From January 2025, when Nutter Inc. started digging, to the end of September 2026, 26 businesses opened or expanded on Main Street or within a block of the work, according to the City of Vancouver's completion announcement. If you spent those months driving around the cones on Broadway or Columbia, the street you come back to has new tenants.
They also share something. Most of the newcomers are places built around staying for a while: a three-course dinner, a cooking session, an hour sorting through vintage racks, a ramen bowl you put together yourself. The rebuilt street was designed for that same kind of visit. The city gave Main Street curbless sidewalks, outdoor seating and eight blocks that can close to cars. A street rebuilt for lingering now has a row of businesses built for it.
A walk from 6th to 10th, block by block
The city never published a list of the 26. Here are the ones Vancouver's Downtown Association and local outlets have introduced on the rebuilt stretch, listed from south to north so you can walk them in order.
| Address | Business | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| 614 Main St. | Husubis' Poké Shop | Poké, musubi and Hawaiian food, moved here from a Vancouver Farmers Market stand |
| 705 Main St. | Acme Rag | Vintage and modern clothing resale, buy-sell-trade |
| 808 Main St. | Minari Market | Asian marketplace with a build-your-own instant-ramen bar |
| 909 Main St. | Kismet | Seasonal three-course dinner menu |
| 1000 Main St. | Social Kitchen | Interactive cooking experiences |
| 1009 Main St. | Reverie & Rosemary | Vintage and antiques |
| 1017 Main St. | Petrichor Home | Curated gifts and home goods |
Husubis' Poké Shop is the oldest arrival on this list. Its owners moved from a stall at the Vancouver Farmers Market to a storefront at 614 Main, and the Downtown Association introduced it in January 2025, the same month construction started. Moving off a weekend market stand and into a building on a street about to be dug up was a deliberate decision to put down roots.
Social Kitchen at 1000 Main soft-launched September 18 to 20, 2025, about halfway through the project. It sells an interactive cooking experience, so the point is to spend an evening there, not to grab something and go.
In February 2026, the Downtown Association welcomed two new storefronts on the Kiggins block. Reverie & Rosemary at 1009 Main sells vintage and antiques, and Petrichor Home at 1017 Main sells gifts and home goods. Both reward browsing, and having them side by side makes that block a good stop on a weekend afternoon.
Minari Market at 808 Main opened on Memorial Day, May 25, 2026, according to Clark County Today. It pairs an Asian grocery with a customizable instant-ramen bar.
In August 2026 came Kismet at 909 Main, where Chef Eric Gallanter, who has cooked for more than 40 years, serves a seasonal three-course menu with six choices per course. The restaurant also hosts private parties and large groups. Two blocks south, the Downtown Association welcomed Acme Rag that same month, a buy-sell-trade clothing shop at 705 Main.
Look at the list again and nearly every business is a sit-down or browse-around kind of place. That matters because of what the city built in front of them.
What the new street was built to do
Main Street's lower half waited a long time for this. The city planned the project in two parts back in 1993 and finished the northern section in 1996. High costs held up the stretch from 5th to 15th until 2021. Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle told KPTV that the $26 million total included $12 million in American Rescue Plan Act money and $14 million from the city. Beneath the new pavement, crews rebuilt water, wastewater and stormwater lines close to 100 years old.
The parts you can see on the surface favor people on foot:
- Curbless design with wider sidewalks that meet ADA standards, plus tactile paving and audible crossings
- Parallel parking in place of the old layout, which the city says improves visibility, with 123 vehicle spaces
- 104 bike parking spaces and an e-bike charging station
- Outdoor seating, spaces for public art and festival lighting
- Power access and removable bollards along eight blocks, so the street can close to cars for pedestrian-only events
Compare 104 bike spaces with 123 car spaces. That is close to one bike rack spot for every parking space, on a street that used to be organized around cars.
The outdoor seating is already changing how some businesses work. Melissa Mancillas, owner of Carino Coffeehouse, told KPTV that once she learned the new layout would give her room for seating outside, "that's a small price to pay because we got way more than we even thought when we got in here."
Some businesses had a harder time. Shareen Tonge, a barber at Big D's Barbershop, told the same KPTV report that on some days customers canceled because of the construction or the parking. She also said, "Our whole block has just supported each other." The new arrivals moved in among neighbors who had already carried each other through the dig.
The work that isn't quite finished
The city's original target was spring 2027, so Main Street finished early. The reopening party on Wednesday, October 7, drew hundreds of people to the Kiggins Block at 1011 Main, as the city opened Main between 11th Street and Evergreen Boulevard to celebrate.
You'll still see crews for a few more weeks. The city says minor work continues through Thanksgiving, including planting more than 100 trees. A walk this week shows Main Street before the trees go in. By the holidays, the outdoor seating at Carino and the walk from Minari to Kismet will have some shade.
Two downtown dates bracket the last weeks of planting:
- Friday, November 6 is the Downtown Association's First Friday Art Walk, a recurring monthly walk through downtown galleries and shops. It's an easy evening to try the new sidewalks and finish with dinner on Main.
- November 27 to 29 is the Vancouver Farmers Market Holiday Market, which the market lists at the Hilton and convention center, 301 W 6th St., one block off the south end of the rebuilt stretch. The Downtown Association's event page still shows some details from last year, so check hours with the market before you go.
Keep walking north to Uptown
Main Street keeps going past 15th into Uptown Village, the section the city finished in the 1990s, and things are changing there too.
On September 30, Trap Door Brewing closed its taproom at 2315 Main St., where it had poured since 2015, and Vice Beer took over the lease on October 1. New School Beer reported that Vice planned a quick refresh and hoped to reopen on October 7 under the working name "Uptown Vice." It will be Vice's third location, after the east Vancouver brewery and the small A Little Vice taproom downtown. Co-owner Michael Perozzo told the outlet that the new room will add "a dash of sports" to Vice's 80s and 90s theme, with five or six standing arcade cabinets. The covered Beer Porch patio and the E-San Thai and Taco City food trucks are staying, since they sit on separately owned property next door. Check Vice's own channels for current hours before you head up.
Elsewhere in Uptown Village, Toasted S'mores Bar moved into the former Yogurt Time space and was open by late August 2026, according to the This Is Vancouver WA newsletter. Bria Perozzo, Vice's other co-owner, told New School Beer the company plans to keep A Little Vice running, about 16 blocks south. That puts a Vice taproom near each end of a Main Street that is now pleasant to walk from one end to the other.
If you live near downtown or Uptown and you're wondering what the new Main Street means for your block, or you just want to compare notes on the best new stop between 6th and 10th, I'd be glad to talk. Henry Liu with Henry Liu - Main Site follows Vancouver's downtown changes as closely as the market, and you can find more on the area on the Vancouver neighborhood page. Let's Connect.
