The Village at Meridian Opens Shops First. The Restaurants Come Later.

Since early this year, drivers on Eagle Road have passed a fenced lot along The Village's west side, between Fairview Avenue and Longwing Lane. In July, CenterCal's vice president of property management, Hugh Crawford, told the Idaho Statesman, "You drive by, and it's a full-blown 20-acre construction site right now." This month the fence starts coming down, but not all at once. The expansion is opening in waves that run through February 2027, and the order matters. Activewear, jewelry and boots come first. Every one of the four restaurants comes later.

October 9 Is Mostly Clothes and Jewelry

The official opening is Friday, October 9, at 10 a.m. CenterCal's September 24 release names four stores for that morning: Alo, Kendra Scott, Gorjana and Tecovas. The day starts with a wellness event led by Solidcore and Kendra Scott, followed by pop-up giveaways and live entertainment around the new buildings.

Two of those four were set to open before the official day. Alo moved its opening to Friday, September 25, two weeks early, which made it the first store open in the expansion. Crawford confirmed the change to BoiseDev. Alo planned a live DJ, acro yoga performers and a gift with purchase for the first 100 guests each day from September 25 through 27. Tecovas, the Austin-based western boot brand, planned a soft launch on October 1. Its full grand opening still runs October 9 through 11, with line dancing, custom hat and boot giveaways, and a gift bag with a custom YETI for the first 50 guests each day. No purchase is required for the gift bag.

That first group is also where most of the first-in-Idaho stores are. CenterCal calls Alo and Gorjana Idaho firsts. The Statesman reported that Kendra Scott and Tecovas are opening their first Idaho locations here too. Gorjana currently has three stores in Utah and none in Idaho. For shoppers in Meridian, that means a trip to Salt Lake City, or an online order, now becomes a drive down Eagle Road.

For a regular weeknight, though, most of the October 9 lineup sells things people buy now and then.

The Schedule as of Early October

Here is where each named tenant stands, based on CenterCal's releases from June, August and September and BoiseDev's September 24 update. BoiseDev notes that "all dates are subject to change due to the nature of construction," so treat these as announced targets.

1. Scheduled to open before October 9: Alo on September 25, and Tecovas with a soft launch on October 1.
2. October 9 grand opening: Kendra Scott and Gorjana join Alo and Tecovas. Tecovas holds its grand-opening weekend October 9 through 11.
3. Delayed: Paris Baguette, now aiming for October 28. Tempur-Pedic had no new date as of September 24.
4. "In the coming weeks": Flower Child, Solidcore, Vuori and 7th Avenue.
5. Announced with no public date yet: Culinary Dropout, The Capital Grille and Williams Sonoma.
6. 2027: Pottery Barn. CenterCal expects all of Phase II to be finished in February 2027.

Every restaurant in the expansion falls somewhere in items three through five.

Paris Baguette Is the First Food, and It Was Pushed Back

When CenterCal announced the expansion in June, it planned the first openings for September. At one point, Paris Baguette was supposed to open with the main grand opening. Now its target is October 28, almost three weeks after the clothing and jewelry stores. The South Korea-based bakery-cafe chain first showed up in Meridian through city permit filings, which the Statesman reported in February. CenterCal confirmed it in June.

Flower Child is next. The health-focused restaurant chain is known for serving "a variety of dietary needs," and this will be its first Idaho location and its 46th nationwide, according to the Statesman. As of September 24, CenterCal listed it among the tenants expected "in the coming weeks."

The two biggest dining additions have no public date at all. CenterCal says Culinary Dropout, a gastropub, is a first for Idaho. The Meridian location will be a 7,000-square-foot restaurant with two large covered patios. The Statesman describes it as a gastropub featuring live music. CenterCal calls The Capital Grille a "first-to-market" fine-dining restaurant known for dry-aged steaks, fresh seafood and its wine list. The release doesn't say whether "first-to-market" means the first in Idaho or the first in a smaller market.

"With our expansion bringing in-demand brands like Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma, The Capital Grille and Culinary Dropout joining the caliber of retailers already here including Lululemon, Anthropologie, Evereve and North Italia, we're cementing our place as the premier destination in the Treasure Valley." Hugh Crawford, CenterCal, August 14, 2026

Those two late restaurants are the ones most likely to change how a regular week in Meridian works. A 7,000-square-foot gastropub with two patios becomes a place to meet friends or bring visiting family. A steakhouse becomes the default spot for an anniversary or a work dinner. Both were announced in August, later than the June group, so they are naturally further back in the schedule.

The Lot Was Once Planned for Apartments

The single-story buildings going up now are the second plan for this site. An earlier concept called for apartments and a skybridge. It was never built, and revised plans in 2025 switched to single-story retail, BoiseDev reported in April 2025.

Sources disagree on the exact size of the expansion. CenterCal's August release describes six new buildings totaling nearly 80,000 square feet, all of it already leased. The Statesman reported about 100,000 square feet and seven buildings. BoiseDev's January coverage described a first phase plus a later phase that together come out larger than either figure. The difference likely reflects plans that changed over time. Either way, the space is fully leased, which makes it unlikely that buildings finished this winter will sit empty.

One rumor is still unconfirmed. BoiseDev reported city permits pointing to a possible Apple Store, but Apple doesn't appear in either of CenterCal's tenant announcements. Until CenterCal names it, it remains a permit filing.

Planning Visits Around the Waves

October 9 through 11 will probably be the busiest stretch, with four stores opening at once, a three-day Tecovas event and giveaways throughout the day. The Village's parking page lists free self-parking in surface lots. None of the coverage reviewed for this post mentions a new parking garage, so expect the same lots to handle the opening crowds.

For anyone mostly waiting on food, the dates to watch are later. Paris Baguette's October 28 target is the first. Flower Child is expected sometime this fall. Culinary Dropout and The Capital Grille don't have dates yet, and CenterCal is planning for everything to be done by February 2027. CenterCal posts the full schedule of openings and events on The Village's events page. That page is the place to check whether a date has moved before planning a dinner around it.

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