-Rama
Ancient Mariner, have you ever thought about how you would re-design that parking lot if the job was put out to bid?
I notice myself steering clear of any shopping area which has check-cashing stores, tobacco stores, tattoo parlors, more than 1 nail salon every 500 feet, or gangs of young men just leaning against cars and spreading over into the parking aisles. Does the City have any quality-control status over these “private security guard” agencies? Testing and licensing required? Anything?
All this negativity is hurting my feelings
I give up, what exactly is a trauff, and what does one smell like?
Cwellian, I think he meant “trough”. As in, that thing from which pigs eat.
I agree with everyone else that it’s looooong overdue. However, they’ve made a start and I think the owners and business owners can do a great job if they put their minds to it.
The Mediterranean has fantastic food, and Joann’s is great for fabricy/crafty things. In between, well, it could be better. But if they make it better, I for one will definitely patronize it!
Park & Shop is in an excellent location. Better stores will lead to better clientele will lead to even better stores.
Anyone that says Park and Shop sucks is a cultureless moron. More stucco and earthtones and chain shops without a hint of individuality? No thanks. Personal tastes aside, you can not ignore the amount of business taking place there, the city obviously doesn’t. All while your cookie cutter strip malls sit vacant. Sucks to be you. Go back to Panda Express and Baja Fresh, idiots.
The name is almost ironic though, there is never a place to park. Partly due to the swift trade takig place, and partly due to the second thought layout.
Lastly, the pns tower is an icon of Concord. Do not take that from us. It is even memorialized on one of the semi-new lightpole banners, which are also awesome.
You hate on park and shop, you hate on Concord. Kick rocks losers.
I am ignoring the debbie downers, I think this a great, the place is looking better and better, let the improvements begin.
Bring back the old Park and Shop sign!
File > Export > Export Default Claycord Comment String On… > Park and Shop
Like most on Claycord, I am too socially awkward to even wander outside to check my mailbox without fear. Renovate Park and Shop? Isn’t that where a bunch of people who don’t look exactly like me shop? Oh deary, no. I am against that then. Despite the fact that I never shop there and it wouldn’t effect me one way or another.
From the occasional still picture printed on my monthly coupon booklet, I’ve seen too many people that don’t look exactly like me parking their cars and eating their food in that dirty place. Not looking like me is an obvious sign of gang activity. Rape gang activity. With their rape themed tattoos and rape guns they learned how to use in rape simulator video games with rape themed music from rape genre youth bands. They are probably from Mt. Diablo High School or Monument Blvd — two other places I’ve never ventured to on foot, but I am somehow a seasoned expert of.
Oh why oh why oh why isn’t open carry legal? I want to wear my gun like a big tough cowboy. It can be just like when I raided my dad’s gun cabinet at 8 years old and totally showed it off to the neighborhood kids. “Pew! Pew! Back off Injuns!” Then maybe the other minorities will stop looking in my direction and making me nervous! Stop making me avert my eyes to the ground because I have a spine made out of Jello!
I heard there were good donuts at Park and Shop as well as a Fry’s. I’ll likely never make it out there to confirm that though, as I’m still working up the courage to walk outside and check my mailbox.
End of output
…More like North South Massage.
I find it so funny how people LOVE to hate on anything concord related on claycord. People really love stretching the truth on here.
@ Antler No. 25:
An interesting assignment!
There’s not much you can do with the parking at Park and Shop: it’s about as efficient as it can be, given the original design, the location of the buildings with respect to the street, etc.
The buildings are a long NE – SW strip, with the front parking arranged in three drive-aisles between the buildings and Willow Pass Road. A better arrangement would be to have the aisles at 90 degrees to the buildings (like Target or K-Mart in PH), but there’s not enough room for that, so you’re stuck with it the way it is. Everybody wants to park in the drive-aisle nearest the buildings, so that one’s crowded, but if you get in either of the other two, movement is comfortable enough.
The problems seem to be less with the parking itself and more with the street access and lights (particularly at Fry Way), the internal circulation, the internal 4-way intersection leading to Fry’s, and the fact that nobody parks in the rear parking lot when they want to shop at one of the front businesses.
The Fry Way problem is that nobody knows who is going straight and who is turning, so everybody is cautious, everybody waits for everybody else, people are honking and then the pedestrians add to the equation, all causing slowness and backups into the parking lot and grid-locking the 4-way internal intersection leading to Fry’s. What needs to be done is this: the Willow Pass Road / Fry Way intersection needs to be rebuilt with dedicated left-turn lanes and turn arrows. Because the PnS buildings are so close to the street, there won’t be enough stacking room, so there should be a double left turn lane controlled by arrows so one can turn to go NE along Willow Pass Road. This will prevent blocking of the internal 4-way intersection. The same should be done on the Fry Way side, except with just one dedicated left-turn lane. This would require PnS to give up land (i.e. parking spaces) and for the city to condemn extra right of way on the southeast side of Willow Pass Road, and the southeast property owner(s) will object that it is cutting into their parking spaces.
Then the internal 4-way intersection leading to Fry’s should be rebuilt as a 3-way, with no access from Willow Pass Road to Fry’s. The leg leading to Fry’s should be landscaped, turned into a pedestrian precinct, or built as more commercial space. Never happen – Fry’s would never hear of losing their main frontage. I never use it anyway: coming from the PH direction, I turn left on Market Street and right into the Fry’s rear lot because the front lot is so difficult to get into. Going around the back I never have a problem and there’s plenty of parking there. Instead of a 3-way then, it could be re-signed as a 2-way stop with traffic going between Willow Pass Road and Fry’s without stopping (both ways). It’s never a good idea to stop incoming traffic just inside a shopping centre: at peak hours the cars will stack up back into the main road and there will be a nasty rear-end collision.
Surprise, surprise! There are actually businesses at the rear of the PnS buildings. I discovered them while waiting for a take-out order at the wonderful Mediterranean and strolling around one evening. They are supposed to be fronting on Salvio / Broadway, but they are really just in the loading-dock area. There’s a good-looking Indian restaurant back there. The businesses seem to be dying on the vine. Or maybe I was just there at the wrong time. But there’s plenty of unused parking back there. The trick is to get people to park at the rear, even if they’re shopping in the front. This will help the rear businesses, too. Perhaps when the next tenant vacates, the space could be punched through as a decorative alleyway with small kiosk-type boutique businesses lining it. This would get the front shoppers parking in the rear (like Crescent Drive in PH) and make the rear businesses more valuable. Do this in several locations. The rear space needs to be utilized better and have a better appearance.
‘Nuff with the brainstorming: maybe somebody should have a sit-down with the City of Concord traffic engineer (do they still have one?) and see if the city has any thoughts on the subject.
Comment Bot is my hero.
Also humorous that the two holdouts on renovation happen to be the corporate chain stores. Subway must have been coerced.
I would like to hear from some of the owners on how many “roadblocks” the city put up during the permit process. It’s great to see the improvements, and I bet it would have happened long ago, but the permit process is so drawn out and expensive, I would bet some owners just said to hell with it. I know from my experience, it just wasn’t worth the time and money. I’m glad they were able to get thru it. Also, at BOT5000, you sound like a very un-happy camper. As a matter of fact, that was a very strange blog
@Ron Sause #29. Good point. Park N Shop is not another boring earth tone stucco shopping mall. The small scale renovations of the past couple of years has helped preserve the character of the area. There are some mom and pop restaurants, and small stores that couldn’t afford the high overhead of other areas.
It was sad to see Bay Books close down. But, the ARF Thrift Store has used books, and lots of other stuff that’s fun to look through. And of course, ARF helps a unique local cause–stray cats and dogs.
It’s all an illusion. PNS does not really exist, we are all programmed to think it does, but nothing like that ever could.
OMG #32 “Claycord Comment Generator Bot 5000″ that is too perfect… LOL
I shop at Park and Shop all the time, Joann’s, Ranch 99, Los Altos, the ARF thrift shop round back… do I see folk who are a little rough around the edges? Yes, but no one’s ever bothered me and I don’t bother them…
Glad it’s getting a makeover. I do miss the old neon “PARK & SHOP” sign too!
Wow, lots to read, but you make a good point, Mariner.
@Ron Sauce, I’m with you.
I love Park & Shop, and I even had a hubcap stolen from there. It’s kind of weird and nonsensical, but so is Concord. There’s great food and it attracts a ton of business. Sure, some of the storefronts are a bit dilapidated and could use work. But we have enough stucco earthtone urban retail conformity around these parts. THAT crap is truly awful to look at.
Ancient Mariner at #35 ~ ~ ~ Your ideas are so well conceived and written that I can picture exactly what you mean! Please, would you put your analysis into letter form and send one to EACH City Councilperson? Or would you consider making a Powerpoint “before and after” demo to a Council meeting? I know you live over in Pleasant Hill (and also…. “hell’s bells and blimey”…. it’s your profession, so you should rightfully get paid) so that it would be “beyond the call of duty” for you, but those are GREAT ideas!
My personal preference would be to turn the internal linkage street into additional parking. A landscaped area there would encourage some of the activities we are trying to eliminate, and shoppers do not feel safe walking past loitering groups.
I do see some problems leaking out into surrounding streets if the Fry Way entrance off Willow Pass no longer went through to the back parking lot. At some point, drivers approaching from east of P&S would have to be diverted from Willow Pass Road up onto Salvio Street and around to the back; it is unrealistic to expect them to drive way out of the way up Concord Ave to Market Street and THEN to turn left (at what already is an over-stressed intersection). Lots to consider, and the work never ends, does it? I so appreciate the expertise you bring to the table; maybe someone connected with management of the shopping center also will have read your post and/or will listen to your presentation. Thanks again, and smooth seas!
@ Antler No. 43:
Thank you for the compliment but no, I’m not getting into the middle of this.
You just know the City has decades-worth of files several feet deep on this very issue: traffic studies, cost analyses, correspondence with PnS and surrounding owners, opinions by the city attorney, alternatives from the city engineer, plans for different options, funding requests to the US gov., requests from citizens, contracts with consultants, cost-sharing agreements, right of way expansion maps, on and on and on.
I’m quite sure what I suggested has already been looked at and rejected years ago, not because there’s anything wrong with the physical idea, but for political and financial reasons.
So I don’t want to stand up in front of the city council and say “My name is Johnny-Come-Lately and I have this great idea”.
When enough motivation for a change comes, the mechanics of that change will be the easy part.
@ funnyman learn how to spell you stoopid ignoramus. you must be a low-life dumass so who cares what you think…..so there their they’re !!!
dear pedo/creepy soccermom with the name “carebear” .. yur spellin and grammer is bout good as mine.. im not writin a thesus here!
“stoopid”.. even i kno its a U, thats stupid
now.. aint that the pot calling the hemp green
You are the sh*t!!! HAHA!!! That was great…
Some friends and I were talking today (just to put it out there, we are Caucasian) about how many comments down it takes before someone starts slewing racist remarks, or insinuates it anyways, because they’re “not racist”.
It’s funny how people say they’re is so many lowlifes down there, yet whenever we hear about burglaries and such, it’s never there…in fact claycord.com just put up that a majority are happening at the Sun Valley Mall.
Anyways, I go down there and I don’t see any “low life” people or anybody doing something they’re not supposed to. Just people going about their business.
I guess being Mexican or an immigrant makes you a lowlife these days? Damn…Italians, Irish and many others were once considered lowlife immigrants in this country, now it’s quite the opposite and one day I hope it is for our Latino immigrants who are the ones sustaining the little bit of economy we have left in this state.
I don’t think I’ve been to Park & Shop for years. I miss the old Park & Shop sign. I also miss the Wonder Bread store, which was a great idea, stuck in a horrible location on the back side.
It’s too bad the mall owners aren’t paying for upgrades and signage. Why do the store owners have to do it themselves? It seems like it’s going to be inconsistent that way.
The place needs a facelift and many of the stores are junk but there are also jewels there. If I was super-rich I would buy the center in a heartbeat, then: invest in major renovations, bring in a high quality dim sum place, redesign the parking lot, and market the hell out of the place.
The center already draws people from Danville, Lafayette, and Walnut Creek to shop at 99 Ranch, Joann’s, and Frys. With a bit of a clean-up and a few more cool shops the place would be awesome.
and Bot 5000 is awesome!
@@Claycord Comment Generator Bot 500
I see so we have some reverse racism going on…how quaint…so all old white people are racist then…nice imagery…completely bogus… but what I know I’m just a middle aged white dude married to a woman of hispanic decent and oh yeah her whole family scares me…My wife and I agree, Park and shop sux and no amount of paint or upgrades will make me want to shop there…and yes there are some low life creeps there….didn’t see anything about them being hispanic or Latino…YOU put that out there…Who’s the real racist?
Dear Jim,
We apologize that you are not satisfied with our product. We did not anticipate that your built up hostility towards racial issues would result in an unwarranted victim complex, especially since Claycord Comment Generator Bot 5000 never mentioned what race it associates with. I’m afraid our software can not (yet) read your mind and determine what pre-judgments you are going to apply to its results.
In any case, let me assure you that I will pass your concerns along to the development team. Although, I must be honest, I wouldn’t hold out for the racial/gender/age profile filter until at least version 5000 3.1. Until then, results are going to continue to be generated based off of the type of posts Generator Bot determines to occur with the most frequency or ridiculousness on Claycord.com.
Have a nice day!
Generator Bot Associate Employee #94519
GenBotCo ltd. subsidiary of BotCoGen Inc.
You can polish a turd – Mythbusters did it…You can put lipstick on a PIG, you should see my neighbors wife. And neither act will make either object more appealing, so I think this is a complete waste of time and money. I miss Nemaste and Fry’s is the only shop worthwhile, oh and Burlington. Otherwise they could just tear it all down and start again…
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