"It's less expensive for a new operator to come into a second-generation space than to go into a blank space," Michael Arfsten of Retail California told the Fresno Bee in October. Arfsten sells commercial buildings around the Central Valley. He said that every time a former fast-food restaurant comes on the market, he gets four to five inquiries, and most of them come from people who want to turn it into a Mexican restaurant.
That one sentence explains a lot of what has happened on Fresno's errand routes over the past year. When a closed chain building comes back to life, the deciding factor is usually what was left behind inside: the walk-in freezer, the grease interceptor, and above all the drive-thru lane. Former burger and chicken stands are filling quickly because those pieces come with the building. Former drugstores are bigger and fill more slowly. Owners are increasingly treating the drive-thru as a separate asset and leasing it apart from the rest of the store.
A Carl's Jr. Comes With Most of a Restaurant Already Built
The Bee's reporting lists what a new operator inherits when a fast-food site changes hands: walk-in freezers and refrigerators, plumbing, grease interceptors, other kitchen equipment, and often a drive-thru lane that's already in place. Jonathon Ortiz of ASU Commercial told the paper that the savings show up in the calendar too. New permits, including the ones for a new drive-thru lane, can be very costly and can push back an opening by months.
There has been a steady supply of these buildings. A July 2026 Bee roundup of closures counted several in Fresno:
- The Carl's Jr. at First and Shaw closed June 27, and the one at McKinley and Winery closed in February.
- The Jack in the Box at Cedar and Nees closed in summer 2026.
- The downtown Wendy's on C Street closed in late 2025, and the West Shaw Wendy's closed earlier in 2026.
- Six KFCs in the Fresno area, plus the one in Kerman, have closed since 2025.
Several of those buildings have already been taken over:
- Tacos la Villa opened at 1052 E. Shaw Ave., in a former Carl's Jr. Arfsten's firm was involved in selling the building for that location and for a second Tacos la Villa in Visalia.
- Aliberto's Jr. Mexican Food opened this summer at 1140 C St. downtown, where a Wendy's used to be.
- Victoria's Mexican Food is serving at 4145 E. Jensen Ave., in a former KFC. This location is independently owned and separate from the Victoria's planned for Herndon and Spruce in north Fresno.
- Smashville Burgers & Chicken is planned for the former KFC on C Street, just south of Fresno Street.
The C Street Wendy's shows how quickly this can happen. It closed in late 2025, and Aliberto's Jr. was serving there by the summer. A restaurant that moves into a kitchen that's already built can open within a season.
Tacos el Franc, a Mexican restaurant with Tijuana roots and a long list of awards, went a different route and chose 110 E. Shaw Ave., the former Heroes Comics space. On the corners where a fast-food building did go dark, though, the next tenant has usually been a Mexican restaurant.
A Drugstore Is Too Big to Fill in One Piece
The empty pharmacies are harder to fill. Rite Aid's bankruptcy closed 17 stores in the San Joaquin Valley, and at least seven CVS and Walgreens locations have closed in Fresno. The buildings typically run 10,000 to 16,000 square feet. Russ Moroz of Marcus & Millichap told the Fresno Bee that size is the problem. "This is just an odd size in retail," he said. "It's too small for your national-type tenants, and it's too large for your service tenants."
Moroz said the buildings are too big for a restaurant and too small for a full grocery store or a big retail chain. They're also too short for an indoor kids' play center, and they usually lack the loading dock that a tile or building-supply showroom needs. In most cases the pharmacy chain didn't own the building. When the stores closed, landlords lost tenants that had paid high rents, and the businesses that can use the space usually can only afford much less.
Some owners are solving the problem by splitting the building. Moroz said drive-thrus are in high demand, so owners sometimes divide the store and lease the lane separately. One complication is that a drugstore usually has only one entrance. Two Fresno sites are being divided this way:
- Herndon and West, former Walgreens. Jason Beard, who owns JB Fitness in Clovis, bought the building and is splitting it in two. A gym will fill most of it, with weights, cardio equipment, a cold plunge, an infrared sauna, red-light therapy and a hyperbaric chamber. Tulare-based Immunity Labs will run the drive-thru and part of the interior, selling protein shakes, protein coffee and healthy food.
- Fresno and B streets downtown, former Rite Aid at 1101 Fresno St. Another pharmacy has leased the drive-thru and a small part of the interior, and the rest of the building is available for lease.
At Herndon and West, the gym and the drive-thru counter split the building between them. Downtown, the lane is in use while the rest of the building waits for a tenant. Ted Fellner of Colliers said the buyers taking whole buildings tend to be medical users such as walk-in clinics and dialysis centers, along with dollar stores and Hispanic and international markets. Moroz added churches, gyms, laser tag and arcades to that list, meaning "something that can benefit from drive-by traffic."
The Former Pharmacies, Corner by Corner
| Corner | Former store | Status as of the Bee's Oct. 20 report |
|---|---|---|
| Olive and Blackstone | Rite Aid | Planned general market with groceries, produce, a full-service butcher and prepared to-go food |
| Shaw and West | Rite Aid | Sold. Fitsi gym planned |
| Fresno and B streets | Rite Aid | Drive-thru leased to another pharmacy. Remainder for lease |
| Shields and Brawley | Rite Aid | Bestco Price Discount, a multicultural discount market, is open |
| Shields and Cedar | Rite Aid | Medical facility planned, such as a clinic or urgent care |
| Maple and Copper | Rite Aid | In escrow to a new owner |
| Cedar and Nees | Rite Aid | Dollar Tree |
| Willow and Nees | Rite Aid | Grocery Outlet, relocated from Blackstone and Ashlan |
| Cedar and Gettysburg | Rite Aid | For lease |
| Herndon and West | Walgreens | Being split into a JB Fitness gym and an Immunity Labs drive-thru |
| Clinton and West | Walgreens | Family HealthCare Network walk-in clinic since 2022 |
| Blackstone and Clinton | Walgreens | For lease |
| First and Bullard | Walgreens | For lease, with several offers |
| Clinton and Brawley | CVS | Bought by Family HealthCare Network |
| Fulton and Tuolumne | CVS | Bought by the Fresno Housing Authority for planned affordable housing |
A few of these deserve more detail. The plan at Olive and Blackstone, on the edge of the Tower District, required a public notice because the owners applied for a Type 20 license to sell beer and wine for home consumption. The City of Fresno mailed that notice to neighbors. Its posted notice is dated May 29, 2026, and it describes a grocery market with produce, a butcher counter and a kitchen for prepared food. Fitsi, the gym planned for Shaw and West, already has a location in Escondido with weightlifting, cardio machines, a sauna, a cold plunge and a red-light therapy pod.
Grocery Outlet at Willow and Nees moved into its former Rite Aid in the summer of 2025, and Family HealthCare Network's clinic at Clinton and West has been in its former Walgreens since 2022. They fit what Fellner described: medical services and grocery stores that can use the whole floor.
Local Businesses Want the Same Feature
The drive-thru is also on the wish list of homegrown businesses. Mokha Harbor Cafe started in 2021 as Bab-Al-Yemen Coffee Shop at 3173 W. Shaw Ave. and is the shop that started Fresno's Yemeni coffee trend. The cafe is now working to buy a building from the city near Fresno Yosemite International Airport. Co-owner Zahi Saleh told the Fresno Bee that the new site will be close to 3,000 square feet, about three times the size of the original, and will have a drive-thru. "We figured the expansion would be good to get a bigger place and something that's more convenient, close to a freeway," he said.
Whether the buyer is a small local cafe or a gym, access for cars and a ready-made window to serve them help decide which Fresno corners come back first. For the drugstores still listed for lease at Cedar and Gettysburg, Blackstone and Clinton, and First and Bullard, the next tenant will probably be someone who can use the lane, the large floor, or both.
If a dark storefront on your street has you wondering what will happen to it and how it might affect your block, Iron Key Real Estate follows these Fresno corners closely and is glad to talk through what is changing near you. Contact us.
