Old Bellevue Main Street Businesses Closing: What’s Changing

"It's a wrap!"

That's how Marie Harris began the Instagram post announcing that Veritables, her home furnishings and gift shop at 10220 Main Street, will close on October 15 after 18 years in Old Bellevue. She wrote that the decision to redevelop the building was out of her hands. Next door at 10230 Main, Glassybaby has already left the storefront it had occupied since October 2009. A few doors away, Matcha Magic at 10246 Main closes on November 1.

All three addresses sit on one site. It's the corner of Main Street and 103rd Avenue NE, where Vander Hoek Corporation plans North of Main, an eight-story building with 176 market-rate apartments, 10,363 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and 154 parking stalls. The site covers about 0.71 acres, and every existing building on it is slated to come down.

This year the Bellevue City Council did act to protect Main Street's character. Its rules govern doors, pillars and cornices on future buildings. They have nothing to say about tenants, and the block at 103rd was grandfathered out of them before the first lease ended.

Where the 103rd Avenue Block Is Going

The departures are spread over a year, so they're easy to see as unrelated. Side by side, they trace one site emptying out.

Glassybaby didn't go far. Its new Bellevue store is in the Design Market complex across 116th from Overlake Hospital, between California Closets and Marci Jewelry. The space is larger than the old Main Street storefront. It's now one of three Glassybaby stores in Washington, along with University Village and Madrona.

Veritables is holding a closing sale with everything marked down 50 percent or more. The store is open every day from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. through October 15. Harris says this isn't the end of the brand. She plans to take some time off, go on buying trips for pop-ups and look for a new space. "This is not the last chapter," she wrote. The shop has been a regular stop on the Old Bellevue wine walk, most recently in May.

Matcha Magic started on this block. Founder Rachel Barnecut opened the plant-forward matcha bar in the former Jujubeet space in May 2022. Since then the brand has added cafes in Redmond, Capitol Hill, South Lake Union, New Orleans and Tempe, Arizona. Its operator, Bellevue-based Conscious Hospitality Group, also runs Just Poke, SUGO Handroll Bar and HAPS Burgers. The company says Matcha Magic is looking for a new Bellevue location, but it hasn't announced one or a reopening date.

What the Council Actually Passed

In February 2026, the council adopted an interim official control for Main Street between 100th Avenue and Bellevue Way. An interim control is a temporary land-use tool. It lets a city put rules in place right away while it drafts permanent ones, and it lasts up to six months at a time. In the ordinance, the city noted that there had been no recent formal historic or cultural survey of the area, and that four of the eight inventoried properties had already been altered or redeveloped. None of the buildings on this stretch carries formal historic landmark status.

The first version was strict. It required existing Main Street façades to be preserved through the second floor. Demolition was allowed only for façades under 50 years old or ones professionally documented as lacking historic or cultural value. Public feedback raised concerns about development costs and unclear design standards. In July, the council voted unanimously to extend the control through February 2027 and amend it.

The amended ordinance drops the retain-to-the-second-floor requirement. Instead, it sets these standards for the façade of any new building:

1. At least one publicly accessible door facing Main Street
2. Doors no more than 30 linear feet apart
3. Solid vertical elements such as pillars, between 1 and 10 feet wide, no more than 30 feet apart
4. Façades aligned with the buildings next door
5. A cornice at the top

An owner who wants to demolish or significantly alter the façade of a building over 50 years old must first file a report with the city. It has to record the building's age, its past uses, its style, its materials and photographs of its current condition. The ordinance also adds a voluntary incentive that awards 100 development bonus points for every $1,000 spent preserving historic façades in the area.

All of this describes a streetscape: doors every 30 feet, a consistent cornice line, storefronts at the scale of someone walking past. It doesn't touch leases. When the control first passed, Downtown Bellevue Network reported that under current land-use rules, the city can't require property owners to keep specific commercial tenants when they redevelop. The interim control doesn't try to.

Why the 103rd Avenue Block Sits Outside All of It

Vander Hoek's proposal was part of the development activity that led to the council's action. But the project had already vested under the existing zoning, so the interim control doesn't apply to it. The new rules apply to other Main Street properties that hadn't started permitting.

So the most visible change on Main Street this fall is happening on the one block the new rules were never going to reach. The control's design standards will shape whatever gets proposed next between 100th Avenue and Bellevue Way. North of Main will be built under the code that existed before February.

Updated filings submitted in February described a potential construction start in early 2026. The October 5 report on Matcha Magic's closing describes Main Street businesses leaving ahead of construction but gives no demolition date.

The permanent rules will come through Downtown Livability 2.0, a land-use code amendment. It builds on the existing downtown code and Downtown Subarea Plan, and it explicitly aims to promote historic development patterns on Main Street. The city hasn't published a final adoption date.

Main Street East of Bellevue Way Is Changing Too

The interim control stops at Bellevue Way, and east of it, Main Street is already under construction. At 11040 Main, High Street Residential, a Trammell Crow subsidiary, and PGIM broke ground on March 23, 2026 on Versant Bellevue, a 351-unit apartment community replacing a two-story office building. The developer lists completion for the third quarter of 2028.

Put the two projects together and Main Street is set to add more than 500 apartments, 176 at North of Main and 351 at Versant. Both buildings will be within walking distance of the storefronts that remain.

What's Arriving on Main Street

Not all the movement on Main Street is outbound. Two openings are in progress, and neither has a date yet.

• Indigo Cow and Machi Machi are building a shared space at Main Street Flats. It will be a new Bellevue location for Indigo Cow's Japanese soft serve and the first in Bellevue for Machi Machi's bubble tea. City permit records describe tenant-improvement work at 10625 Main St. The permit has been issued and a framing inspection was logged on August 7, 2026. That shows construction underway, not an announced opening.
• Bar da Vila, a Brazilian restaurant, is planned for 10145 Main Street. Its website still says "Coming Soon."

The Merchants Still on the Block

The Old Bellevue Merchants Association's Fall Wine Walk on September 17 brought tastings from more than 20 wineries to local businesses. Hosts included 520 Bar & Grill, Fran's Chocolates, Hedge & Vine, Smith & Main, Third Culture Coffee and Title Nine. A September report also noted that Gin & The Banker is still open on Main Street after the former La Ree Boutique space closed.

Next up is Little Monsters on Main Street, the association's annual free Halloween event, on Saturday, October 31, from 1 to 3 p.m. Businesses, restaurants and residential communities along Main Street will hand out candy to trick-or-treaters, and the event is open to everyone. It falls 16 days after Veritables closes and one day before Matcha Magic serves its last drink. As of October 5, the merchants association hasn't posted 2026 dates for Jingle Bellevue.

If Main Street has been part of your routine for years and you're wondering what all this redevelopment means for a home nearby, Pavone Kinzler Team follows these projects block by block, from permit filings to opening dates. Get your free home valuation and local market plan, and we'll show you how the changes around Old Bellevue are affecting values on your street.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.