What’s New in Des Peres Dining and Shopping Right Now

Drive down Manchester Road past Des Peres Corners this month and you will pass at least three storefronts that local news has already declared open. Paper still covers the windows at 1090 N. Ballas Road, where Jimmy John's used to be. The old First Community Credit Union branch at 12340 Manchester Road looks much the same as it did in April. Inside West County Center, the corner that housed McCormick & Schmick's for a decade sits behind construction barriers, not a grand-opening banner.

None of this means the restaurant wave residents have been hearing about since spring is a mirage. It means the gap between a city permit and a working kitchen is longer, and more interesting, than the headlines suggest.

Four Permits, One Board Meeting

Here is the part that rarely makes it into the coverage: Toastique, Cava, Sourdough & Company, and the Cheesecake Factory all cleared the same hurdle on the same night. The Des Peres Board of Aldermen approved conditional use permits for all four at its April 13, 2026 meeting, after each petition had spent March working through the city's Planning & Zoning Commission. You can read the actual ordinance language yourself in the Municode record for Des Peres, including the filing that transfers the old McCormick & Schmick's permit directly to CheesecakeFactory Restaurants, Inc.

That single board meeting is a useful marker, because it means every one of these four projects started the clock at the same moment. What happened next is where the timelines split.

Where Each One Actually Stands

Toastique, a gourmet toast and juice concept, is taking the former Jimmy John's space at 1090 N. Ballas under owner Aija Haizel, whose background is in health care and who has said the menu will lean into organic, nutrient-dense options. Sourdough & Company, run by Eileen and Glen Mitchell's Mitchell Family Group, is building out Unit 102 at 12340 Manchester Road with sandwiches, bowls, and a lineup of dips that includes harissa and red pepper hummus. Cava will take the other half of that same address, the space that used to be a First Community Credit Union branch, marking the Mediterranean chain's first Des Peres location.

All three were described in April reporting as targeting a summer opening. More than half of summer has already passed, and the most recent public reporting on any of the three, filed in early June alongside construction news for the Cheesecake Factory, still did not attach a firm date to any of them. That is not a red flag. Conditional use approval, construction buildout, health inspections, and staffing all have to happen before a restaurant opens its doors, and "this summer" was always a target, not a promise carved into the permit.

One detail that trips people up: Cava did open its first St. Louis-area restaurant this year, just not in Des Peres. That location opened in Cottleville on April 17, 2026, and the Des Peres restaurant was described at the time as the chain's second in the region, still to come. If you have seen a friend post about eating at Cava this spring, they were almost certainly in Cottleville, not on Manchester Road.

The Cheesecake Factory is the one project with a documented paper trail past the permit stage. By early June, CBL Properties confirmed construction had begun on the Restaurant Village space, with an opening now set for fall. David Overton, the chain's founder and CEO, said in that announcement that the company has "enjoyed being a part of the greater St. Louis area since first opening there in 2002" and is looking forward to joining the Des Peres community. Worth sitting with: that corner of the mall, formerly home to McCormick & Schmick's, closed in 2019 and sat empty for roughly seven years before a tenant with an actual construction timeline moved in.

The Tenant CBL Hasn't Named Yet

The same June announcement that confirmed the Cheesecake Factory's fall opening included a line that has not gotten much attention locally: CBL said a first-to-market food-and-beverage brand would soon be revealed as another new Restaurant Village tenant. No name, no timeline beyond "soon." If you are the type of resident who likes knowing what is coming before the sign goes up, this is the one to watch. It also means the four permits from April are not the end of the story. West County Center is still adding names to a list that already includes Cava, Toastique, Sourdough & Company, and the Cheesecake Factory.

What Has Actually Opened, Not Just Been Announced

It is not all future tense. Pop Mart, known for the designer toy characters that drive a lot of foot traffic among younger shoppers, opened its first Missouri location inside West County Center in early May 2026, according to the same CBL announcement. That one happened fast and quietly compared to the restaurant rollout. The mall has also been adding apparel and beauty names to its tenant list, including Levi's, L'Occitane, and Perfumania, along with Urban Outfitters, and both American Eagle Outfitters and Victoria's Secret are investing in renovations to their existing stores that are set to debut later this year.

None of this displaces what was already working at West County Center before this wave started. The mall's Restaurant Village has long included J. Gilbert's Wood-Fired Steaks & Seafood as a sit-down anchor, and the food court has its own following, with Camelia Cafe drawing enough regulars that its Dubai chocolate offerings and strawberry matcha lattes show up on local social feeds. The new names are additions to an already active dining lineup, not replacements for it.

Why the Gap Between Permit and Opening Matters to You

If you live near Des Peres Corners or make regular trips to West County Center, the practical takeaway is simple. A permit approval and a press mention are not the same as a menu you can order from. The Cheesecake Factory timeline gives you the clearest real-world yardstick available: permit reissued April 13, construction confirmed underway by early June, opening projected for fall. That is a five to seven month runway from paperwork to plates, and it is a reasonable expectation to carry into the other three projects even though none of them has published that level of detail yet.

If you are planning a special trip, especially for Cava or Sourdough & Company, it is worth a quick check before you drive over expecting an open door. The old credit union building on Manchester Road and the former Jimmy John's on Ballas Road are both still mid-transition as of this writing, and "this summer" was a target set back in April, not a confirmed date any of the three has since nailed down publicly.

What is certain is that Des Peres Corners and West County Center are both in an active build-out phase, and the businesses moving in, from a Mediterranean fast-casual chain to a locally owned toast bar to a national dessert institution, are worth knowing by name before they open, not after everyone else already does.

Marjorie and Kyle Kraemer track these kinds of local shifts because they shape how a neighborhood feels day to day, not just what a listing sheet says about it. If you are curious about what a changing commercial corridor means for property values nearby, or you just want a straight answer from people who actually live and work in these communities, Kraemer Realty Group is glad to talk it through. Let's Connect.