Zanotto’s unveils new transit village store in San Jose

Step just three feet into Zanotto’s new San Jose market and you’ll find yourself in front of the deli case, with its 20-plus house-made pasta dishes and vegetable salads, along with sandwich, soup and salad bars.

To the left is the Z-Coffee bar. To the right are baked goods packaged for parties and office snacking.

It’s Zanotto’s first small-space, grab-and-go market, designed to appeal to the VTA’s Fruitdale Station light-rail riders and nearby townhouse, condo and apartment residents. The market is now open; the coffee bar will start brewing Monday, Oct. 22.

And the hours are commuter-friendly: The store will open at 6 a.m. Monday through Saturday for those heading to the train or exiting from nearby Interstate 280, 7 a.m. on Sundays.

“I like to think of it as a best-of version of

Zanotto’s,” said Troy Tibbils, president and co-owner of the family-owned Zanotto’s chain, during the construction phase. “We always say about 25 percent of our stuff produces 75 percent of our sales. At the new Fruitdale market, we will carry about 50 percent to 60 percent of what we have in the bigger format.”

For comparison purposes, the Fruitdale Station store is 6,600 square feet — about half the size of the family’s original Rose Garden store on Naglee Avenue, which opened in 1976. It’s about a third of the size of the 20,000-square-foot Willow Glen one. The Sunnyvale location is 23,000 square feet.

“We got so much grocery store in that little space,” Tibbils boasted.

For the grab-and-go market, there are large sections devoted to wine and beer. Fresh meat and seafood are limited to a few shelves here, and residents who want full butcher service will need to head to one of the other locations.

The small-store format looks like a good idea, said Josh Gispan, a broker with Meacham Oppenheimer, a commercial realty firm that specializes in the retail sector.

“There are really not a lot of good, high-quality grocery stores in that area,” Gispan said. “With the amount of residents who will have access to light rail, and with the potential of the Google development downtown, this part of San Jose could really be booming.”

Details: Zanotto’s Fruitdale Station market, 1520 Southwest Expressway, fronts Fruitdale Avenue near St. Elizabeth Drive.

NHAT V. MEYER — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Former San Francisco 49er Dana Stubblefield shops with his children at the new Zanotto’s Market at the Fruitdale Station transit village in San Jose on Sunday.

NHAT V. MEYER — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Some of the food selection in the deli display case at the new Zanotto’s Market at the Fruitdale Station transit village in San Jose on Sunday.