Chandler Fashion Center spent 2026 filling its biggest empty spaces with grocery shelves, food counters and restaurant kitchens. The store openings are real, but they're mostly apparel brands moving into regular storefronts. The large changes, like the former Sears, the former Kona Grill and a new outdoor dining district on the south side, are all about food. And the blocks around the mall along Chandler Boulevard and Ray Road have been doing the same thing since summer.
If you live in west Chandler, you can now spend a whole evening out within about a mile of the Loop 101 interchange. The mall itself has more on the way through 2027.
The Old Sears Building Now Sells Live Crab
The clearest sign of the shift sits in the space Sears left behind. Its upper level is now Seafood City Supermarket, the Filipino grocery chain's first Arizona store, which opened on Thursday, July 30, 2026. Round1 Bowling & Arcade has the lower level. So a building that once sold appliances and tools now sells groceries, hot meals and bowling.
According to Phoenix New Times, the store covers nearly 66,000 square feet, and almost 11,000 of those, 10,947 to be exact, go to a dining hall with more than 300 seats. The same report says this is the largest food hall in the chain, with seven counters, all run by Seafood City itself:
- Grill City for Filipino barbecue skewers, baked salmon and crispy pork belly
- Slurp Alley for personal hot pots on tableside burners, noodle soups and dim sum
- Sizzle for cast-iron plates like beef bone marrow, ribeye and sisig with java rice
- Crispy Town for whole lechon, where you choose your ratio of meat to crispy skin
- Bakers Avenue for pandesal, ube pastries and cakes
- Yelo Yelo for ube and mango shakes, soft serve and halo halo
- Kakanin Korner for rice cakes, bibingka, puto and sapin sapin
Out on the store floor, the seafood tanks hold lobsters, crabs and fish. Phoenix New Times reports that staff will clean, gut and fry your pick so you can eat it right there. An eighth counter focused mostly on crab is planned for the seafood section. In August, Signals AZ said it was expected within a couple of months. The store also has a social hall you can rent, with a large screen, karaoke and optional catering. It has two entrances, one from inside the mall and one straight from the parking lot, so you can stop in for groceries without walking the mall.
Before it opened, the mall was already getting calls about it. Mall general manager Monica Greenman told ABC15 in May, "We have more calls on when are they opening from the community."
The South Side Is Being Rebuilt Around Restaurants
Seafood City was the first big piece. The next ones are on the mall's south side, which ABC15 says is being rebuilt from the ground up with new patio space, a relocated splash pad and a new entrance. The restaurant planned for the middle of that rebuild is Din Tai Fung, the Taiwanese chain known for its soup dumplings. Greenman told ABC15 it is "taking over that space, plus two additional spaces for a 14,000 square feet experience." That's three storefronts combined into one restaurant. The mall's renovation page lists Din Tai Fung for 2027.
Two more restaurants are on the same list:
- Wagyu House, an all-you-can-eat yakiniku restaurant serving American and Australian full-blood Wagyu and Japanese A5. It's moving into the former Kona Grill space, so a mall restaurant space is going to another restaurant. ABC15 reported that it will be the first of its kind in the market.
- La Popular Cocina Mexicana, a Mexico City-inspired spot with ribeye tacos, ahi tuna tostadas, chicken mole poblano, churros and a list of agave spirits. The mall lists it for fall 2027.
The mall's page also promises more restaurant names "in the coming months," plus shade, fire pits, a refreshed splash pad and live concerts outside. ABC15 reported that all the new additions are expected to be open by September 2027.
Greenman described the goal to ABC15 this way: "We want to be a hub, so it's a little tiny city where you can do whatever you want in the shelter of AC." For anyone who has lived through a Chandler July, that's a reasonable pitch.
The Store News Is Smaller
The new stores fill regular storefronts. AZ Big Media reported that Garage and Johnny Rockets both held grand openings on August 8, 2026. The Johnny Rockets is in the food court and is the first one in the Southeast Valley. Fabletics reopened on August 27 in a space nearly twice its old size. J.Crew Factory had opened by mid-May, according to ABC15. The mall also lists Swarovski and Peloton as new, plus larger stores for Sephora, Foot Locker, Journeys and Kendra Scott. Zara, Alo and Levi's are listed for 2027.
All good news if you shop at the mall. But compare the sizes: one grocery and food hall of nearly 66,000 square feet in a former anchor, and one restaurant built from three storefronts, against a handful of new apparel shops. Most of the new space is going to food.
Outside the Mall, the Same Thing Is Happening
Head out of the mall's parking lots and the openings follow the same pattern, with Asian food leading the way.
Along Chandler Boulevard. Chicha SanChen, a Taiwanese tea house, soft-opened in July near the mall, according to Mouth by Southwest. PHOENIX magazine lists it at 3305 W. Chandler Blvd. Farther east at 1940 W. Chandler Blvd., #12, next to 99 Ranch Market, Iro Shoten Ramen & Sushi opened on September 5. Phoenix New Times reports that chef Hirohata Norihiro, of Mendo Hanamokoshi in Fukuoka, Japan, brought the shop's tonkotsu broth here, and you can add A5 Wagyu or pork belly chashu to your bowl. That puts a tea house, a Filipino food hall, a ramen shop and an Asian supermarket all on one stretch of the same road.
Along Ray Road. PHOENIX magazine listed Cozy Chinese Kitchen, a Sichuan-style restaurant in the former Szechuan Garden space at 5055 W. Ray Road, among its September openings. Its July roundup included Curry Pizza House at 3950 W. Ray Road, which serves Indian-style pizzas along with traditional ones.
On 54th Street. Cien Agaves Tacos & Tequila held its Chandler grand opening on August 5 at 900 N. 54th St.
At Casa Paloma. The next date to watch is Wednesday, November 11, when North Italia is scheduled to open at 7221 W. Ray Road in The Shoppes at Casa Paloma, in the former Z'Tejas space, according to What Now Phoenix.
Holiday Dates on the Mall Calendar
The south-side patio won't be finished this season, but the mall's holiday calendar is set. Here are the dates from the mall's own event pages:
- Sunday, November 1: SCHEELS Fall Fashion After Hours
- Monday, November 2: Entries open for the mall's $100,000 holiday sweepstakes
- Friday, November 13: Santa arrives near Macy's
- Mondays, November 16 through December 14: Pet Nights with Santa
- Sunday, November 29: Community Blood Drive
- Sunday, December 6: A sensory-friendly Santa morning. The mall and Visit Chandler list different start and end times, so check the mall's Santa page before you go.
- Saturdays through December 26: LUSH Handmade Days
The holiday page also mentions extended holiday shopping hours and the Salvation Army Angel Tree program.
If you're planning a holiday outing, here's one way to string it together. Do Santa photos near Macy's, grab lunch at Seafood City's food hall, and pick up halo halo at Yelo Yelo on the way out. From November 11 on, you'll also have North Italia a few minutes down Ray Road for dinner. Next year, the south side should give you a patio, fire pits and Din Tai Fung right at the mall.
If your winter visitors are already asking where to eat, or you'd like to talk through how these new spots fit how you live on the west side of Chandler, I'm glad to help. Let's Connect with Steve Russell.
