From brass carts to bankruptcy: the stores of Blackhawk Plaza

In December 1988, a grocery store opened at the foot of Mount Diablo where you could phone your broker from the shopping cart. It was the first store in Blackhawk Plaza. Since then the plaza has had a Saks Fifth Avenue that lasted 11 months, a children's superstore, three anchor grocers and, more than once, more ducks than shoppers. In 2026 its owner went bankrupt. Here are its stores, era by era, as the newspapers of the time described them.

A grocery with a grand piano (1988–1991)

FJ's Blackhawk Market was the first store to open at the plaza (Associated Press, Dec. 1989). Blackhawk executive Frank J. Straface opened it in December 1988, promising an image of exclusivity (San Francisco Chronicle, Sept. 9, 1991).

The AP's description of the 33,000-square-foot store ran in papers across the country. Shoppers pushed brass carts down softly lit black-and-white aisles while a pianist in a tuxedo played a black grand piano. There was coffee from brass urns, almost 70 kinds of mustard, from 70 cents to $10, and a dozen cellular phones you could check out with your cart. The manager said that at first callers mostly told friends, "You'll never guess where I'm calling from!" The phones had also been used to buy a car and close stock deals. The store took orders by fax.

Lotto tickets and generic cans (1991–1994)

By 1991, FJ's was gone. The Chronicle reported that payroll checks had bounced and that, at one low point, workers ran the store for two weeks after the people in charge walked away. The shelves still held "thousands of olive oils — things that never sold," one employee said (San Francisco Chronicle, Sept. 9, 1991).

A new company, Blackhawk Market Inc., took the space in May 1991 with a back-to-basics approach. Its president, Ginger Chih, grew up in Tokyo, where her parents owned the National Azabu Supermarket. Out went the pianist and the phones. In came generic-label boxes and cans, and the market sold about 150 Lotto tickets a day.

The plaza had other new arrivals. A seven-screen movie theater opened on July 20, 1990 (Cinema Treasures), and that summer's newspaper ads listed it as Cinemark Blackhawk 7.

"Take another look" (1994)

In 1994 the plaza bought a full-page newspaper ad to fight its own reputation. "Perception," it said: some people think Blackhawk Plaza is where only the rich and famous shop. "Reality": a friendly, relaxed center "filled with values around every corner." Its example was Stars Children's Wear Superstore, with more than 40,000 children's clothes and gifts priced 25 to 40 percent below department stores. The ad promised more than 50 shops and restaurants (San Francisco Chronicle, Oct. 26, 1994).

It didn't work for long. The Chronicle later recounted the anchor space's run: the gilt-edged grocer, then a humbler one, then a children's superstore, then nothing.

"Opulent but empty" (1997)

In April 1997 the Chronicle called the plaza the world's most "flat-out swank ... ghost town." Less than a third of it was occupied. Marble windowsills framed vacant storefronts, exotic fish swam past empty walkways, and posters in the windows promised "We're Improving! New Retailers Coming Soon!" (San Francisco Chronicle, April 28, 1997).

The paper blamed the location, seven miles from the freeway, and a plan that one consultant summed up as "a combination of excess dollars and architectural ego." A few tenants held on. The Blackhawk Grille poured an $11 glass of red wine, and a 1966 Jaguar in the Blackhawk Collection showroom was priced at $225,000. The owner of the Patrick James clothing store had just renewed his lease in a corner he shared with Restoration Hardware. "We're the last redoubt," he said.

Saks, for 11 months (1997–1999)

Koll Investment Management bought the plaza in late 1995, renamed it The Shops at Blackhawk and spent $10 million on a makeover, including a domed central courtyard. It reopened in November 1997 (Oakland Tribune, Nov. 6, 1997).

The big catch was Saks Fifth Avenue, the East Bay's first. After a three-month delay it opened on February 13, 1998, alongside new Ann Taylor and Eddie Bauer stores (San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 13, 1998).

Eleven months later, Saks said it would close on January 23, 1999, because the store didn't meet its "established investment return criteria." The plaza's leasing agency said it was "absolutely astonished" and had had no warning (San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 15, 1999).

Gottschalks, Draeger's and the ducks (1999–2020)

Gottschalks moved into the Saks space in October 1999 (San Francisco Chronicle, Sept. 13, 1999). A 2001 holiday ad shows the mix around it: Restoration Hardware, the Blackhawk Grille, Cafe de Paris, the French children's store Jacadi, Pinnacle Fitness, Lido Motors of Diablo and Sound & Vision (San Francisco Chronicle, Nov. 23, 2001).

In 2007 the plaza's owner, CenterCal Properties, started a $37 million renovation. It brought in about 25 merchants, among them White House Black Market, Starbucks and Anthropologie, and gave the theater leather chairs. "The original owners designed it more like a golf club than a retail center," CenterCal's president said. The Oakland Tribune's photo caption that day read: "Ducks outnumber shoppers" (Oakland Tribune, Nov. 16, 2007). Draeger's Market, a Peninsula grocer, became the plaza's anchor the same year (Danville San Ramon, Jan. 9, 2026).

The long goodbye (2020–2026)

In 2020 the Ramanujan Group bought the plaza for about $38 million (Danville San Ramon, July 2, 2026). That spring the Blackhawk Grille, open for about 30 years, closed for good (Danville San Ramon, May 26, 2020). New operators reopened it as The Grille at Blackhawk, which closed in January 2025 (Danville San Ramon).

The movie theater, by then Century Blackhawk Plaza, closed at the end of its lease in December 2022 (Patch). Apple Cinemas planned to reopen it, then backed out in early 2026 (Danville San Ramon, Feb. 3, 2026). Draeger's closed in mid-February 2026, and its owner blamed the plaza's condition (Danville San Ramon, Jan. 9, 2026).

On March 18, 2026, the Ramanujan Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (Danville San Ramon, March 25, 2026). By July, with $35.8 million in liens on the property, a court-appointed manager was preparing to list the plaza for sale.

That summer the lower duck pond was drained for repairs. Volunteers took four domestic ducks to a sanctuary, and the wild mallards stayed, fed by volunteers and plaza management (Danville San Ramon, July 2, 2026).

Visiting today

As of October 2026, no buyer has been announced. The Blackhawk Museum is still open at the plaza's east end (Blackhawk Museum), and a few businesses remain among the empty storefronts, such as Blue Sakana, which overlooks the duck pond (Danville San Ramon, Jan. 21, 2026). The waterfalls, the tile roofs and the swan rider in the pond are still there. So, for now, are the ducks.