Why the Shoppes at Vanderbilt Is Filling Up With Places to Stay Awhile

What happens to a North Naples shopping center when its newest leases go to a tasting bar, a mahjong club, a fudge shop with group events and a raw bar moving to a second floor? On the northwest corner of Vanderbilt Beach Road and Airport-Pulling Road, that is no longer a hypothetical. This fall the Shoppes at Vanderbilt is replacing tenants you visit for a few minutes with tenants designed to hold you for an hour. The Saturday farmers market, which opened its new season yesterday, is the piece of the center that both the departing and arriving businesses share.

Two New Buildings Beside CVS

The change starts with real estate inside the center itself. Two new buildings have gone up on either side of the CVS pharmacy. A single-story building is finished, and a two-story building next to it is nearly done. PJ Hill, the center's leasing manager, told Gulfshore Business columnist Tim Aten that the goal is "an eclectic mix of tenants," and he added that because the center is "fairly large" and well established, "it gets tricky to find good complementary concepts."

The smaller of the two, Building 1000, went entirely to The Good Pour, a wine and spirits retailer that opened in early September in a 7,200-square-foot space facing Airport-Pulling Road. On paper it is a liquor store. In practice it works more like a place to spend an evening. Its 16 wines by the glass come in 1-ounce, 3-ounce or 6-ounce tastes, and a separate machine pours seven spirits, including what general manager Ivo Atanasov called "very allocated bourbons and tequilas." The store also has a Reserve Room for private events, a Tasting Bar, and a calendar of live music, winemaker and distiller visits, and cocktail classes. Jeff Nichols, the director of beverage and retail strategy, described the build-your-own gift bar as "like a Build-A-Bear for adults."

The chain started in Winter Park, and every store directs part of its profits to a charity the shopper picks from more than 300 partner nonprofits. North Naples is its fifth location and the first outside Central Florida. Atanasov and Nichols, both Naples residents, own and operate this one. The store is at 2373 Vanderbilt Beach Road. It is open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday, with a grand opening planned for Oct. 16 to 18 featuring live music, light bites and free tastings.

Rusty's Picked a Second Floor

The bigger two-story building, Building 1100, has more than 20,000 square feet. Its best-known future tenant is coming from Uptown Center on Immokalee Road. Rusty's Raw Bar & Grill plans to open there in early 2027 as Rusty's Rooftop Raw Bar & Grill, in a two-story space facing Vanderbilt Beach Road. According to Hill, the plan includes a bar on each floor and indoor-outdoor bar seating upstairs. Rusty's frames the move in its own words:

"After 23 wonderful years in our current location, we were unable to reach a lease renewal agreement that made financial sense for the long-term future of the business. Rather than compromise the quality of the Rusty's experience, we chose to invest in our future and move forward with Rusty's Rooftop."

The restaurant says it is relocating, not closing. It will stay open at its current location through January 2027, and "We'll close one day here and open there the next." Rusty's says it has no information about what will go into the Uptown Center space. Hill described the new concept as "a twist on their original formula" designed to suit this market a little more closely.

For anyone who has made Rusty's their regular spot, the takeaway is that the menu comes along and the setting gets a second story. For the Shoppes at Vanderbilt, the move brings in a restaurant that already has two decades of North Naples regulars, and it puts them on a rooftop at the center's main frontage.

Tenants Built Around an Hour, Not an Errand

The rest of the incoming list follows the same pattern as The Good Pour and Rusty's Rooftop. Paradise Coast Mahjong is taking Suite 705, one of three units carved out of the former Axe Lodge space along Airport-Pulling. It plans a boutique, lessons, leagues, open play, memberships and special events. Serenity Medical Spa and TG Hair Salon have taken the other two units. "It will be a fun place for people to come play, hang out," Hill said.

Art of Fudge is moving into the former Kitchen Social space. Hill described it as a fresh fudge and confectionery shop that will also host interactive experiences and group events. Big Daddy Smash Burger, which will serve made-to-order smashburgers and hand-cut fries, is moving into the unit Imperio Taqueria left when it closed in February. It will be the first location of a new brand from an experienced hospitality team. Another new brand has leased the end unit Crazy King Burrito vacated in February. Hill could not name it yet but said the space is set up for quick service.

Retail and services are filling in too. Lola Moda, a women's clothing shop, is coming to Suite 130. Corvé Fine Cabinetry & Millwork plans a fall opening for a first-floor showroom in Building 1100. It will be the second location for the local business, which also has a space on Old 41 Road.

Several of these dates are targets, not confirmed openings. Each line below reflects the latest reporting as of early October 2026:

Sources: Gulfshore Business, Rusty's, Paradise Coast Mahjong and the Vanderbilt Farmers Market

As of this writing, Paradise Coast Mahjong's own site still lists an October 2026 opening goal with details being finalized.

The Saturday Market Is the Thread

One tenant on the list is leaving. Neighborhood Organics Market & Cafe has operated at the center since 2014, and its owners decided not to renew when the lease expires in November. Until then it will keep selling house-made soups, baked goods and prepared meals. "While this was a difficult decision, we feel it is the right time to focus on our family," the shop posted this summer.

Even so, Neighborhood Organics is not fully leaving the property. Hill said the owners will stay involved in the Saturday farmers market. That makes the market the one part of the center that carries a decade-old tenant forward while the storefronts around it turn over.

The Vanderbilt Farmers Market started its fall season on Oct. 3, 2026, and runs every Saturday through May 22, 2027, rain or shine. Its own site lists hours of 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 2355 Vanderbilt Beach Road. The center's events page lists the same 8 a.m. start but a noon close, so plan on the earlier end time if you are going for a particular vendor. The market describes itself as North Naples' largest and longest-running year-round farmers market. It welcomes pets and families, and it features more than 90 vendors from October through May, selling produce, flowers, honey, baked goods, specialty foods and artisan goods.

A familiar lunch spot has also changed hands. Mystic Lobster Roll Co. is now Magic Lobster Roll Co. under new ownership, and its menu still leads with classic and specialty lobster rolls.

With the new tenants, a Saturday at this corner can run longer than it used to. Market produce in the morning, then a tasting flight in the afternoon once The Good Pour opens at 10 a.m. Once Rusty's Rooftop and the mahjong club are both open, the same parking lot will support a full day out instead of a quick stop.

Getting There While Vanderbilt Beach Road Is Under Construction

If you drive in from the Gulf side, your route crosses an active work zone. Collier County is widening about 1.8 miles of Vanderbilt Beach Road from four lanes to six, from just east of US 41 to around Fontana Del Sol Way, east of Goodlette-Frank Road. Most of the new lanes go into the existing median. The project also improves the intersections at Strada Place and Goodlette-Frank and adds bike lanes.

The contractor got its notice to proceed in early June 2026, and the county estimates two years of construction. Most lane closures are scheduled for daytime hours between 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday. Saturday is included in that window, so a market run that starts before 9 a.m. avoids the scheduled closure hours. In spring 2027, when crews add 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 squeeze is expected right around the time Rusty's Rooftop opens in early 2027, so the first months of the new location will likely overlap with the tightest stretch of the road project.

Looking for a home within an easy drive of the Saturday market, or wondering how the center's new tenants could affect the homes nearby? Kyle R. Suhr knows the corner of Vanderbilt Beach and Airport-Pulling and the North Naples communities around it, and he's glad to talk it over. Discover Your Gulf Coast Lifestyle. Contact Kyle.