Old Town La Verne Has Almost No Empty Storefronts. Here's What Moved In.

Drive Foothill Boulevard this month and count the "For Lease" signs. You won't get far. That's not a mood or an impression, it's close to a fact: the City of La Verne itself has said the corridor is running at a 4.4% vacancy rate, and Old Town was effectively fully leased by the end of 2025. If you've felt like every empty storefront in town gets claimed before you even notice it went dark, you're reading the market correctly.

What's more interesting than the vacancy number is what's actually filling those spaces. The easy assumption is that La Verne is having a restaurant moment. Look at the city's own business license filings from this year and the real story is different: the corridor isn't filling with new places to eat so much as new places to get a massage, take a yoga class, or pick up a haircut. Understanding why explains a lot about how this particular stretch of the San Gabriel Valley works right now.

The Businesses That Actually Opened

Here's a sample pulled straight from the city's new business license filings between April and July of this year:

That table alone reads like a normal small-town churn. But widen the lens to the full run of filings from March through July and a different pattern shows up. Alongside those seven, the same city records list Elizabeth Does Hair, Goods 4 The Sol, Hilary DeSalvio Physical Therapy, True ID Livescan Services, CosmoProf, Open Book Therapy, Harmonic Well, and Someday Events Co. Add it up and personal services and wellness concepts outnumber restaurants by a wide margin.

That's not a coincidence. It's what a nearly-full commercial corridor actually looks like from the inside.

Why Wellness Wins When Vacancy Hits Zero

A sit-down restaurant needs a big footprint, a kitchen buildout, parking, and a lease that can absorb a slow first year. A yoga studio, a body contouring suite, or a physical therapy office needs a fraction of that: a subdivided storefront, a shorter lease term, and a membership or appointment model that doesn't depend on walk-in volume from day one. When there's almost no raw, unclaimed retail space left on a corridor, those are the tenants who can actually fit into what remains, whether that's the back half of a strip that used to hold one bigger store or a second-floor suite nobody wanted five years ago.

La Verne's own daytime population helps explain the demand side. The University of La Verne alone brings roughly 7,500 students through Old Town on a given weekday. That's a customer base that rotates fast, values a quick coffee or a gym session between classes, and doesn't necessarily need a sit-down dinner spot. Wellness and personal-care concepts are built for exactly that rhythm.

The city isn't just watching this happen passively, either. Its own economic development messaging describes sending personalized letters to businesses already in expansion mode, running a Business Assistance loan program, and offering expedited plan checks so a new tenant can open sooner than in a neighboring city. In a market this tight, the city is actively recruiting the next occupant before the current one has even finished moving out.

The Buildings the City Chose to Show Off

Some of what's changed on the corridor isn't a brand-new business at all, it's an existing space getting a serious upgrade. In its 2026 Community Design Awards, the city recognized four projects along Foothill Boulevard and Bonita Avenue: HOTWORX La Verne, a 24-hour infrared fitness studio at 1395 Foothill Boulevard; Orange Fish Sushi, which transformed an existing space into a full dining room at 2855 Foothill Boulevard; Carpiaux Family Orthodontics on West Foothill Boulevard; and Leso Studios, a salon-suite concept at 2125 Bonita Avenue built for independent beauty professionals.

Mayor Tim Hepburn's comment on the awards was straightforward: thoughtful design and careful investment can shape a community. What it also signals is that property owners aren't waiting for the market to loosen up. They're pouring capital into upgrading the buildings they already control, which means even less raw, unimproved space is likely to open up anytime soon.

Even a Fifteen-Year Local Couldn't Find Room to Grow

The clearest evidence of how tight this market has gotten isn't a new business at all. It's an old one that had to leave town to expand.

Chase's Restaurant has anchored Old Town La Verne since 2011. This year it announced its first expansion ever, a second location set to open at 216 N. Glendora Avenue, a few miles away in Glendora, not anywhere in its home market. A restaurant with fifteen years of local loyalty and foot traffic couldn't grow within La Verne's own commercial footprint. It grew next door instead.

What This Means for Your Weekend

None of this changes the fact that La Verne in August still runs on a familiar rhythm, it just runs it inside a tighter box than it used to.

• Thursdays, 5:30 to 9 p.m.: the certified farmers market sets up at D Street and Bonita Avenue.
• Through August 31: Chase's runs live music on Wednesday nights from 7:30 to 10:30 and Saturday nights from 8:30 to 11:30, with a different act each week.
• Once a year, tickets on sale in March: the Sip of La Verne Wine Walk sells out early, so if you missed it this cycle, mark your calendar for next spring rather than waiting for a last-minute ticket.
• Anytime: Marshall Canyon Trail runs 7.8 miles from Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park up through La Verne, most commonly accessed from Oak Mesa Park, eventually connecting through Cobal Canyon Trail into Claremont Hills Wilderness Park. Unlike Foothill Boulevard, this is one corner of La Verne that isn't running short on room.

The Practical Upshot

If there's one thing worth taking from all of this, it's that "wait and see" doesn't work the way it used to on this stretch of Foothill Boulevard. A space that opens up doesn't stay empty long enough for you to think it over. If a new studio, market, or bakery catches your eye, that's less a suggestion to rush in and more a reminder of just how differently this corridor behaves now compared to a few years ago. The empty storefront you remember from your last drive through Old Town is very likely someone's new lease by now.

We track this kind of shift because it tells us something real about how La Verne is changing, not just what's for sale but what the town is becoming. If you're curious how any of this touches property values in your part of La Verne, or you're weighing a move within the foothill communities we cover, The Mark & Al Team has been watching these corridors long enough to read the difference between a passing trend and a real shift. Reach out anytime you want a local read on what's actually happening around you.