Public Market Emeryville's Stall Handoffs: Who Left, Who Arrived, and What Opens Before the Holidays

"It was thanks to the community support and love that our initial 6-month residency at the La Cocina kiosk turned into 15 beautiful months full of learning, and happy dances every time someone complimented the food." The three founders of Alma y Sazón wrote that on Instagram this summer, as The E'ville Eye reported in August. Their Mexican-vegan kiosk served its last day at Public Market Emeryville on August 30.

That goodbye fits a pattern that runs through the market's whole year. Almost every new name at 5959 Shellmound Street in 2026 moved into a space someone else had just left. One juice kiosk handed its spot to another, a corner that sat empty for years finally got a tenant, and the incubator stall is changing hands again. The food hall changes one handoff at a time, and the one large newcomer, Sweetgreen, took longer to arrive than any of the small operators who came and went around it.

The kiosk that's meant to change hands

Some of the turnover at Public Market is planned. For about a decade, the market has partnered with La Cocina, a nonprofit that develops women-owned food businesses. One kiosk is set aside for rotating residencies. Alma y Sazón started on a six-month residency, and after a residency ends, vendors are typically offered a vacant permanent stall at market-rate rent.

The program has a track record:

• Nyum Bai. Nite Yun ran the first pop-up in the kiosk, then opened a restaurant in Oakland, according to Edible East Bay.
• Minnie Bell's. Fernay McPherson followed Nyum Bai and moved from the pop-up to a multi-year lease on a permanent stall in 2019. In late July 2024 she left the market to open her own space in San Francisco.
• Mama Lamees. Lamees Dahbour took over the rotating stall after Minnie Bell's moved to its permanent spot.
• Alma y Sazón. Opened in June 2025 on a six-month residency and stayed 15 months.

When a residency nearly triples its planned length, the community is plainly showing up. Even so, the kiosk always gets passed to the next business.

Xula is next, on the city's timeline

The next resident is Xula Guatemalan Cuisine, an Oakland business run by chef-owner Veronica Bran and co-owner Jose Reyes. Before landing this stall, Xula ran as a ghost kitchen and sold at farmers markets and pop-ups, including Outside Lands. The menu centers on traditional Guatemalan dishes and antojitos: tamales, garnachas, rellenitos, and a house-made ChiQ'aq salsa that The E'ville Eye describes as fiery.

Xula originally planned to open September 15, but permitting issues with the city pushed that back. In mid-October, The E'ville Eye's October roundup still listed Xula among openings expected before year-end, with no firm date. Xula's Instagram is the most direct place to watch for opening news. Until it opens, the incubator kiosk sits between residents. That gap is part of how the program works.

The permanent stalls followed the same pattern

You might expect the permanent stalls to stay put. This year three of them changed hands much the way the incubator kiosk does, shown here alongside it.

The juice kiosk turned over within one season. Juice House Co. announced on March 20 that it would close April 4. It had moved into one of the former Oui Oui Macaron containers in 2023. Its successor, Liquified Juicery, is a woman-owned business that Bay Area native Ashley Comora founded in 2019. The kiosk sells raw, organic cold-pressed juices, sea moss gels, wellness elixirs and superfood bites. It hands out free samples daily and adds new seasonal juices and smoothies every week.

The corner stall took much longer to fill. By early June, construction was underway behind signs promising a "Summer 2026" tenant, and the market didn't name who it was. The E'ville Eye reported that the stall had been empty since the market's 2015 to 2016 renovation. The tenant turned out to be Jamaica Again, which opened August 27 with jerk chicken, braised oxtail, curried goat, ackee and saltfish, Jamaican patties, plantains and homemade juices.

Jamaican food has been at the market before. Calypso Rose served there from 2022 to 2024, and before the big 2016 renovation, Jamaica Place ran a stall in the food hall. So the newest stall in the building brings back a cuisine with a long history there.

Koja Kitchen's departure is the one change on the list that hasn't been followed by an arrival. The Korean-Japanese stall opened around 2015 and became known for its "Kojas," sandwiches built on crispy garlic rice buns instead of bread. The nearest location now is in Berkeley.

Sweetgreen took the long way in

The small operators changed places within weeks or months. Sweetgreen is a different case. The chain first announced its Public Market location in September 2024, more than two years ago. That's longer than Alma y Sazón's whole 15-month run. Construction picked up over the past few months, and the company has now set dates.

Here's the November calendar as of the latest update:

1. Friday, November 13, and Saturday, November 14: soft opening. Attendees get a free bowl. Tickets are on Eventbrite, and you have to download the Sweetgreen app and register.
2. Tuesday, November 17: grand opening, still tentative. "If all goes according to plan, the grand opening date is planned for Tuesday, November 17," a company representative told The E'ville Eye. For every meal bought at the new location that day, Sweetgreen will donate a meal to the Alameda County Community Food Bank.

The menu will carry Sweetgreen staples like the Crispy Rice Bowl and Miso Glazed Salmon, along with the chain's newer wraps. More details on grand-opening activities and giveaways are expected closer to the date.

The two timelines show how the market's mix holds together. A national chain needs a long lead time and a bigger space. The incubator kiosk and the smaller stalls let an Oakland ghost kitchen or a Jamaican family kitchen open in the same building in a matter of months. Edible East Bay reported in 2024 that Oxford Properties Group bought the food hall in 2021 and brought management in-house in 2023, so one owner now oversees both kinds of tenants.

Down Shellmound and over to San Pablo

The same handoffs are happening outside the market.

A few blocks away, Peregrine Cafe's food trailer behind the Emeryville Hyatt House served its last order on September 26. It had spent three years selling reasonably priced breakfast sandwiches and fresh beignets. The owner's farewell message promised updates about a "next adventure."

On San Pablo Avenue, signs for Mundo Coffee + Wine have gone up at 4336 San Pablo, next to Como en Casa. Founder Bran Azevedo is working with architects on the design and permits, with an opening "optimistically" targeted for late 2026. "We look forward to bringing some good coffee and wine to the 94608 ZIP code," Azevedo wrote on Instagram, as The E'ville Eye reported.

At the East Bay Bridge Shopping Center, Cotti Coffee has leased the former Starbucks space next to Home Depot. The Hong Kong-based chain hasn't announced an opening timetable.

This year's turnover on Piedmont Avenue followed a similar pattern, which we covered in our look at its two restaurant closures. On Telegraph in Temescal, long-empty storefronts are being filled by neighborhood operators. In Emeryville, the change is concentrated in one building, and the next openings to watch are Xula's kiosk and Sweetgreen's November 13 soft opening.

Whether you're picking a spot for lunch or considering a move to the area, our team keeps up with what's changing across North Oakland, Berkeley and Emeryville. If you'd like to talk about what nearby openings could mean for your home's value, reach out to Annie Tegner and get your free East Bay home valuation.