Downtown Redmond New Businesses: What's Ahead in Fall 2026

On Monday, October 5, a sign in the tasting room window at 245 SW Sixth St. said Kobold Brewing's The Vault Taphouse had "closed for good." The Vault opened in 2017 with 20 taps, a patio and a food cart area. For nine years it was one of the places downtown Redmond gathered outdoors. The Redmond Spokesman reported that the owner of a food cart on the lot found out about the closing the Friday before.

Over the same months, businesses a few blocks away spent money gutting a 125-year-old brick building, adding screens to a 1937 movie house, signing a 10-year lease on a corner storefront, and winning a $500,000 city grant to fill a former fabric store. Downtown's new investment this year has gone into buildings, not open lots.

Two outdoor lots in transition

The Vault's closing came a few weeks after a bigger announcement. On September 9, the Robertson family listed General Duffy's Waterhole for sale after eight years. According to the Spokesman, the asking price is $5.6 million for a 1.4-acre, four-parcel commercial property just off Highway 97. The family's release says the site has development potential up to 100 feet.

General Duffy's is not closing. The family said the beer garden stays open until it changes hands. Over those eight years it grew from a taphouse and food truck concept into a venue that hosts more than 200 community events a year, and it brought in 39 national touring shows, including Trace Adkins, Nate Smith, Elle King and Scotty McCreery. The listing describes a future owner either building on the current business or pursuing a larger mixed-use project with hospitality, dining, retail or residential uses, subject to zoning and government approvals.

At The Vault, the food carts were still going when the Spokesman reported the closing. Kevin Meyer, owner of Richard's Sliders, told the paper his family-owned truck would try to stay at the site as long as possible. El Imperio was also open as of the report. Property owner Steve Anderson said he plans to resell the taproom as is, built out with all 20 taps. The report named no new operator.

So Redmond's two best-known open-air gathering lots are both in flux this fall. One is open and for sale. The other has a closed taproom and working food carts.

The money went indoors

Two blocks away, the story runs the other way. The Little Bug Play Hub reopened in mid-June, two doors down from its old address. It took over the former Double J Saloon, and the new play area is twice the size of the original space, which opened in 2023. The party rooms doubled too, and a coffee shop for parents and caregivers was added.

The renovation was planned as a four-month job and took 13. The Spokesman's August 21 story blamed plumbing problems and the building's 125-year-old brick-and-mortar construction. Owner Cortney Falappino told the paper the old play area was already near capacity after one year.

The same Spokesman article laid out the block around it. Little Bug now shares a wall with Juniper & Sprouts, a secondhand children's clothing shop. Sweet Oasis Sweet Shoppe & Gifts is across the street, and Silvies River Charter School is next door.

Just up Sixth Street, the Odem Theater Pub shows the same move in a single building. Milton and Fossie Odem built the theater in 1937. Owner Ted Eady bought the building in 2001 and reopened it as a theater in 2018. This summer two new theaters opened, for a total of four, and one has a stage for live music or comedy.

The Odem's old patio seating is gone. Part of it became the new theaters, and the rest is going to a bigger indoor restaurant. In August, Eady hoped to open the new restaurant this fall, a second-floor bar by winter, and a rooftop patio by early summer 2027. The front restaurant and the theaters stayed open through the work. We haven't found a report confirming the expanded restaurant has opened yet.

Smaller openings followed the same pattern. WitchCrafting with Josie opened in May at 518 NW Greenwood Ave., selling handmade candles, soaps, lotions and crystals from a storefront.

What's coming, and how firm it is

The next wave is all brick and mortar too. Here is where each project stood as of October 11, 2026, based on the latest reports we found.

The Handel's corner at Fifth Street and Forest Avenue fits the pattern best. The ice cream shop takes the existing 1,500-square-foot building. The Spokesman reported that two to three new ground-floor retail spaces will be built on the same lot, plus a 200-square-foot space that could hold a stationary food truck. WhatNow later reported that franchisee Tim Joyce hoped to open before the end of 2026, which pushes back the "Coming fall 2026" on the hiring sign. This will be the sixth Handel's in Oregon.

Even the food truck on that lot gets a permanent footprint.

Bentley's Coffee started site work in July for a drive-through at Sixth Street and Maple Avenue, aiming to open in September or October. The company's own site still lists Redmond as coming soon.

The biggest of these is the grocery. On July 14, Redmond City Council, acting as the urban renewal board, approved a $500,000 grant toward renovating the vacant building at 732 SW Sixth St. for Natural Grocers. The building is 15,000 square feet on a 1.2-acre lot with 50 parking spaces, and it has sat empty since JoAnn Fabrics closed in early 2025. According to the Spokesman, urban renewal program manager Chuck Arnold traced the push for another grocery back to 2020, when the Albertsons on South Highway 97 closed. He noted that the city has added about 6,000 residents since then. The redesign is planned for the first quarter of 2027.

There are other new Redmond restaurants in the pipeline. They're just not downtown. Kyoto Sushi and Hibachi is planning a location at 1362 S. Highway 97 and has filed for a liquor license, WhatNow reported on October 9.

Getting around downtown between now and the holidays

As downtown fills in, the streets around it are under work too. These are the dates the City of Redmond and Visit Redmond have posted for the rest of the year:

1. Through November 5: NW Greenwood Avenue between NW 31st and 32nd Streets is local access only for reconstruction, according to the City's October 2 road report.
2. Through October 19: Weigand Dog Park is closing in phases for a new irrigation system, with one field open while crews work on the other, per the City's notice.
3. October 19 through January 31, 2027: NE Ninth Street closes completely between E Antler Avenue and NE Hemlock Avenue, with a detour on NE 11th Street.
4. October 31, 4 to 6 p.m.: Trick or Treat on 6th Street closes Sixth Street between Black Butte and Forest.
5. November 27, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.: The Holiday Village Market opens at Centennial Park with holiday vendors and Santa. The local calendar also lists market days on November 28 and December 5.
6. November 28, 5 to 7 p.m.: The Starlight Parade has an "Elf" theme this year, and the route starts on Sixth Street.

Just east of downtown, the Central Dry Canyon Park improvements were marked complete in July. The project links Sam Johnson Park, Hope Playground, the Spud Bowl and Weigand Dog Park with pathways and new parking, and it added a flashing beacon on Antler Avenue. The City also scheduled shoulder-rock stabilization on the Dry Canyon Trail between Quartz Avenue and the wastewater treatment plant for September 21 through 25, with intermittent closures and posted detours.

On Halloween afternoon, Sixth Street will be closed to cars from Black Butte to Forest. That stretch runs past the Odem, the Little Bug Play Hub block, and the still-tapped Vault, with the Handel's corner sitting one block west on Fifth.

If you own a home within walking distance of Sixth Street, the projects above, from the Handel's lot to the 2027 grocery, are the kind of local detail that belongs in an accurate price. Brandon Cook Bostick follows downtown Redmond block by block and can show you how these changes figure into a free home valuation for your address.