For two years, driving past the corner of Interstate 10 and Verrado Way meant driving past dirt, rebar, and a rendering on a construction fence. Then May happened. Buckle opened its doors on the 13th. Ulta Beauty followed two days later. Target held an 8 a.m. ribbon-cutting on the 17th, the same day Bath & Body Works quietly flipped its sign. Famous Footwear opened on the 20th. Marshalls and HomeGoods opened together on the 21st. In eight days, a stretch of the West Valley that had been a construction site since late 2024 suddenly looked like a finished shopping center.
It wasn't. The two things most likely to actually change a weekly routine in Verrado, a full grocery store and a family entertainment anchor, are still not open.
What Actually Opened This Spring and Summer
The May wave was real, and it was fast by any standard for a 500,000-square-foot project. Here's the schedule as it played out:
| Business | Category | Opened |
|---|---|---|
| Buckle | Apparel | May 13 |
| Ulta Beauty | Beauty | May 15 |
| Target | Anchor | May 17 |
| Bath & Body Works | Retail | May 17 |
| Famous Footwear | Retail | May 20 |
| Marshalls | Anchor | May 21 |
| HomeGoods | Anchor | May 21 |
| Great Clips, NextCare Urgent Care, Pacific Dental, CityVet, Einstein Bros. Bagels, Paramount Hair + Extensions, Elite Shutters & Blinds | Services and quick dining | June |
| Ross Dress for Less | Anchor | Mid-July |
That's nine weeks, from Buckle's May 13 debut to Ross Dress for Less in mid-July, that turned a fenced construction site into a functioning power center, according to ABC15's reporting on the tenant schedule. Target alone brought more than 140 jobs and a footprint that includes a CVS Pharmacy, Target Optical, a Starbucks, a Disney Store concept, and an Apple shop-in-shop. If you needed a haircut, a new pair of running shoes, or a same-day vet appointment for a dog with an upset stomach, that need got solved sometime between May and July.
Look at the list again, though. Every one of those openings is discretionary. Clothing, beauty, home decor, a haircut. None of it is what actually changes a Tuesday night at home.
The Grocery Store Nobody Has a Date For
Since 2004, Verrado's original grocery anchor has been the Bashas' on Main Street, opened the same year the community itself was founded. It's a neighborhood market built for a walkable Main Street, not a weekly big-box shop, and it sits on the opposite side of the community from the new Marketplace.
Safeway was supposed to be the second option, and the closer one for anyone living on the south side near I-10. As of the most recent public update on the rollout, posted in late May 2026 by VerradoWay.net's independent coverage of the project, Safeway still had no publicly posted opening date, and no newer update has surfaced since. The store also had a rougher spring than most of its neighbors: a fire broke out on the roof of the under-construction building in mid-May, which Buckeye fire crews contained to a small area without it spreading into the store and without any injuries. Nothing in the reporting suggests the fire changed the broader opening timeline for the center, but it's the kind of detail that explains why Safeway is the one anchor tenant that skipped the parade of ribbon-cuttings everyone else got.
Until that store opens, the math for a full grocery run at Verrado hasn't actually changed. Bashas' is still it.
Why "Fall" Is Doing More Work Than It Looks Like
Harkins BackLot is the other holdout, and its own history across the Valley is worth knowing before anyone circles a date on a calendar.
Harkins first announced a BackLot concept for Chandler Fashion Center. That deal fell apart when the company said development changes at that property meant it wouldn't move forward there, according to ABC15's reporting on the concept's Arizona history. The company then announced a BackLot for the Shops at Norterra in North Phoenix, originally slated for 2024. That date slipped to March 2025. Verrado's own BackLot was first announced for spring 2026. By the time Vestar's later construction updates came out, that had shifted to fall.
Three Arizona locations. One cancellation. Two delays before the doors opened.
None of that means Verrado's BackLot won't open this fall as currently planned. But "fall 2026" from a concept with that specific track record is worth treating as a target, not a promise. When it does open, the plans call for a 75,000-square-foot space with a full-service restaurant and bar, a sports viewing arena, arcade games, and a bowling alley, tucked into what Vestar is calling the Entertainment District.
What's Actually Worth Driving To Right Now
If you live in Verrado or anywhere else in Buckeye and you're deciding whether the new center is worth a trip this week, the honest answer depends on what you need. For clothes, beauty products, home goods, or a same-day vet visit, the Marketplace is functioning normally: Target, Marshalls, HomeGoods, Ross, Ulta, Buckle, Famous Footwear, Bath & Body Works, Great Clips, NextCare, Pacific Dental, and CityVet are all open and running on regular hours. The community amenities that Vestar built into the site plan, including the Central Lawn, the PopJet splash pad, and the outdoor fireplace, are usable now too, along with the "Sip & Stroll" program that lets guests 21 and over carry a drink between participating spots.
For a full weekly grocery run or a family movie night, you're still working with what Verrado has had for years.
What's Still Coming Before the Center Is Actually Finished
The restaurant lineup for the Entertainment District hasn't fully arrived either. OHSO Brewery, opening its eighth Valley location, and Paris Baguette, opening its first West Valley location, are both part of the announced dining roster, alongside BJ's Restaurant, Chili's, and PF Chang's. Additional fast-casual names on the list include Salt Tacos + Tequila, Shake Shack, Handel's Ice Cream, Nekter Juice, Thai Chili, Tropical Smoothie, Hawaiian Bros, Mince & Roux, Sushiholic, Tarbell's, and Thirsty Lion, based on the tenant roster Vestar has published and the restaurant announcements covered by AZ Big Media.
Vestar's own projection has the entire 500,000-square-foot center fully open by January 2027, more than 50 retailers in total once the last spaces are leased and built out. Groundbreaking happened in November 2024, which puts the full build at just over two years start to finish, a reasonable pace for a project this size. It just means the version of Verrado Marketplace that exists today, the one with the ribbon cuttings and the Instagram posts, is the easy half. The half that actually changes where you do your grocery shopping and where you take the kids on a Friday night is still under construction, and one of those two pieces doesn't have a public date attached to it yet.
If you're weighing a move within Buckeye or comparing it to other parts of the West Valley, the pace of projects like this one is exactly the kind of ground-level detail worth factoring in before deciding what a neighborhood is actually like to live in day to day. Our West Valley neighborhood guide tracks these shifts as they happen. The team at Apex Residential watches rollouts like this one because they shape what living in a place actually feels like, not just what it costs. Find Your Private Paradise.
