Two shopping centers sit along Vanderbilt Beach Road near Pelican Marsh. One is Mercato, at Vanderbilt Beach Road and U.S. 41. The other is the Shoppes at Vanderbilt, at the northwest corner of Airport-Pulling and Vanderbilt Beach roads. For years the split was simple. Mercato was where an evening happened, with dinner, a movie and a walk along Strada Place. The Shoppes was the CVS, the salon and the Saturday market. This fall the two are trading places. Mercato's 11 movie screens went dark on Sept. 9, and the corner by the CVS is signing a tasting bar, a mahjong club, a fudge shop with group events and a two-story rooftop raw bar.
Mercato isn't fading. It is changing how it draws people. Its draw now comes from scheduled events on an expanded Piazza instead of a theater that ran every night. In the same weeks, the Shoppes is filling its new buildings with places meant to keep people around after the errand is done.
Two New Buildings Next to the CVS
The growth at the Shoppes starts with two new buildings on either side of the CVS. The single-story Building 1000, on the pharmacy's north side, is finished, and one wine and spirits retailer has leased all of it. Building 1100, a two-story building of more than 20,000 square feet just west of the CVS, was nearing completion in the Sept. 18 report and still had space available.
PJ Hill, the center's leasing manager, says the Shoppes is "trying to curate an eclectic mix of tenants there." He also says, according to Naples Press, that once a center is this big, "it gets tricky to find good complementary concepts."
The Building 1000 tenant shows what that mix looks like. The Good Pour opened in early September at 2373 Vanderbilt Beach Road, in a 7,200-square-foot building facing Airport-Pulling. Ray and Giuliana Horal founded the chain in Winter Park. The North Naples store is the company's fifth and its first outside Central Florida, and Naples residents Ivo Atanasov and Jeff Nichols own and run it. Horal calls Naples "the most dynamic wine market in the country."
Most of the store is built for tasting. WineEmotion dispensers pour 16 wines by the glass in 1-ounce, 3-ounce or 6-ounce sizes, split evenly between whites and reds. A second machine pours seven spirits, including hard-to-find bourbons and tequilas. There is a Tasting Bar for rare whisky and wine and a Reserve Room for private events. The store also works with more than 300 nonprofits and gives part of its profits to a charity each shopper picks.
"You're always going to come in and try something, taste something, learn something — events, energy, activation. The gift bar is a big piece for us. People can make their own gift baskets, gift box, customize it. It's like a Build-A-Bear for adults." Jeff Nichols, The Good Pour
The store is open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday. The grand opening runs Oct. 16 to 18 with live music, light bites and free tastings.
Who Else Is Coming to the Shoppes
The rest of the center's leasing follows the same pattern. Several new tenants offer an activity, a class or a seat, and a few fill spaces left empty by quick-service restaurants that closed in February.
| Tenant | Space | Status as of the Sept. 18 report |
|---|---|---|
| Rusty's Rooftop Raw Bar & Grill | 2343 Vanderbilt Beach Road, Suite 1102 | Moving in early 2027 |
| Corvé Fine Cabinetry & Millwork | 2355 Vanderbilt Beach Road, Suite 1116 | Showroom opening this fall |
| Big Daddy Smash Burger | 355 Vanderbilt Beach Road, Suite 142, the former Imperio Taqueria | Planned for November |
| Paradise Coast Mahjong | Suite 705, part of the former Axe Lodge space | Planned for October |
| Art of Fudge | The former Kitchen Social space | Leased, no opening date yet |
| Lola Moda | 2355 Vanderbilt Beach Road, Suite 130 | Listed as coming soon, now posting 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily hours |
Rusty's is the biggest change on the list. After 23 years at Uptown Center on Immokalee Road, the raw bar couldn't reach a lease renewal there. It is reopening as Rusty's Rooftop, a two-story space facing Vanderbilt Beach Road with a bar on each floor and indoor-outdoor bar seating upstairs. The restaurant stays open at Uptown Center through January and says it will "close one day here and open there the next."
Paradise Coast Mahjong is taking one of three units carved out of the former Axe Lodge space. Serenity Medical Spa and TG Hair Salon took the other two. The club plans a boutique, lessons, leagues, open play, memberships and special events. Hill describes Art of Fudge as fresh fudge and candy sold "not just as retail but also as an experience," with interactive sessions and group events. A second new quick-service brand has leased the end unit where Crazy King Burrito used to be, but its name hasn't been announced.
What Mercato Has Planned Instead
Mercato's cinema has changed hands before. Alamo Drafthouse replaced the longtime Silverspot Cinema in April 2024 with 11 screens, a full food and cocktail menu and a nine-hole mini golf course. Within months, Sony Pictures Experiences bought the Austin-based chain, and the mini golf was later removed. Alamo called the Naples theater an underperforming location and closed it on Sept. 9.
The next operator hasn't signed yet. Paragon Theaters already runs the 10-screen cinema across U.S. 41 at The Pavilion. Co-CEO Michael Whalen says Paragon wants to reopen Mercato's screens by mid-December, in time for the Dec. 18 releases of new Avengers and Dune sequels, if it can reach a tenant agreement. His plan uses Axis15 Extreme auditoriums and Lux Box dine-in recliners, which he describes as "a high-end pod recliner where you can order food to your seat." Lauren Ness of Jamestown, which leases and manages Mercato, says the center has "a new movie theater tenant in process."
Until then, Mercato's evenings run on its Piazza. The expansion tripled the old 3,000-square-foot space and added a permanent covered stage in front of Narrative Coffee Roasters and Waxin's. Movies, concerts and other events moved there from the small lawn east of Rocco's Tacos. Strada Place still carries traffic most of the time and closes only for the biggest events. Mercato's own site now describes the renovated Piazza as a finished space for concerts, performances and block parties.
The fall calendar shows how much Mercato now depends on scheduled nights:
- Oct. 17 to 25: Pumpkin Patch on the Event Lawn, with $10 pumpkins benefiting SNIP Collier.
- Oct. 20: The yearly Halloween night, with trick-or-treating, a costume contest, a dance party and an outdoor movie.
- Oct. 22: Stories on Strada.
- Oct. 27: Moonlight Market, with metaphysical vendors and ambient music under the full moon.
- Oct. 29: Hallowine.
- Nov. 5: The monthly Mercato Nights Music Series, featuring Sweet Fleet, a Fleetwood Mac tribute.
- Nov. 7: Taste of Mercato, with food from nine restaurants, fall cocktails and live music.
The restaurants are still adding to the center. Shake Shack scheduled its first Naples-area location, the chain's 29th in Florida, to open Feb. 20 at 9105 Strada Place, Suite 3145, months later than first planned. Tim Aten's midyear roundup of 2026 restaurant changes lists it among the openings.
The Drive to Strada Place for the Next Two Years
Traffic matters to both centers this season. Collier County gave the go-ahead in early June to widen the 1.8 miles of Vanderbilt Beach Road from just east of U.S. 41 to just east of Goodlette-Frank Road from four lanes to six. The work includes intersection changes at Strada Place and Goodlette-Frank Road, new median openings at Bay Laurel Drive, drainage upgrades and new lighting. The $28.4 million project is expected to take two years from its July 2026 start, weather permitting.
Most work that closes lanes is scheduled between 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday, so an evening at the Piazza mostly avoids it. The harder stretch comes in spring 2027. While crews install a box culvert under the road, traffic between Strada Place and Goodlette-Frank Road will drop to one lane in each direction for about two months. That falls during the busiest part of season. The Shoppes at Vanderbilt sits farther east at Airport-Pulling, outside the work zone the county describes.
The Saturday Farmers Market Season Has Started
The Shoppes hasn't given up the Saturday-morning business it already had. The farmers market's season started Oct. 3 and runs every Saturday through May 22, 2027, rain or shine, from 8 a.m. The market operator lists a 1 p.m. close, and the Shoppes' own events page lists noon.
One longtime tenant is leaving its storefront. Neighborhood Organics Market & Cafe has been at the Shoppes since 2014 and will keep selling its soups, baked goods and prepared meals until its lease ends in November. The owners said this summer that the timing was right to focus on their family. Hill says they will stay involved with the Saturday market, so the stall stays even as the storefront closes.
Changes at the shops and restaurants around Pelican Marsh affect daily life inside the gates, and they are part of what we track for clients who live there. If you'd like a view of how this season's openings and the Vanderbilt Beach Road work fit with your own plans, Peter Rose and the team are glad to talk it through. Contact Us.