On a Saturday afternoon at Woodbury Lakes, the storefront across from American Eagle still has paper taped over its windows. A "Coming Soon" sign for Shake Shack has been sitting there since construction started back in March. A few doors down, Herman Miller's showroom has been selling ergonomic chairs since mid-May. And if you'd rather skip the shopping center altogether, there's a new burrito counter on Valley Creek Road that didn't exist two weeks ago and already has a line.
That contrast is the real story of Woodbury's retail and dining scene heading into fall. The national names getting the most attention are taking their time. The neighborhood's food scene stopped waiting for them months ago.
The National Names Are Still Loading
Herman Miller's 2,243-square-foot showroom near the east entrance of Woodbury Lakes opened May 15, the brand's first dedicated store in Minnesota. Kimco Realty, which bought the center from RPT in 2024, has treated the opening as validation of its strategy to bring in bigger national names. Ali Runkel, the company's director of real estate, described it as proof of "the strong leasing momentum we're building here."
That part of the plan delivered on schedule. The rest is still catching up. Shake Shack has occupied the former Jos. A. Bank space near American Eagle since construction began in March, with a "late spring or early summer" opening window that came and went without a confirmed date. Two more names on the center's own tenant roster, Anthropologie at 6,552 square feet and the jewelry and ear-piercing studio Rowan at 1,100 square feet, remain listed as coming with no date attached either.
| Tenant | Space | Status as of mid-September 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Herman Miller | 2,243 sq ft | Open since May 15 |
| Shake Shack | 3,020 sq ft | Under construction since March, no date confirmed |
| Anthropologie | 6,552 sq ft | Listed as coming, no date announced |
| Rowan | 1,100 sq ft | Listed as coming, no date announced |
This isn't the first wave of change at Woodbury Lakes since Kimco took over. J Crew Factory, MINISO, Paris Baguette, Public Lands, and Warby Parker have all landed there over the past two years. The center is clearly aiming for a different kind of shopper than the one it served a decade ago. It's just that national retailers move on corporate construction schedules, and those schedules slip.
While the Mall Waits, City Walk Already Moved
Two miles south, at 10060 City Walk Drive, the space across from Sam's Club spent years cycling through Sapporo Sushi Asian Bistro and Shanghai Bistro without holding a tenant for long. This year, Liliana took over the space and gutted it. It's now a 110-seat Italian pasta bar with a 20-seat patio, open 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 10 on Friday and Saturday, with the bar staying open an hour later. The kitchen belongs to chef Kenzie Edinger, who came over from Saint Dinette after a run at Mucci's.
Liliana is the third concept from a Saint Paul restaurant group that already runs Estelle and Mario's. Rather than count on Woodbury diners to keep making the drive west for dinner, the team built a third room out here instead. That's a different kind of bet than the one playing out a few miles north at Woodbury Lakes. Instead of importing a national brand and waiting on a build-out, an operator who already knew the market just showed up and started serving.
The same pattern shows up in smaller storefronts around the city. Addresses that used to be reserved for national chains now carry names Woodbury regulars already recognize, including Bebe Zito on Hudson Road and Yum on City Centre Drive.
The Corridor That Doesn't Wait for Permission
Moe's Southwest Grill opened its doors at 6671 Valley Creek Road on September 4, its first traditional storefront anywhere in the Twin Cities. Before this, the chain's only local presence was a food-court counter inside MSP's Terminal 1, running since 2019. Franchisee Satnam Dhillon is already looking at Apple Valley next, with Cottage Grove and Inver Grove Heights under consideration. The building is shared with a co-branded Dunkin' and Baskin-Robbins, and the first 50 people through the door on opening day walked away with a year of free burritos.
A couple miles away on Donegal Drive, the fast-casual Tex-Mex spot Listo! opened its second location this year in the space that used to be Ramen Station, next to Papa John's. The Minneapolis-based chain has run its original location on New Brighton Boulevard since 2018. This is its first move into the east metro.
Before either of those, Feast Buffet & Banquet opened at 1690 Woodlane Drive inside the old Cowboy Jack's building, becoming Woodbury's first upscale, Asian-inspired buffet. Co-founder Kevin Ni, who also runs Sushi Train in Minneapolis and Captain Crab in Brooklyn Center, has said the restaurant was serving more than 1,000 customers a day almost from the start. "I would say the community support is 120 percent," Ni said.
None of these three needed a corporate real estate calendar. Each found an empty building, built out, and opened, mostly within a single season.
The Weekend That Went Back to Its Old Slot
Woodbury Days returned to Ojibway Park August 28 through 30, landing back on its old pre-pandemic slot the same weekend the Minnesota State Fair opened. Last year the festival ran a week earlier, August 22 to 24. City leaders have framed the shift as a return to the long-standing pattern of county and community fairs leading directly into the State Fair, rather than a scheduling accident.
The city's own calendar snapped back into its old rhythm without much friction. The shopping center's calendar is still sorting itself out.
What This Means If You're Deciding Where to Eat This Weekend
If you're picking a place for dinner tonight, here's the honest state of things:
- Liliana on City Walk Drive, if you want a sit-down Italian meal without driving into Saint Paul.
- Moe's Southwest Grill on Valley Creek Road, if you want something fast and brand new.
- Listo! on Donegal Drive, if a Tex-Mex burrito sounds better.
- Feast Buffet on Woodlane Drive, if you're feeding a crowd and want options.
- Herman Miller, if you're finally ready to sit in that chair you've been eyeing on your phone.
Skip the line at Shake Shack for now. There isn't one yet.
The pattern worth remembering as the year winds down is simple. Woodbury's national retail arrivals get announced first and open last. Its independent restaurants tend to do the opposite, showing up quietly and opening fast. That won't make the eventual Shake Shack burger taste any better once the doors finally open, but it explains why this corner of the east metro already feels different than it did a year ago, one open door at a time.
Reidell-Estey & Associates keeps close track of which corners of Woodbury are filling in and which are still under wraps, the kind of local detail that matters whether you're deciding where to grab dinner tonight or thinking ahead about your next move in this part of the east metro. Get a free home valuation or schedule a consultation with Reidell-Estey & Associates.
