Three storefronts sit side by side on the 400 block of N. Robinson Street. At 400, the windows of a coffee shop that served the Fan for about 20 years are dark. Robinson Street Market is at 402. At 404 there's a bakery about twice the size of the shop it replaced on Strawberry Street, with indoor seating and a 10-year lease.
The bakery got to the block more than six months before the chain closed, and a new landlord asked it to come.
The Bakery Moved First
Richmond BizSense reported in early March that Idle Hands Bread Co. would leave 407 Strawberry St., its home since 2017, for 404 N. Robinson St. The plan was to close on Strawberry on a Sunday and reopen on Robinson about a week later, in mid-March. Richmond Magazine's March 26 food roundup confirmed the bakery was open in the new space.
The new shop is 2,600 square feet, about double the Strawberry Street space. Owner Jay Metzler told BizSense the old shop's size limited how much he could bake:
"One of the biggest problems at Strawberry Street is when it's busy, we have a hard time making enough on certain days. One of the biggest goals of more space is more volume."
Metzler planned to use the extra room to restart the wholesale business he stopped in 2019. Before then, Idle Hands supplied bread to Shagbark, Edo's Squid and Adarra, and to Good Foods Grocery and Ellwood Thompson's. He also planned to add indoor seating, and eventually sandwiches. He had about 10 employees, had hired four more, and planned to hire others. Idle Hands was founded in late 2015 in Scott's Addition and later moved to Jackson Ward before Strawberry Street. Metzler also bought Bellevue's Up All Night Bakery in the fall of 2025.
The move wasn't his idea. Metzler told BizSense that his new landlord knew he was short on space and was "the one who approached me."
One Purchase Covers Both Ends of the Move
Idle Hands had a new landlord because of a deal late in 2025. In December, BizSense reported that entities tied to local developer Lewis Little paid $7.6 million for 10 residential and mixed-use buildings in the Fan. The purchase included both the building Idle Hands left and the one it moved into:
- 402 N. Robinson St., Robinson Street Market's building
- 404 N. Robinson St., the former 903 Creative office and now Idle Hands
- 405–407 Strawberry St., Idle Hands' old building
- Row houses at 2511 and 2523 Stuart Ave. and 2526 Hanover Ave.
- 1 N. Robinson St.
- An apartment building with six beds at 301 N. Davis Ave.
- Units 10 through 16 at 2210–2212 Stuart Ave.
Within about three months of that purchase, the busiest bakery on Strawberry Street was in a larger space on Robinson. Its former Strawberry storefront didn't stay empty long. On July 1, Jacob Horsfall and Nikki Victoria opened Trolley Car Sweets and Treats at 407 Strawberry St. It's a Scandinavian-inspired pick-and-mix shop with nearly 100 kinds of gummies and other candies from Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Spain, Turkey, Germany, Mexico and the Netherlands. When Richmond Magazine visited, the shop held nearly 7,000 pounds of candy.
So over one spring and summer, one purchase gave a bakery more room, brought the Robinson Street morning crowd a second stop next to the corner store, and left a Strawberry storefront open for a business that, in Horsfall's words to Richmond Magazine, "doesn't really exist in Richmond."
The Corner Building Has a Different Owner
The dark storefront at 400 N. Robinson isn't part of that portfolio. Charlie Diradour's Lion's Paw Development owns the building, which is about 4,100 square feet. The Starbucks there served its last coffee on Sept. 26 after 20 years, according to BizSense. It was one of 250 closures Starbucks announced nationwide. Diradour told BizSense he was already talking with prospective new tenants.
The same report noted a second change. Diradour had planned a three-story mixed-use building on the parking lot next to the Starbucks and won a special-use permit for it in the fall of 2025. He told BizSense he's no longer pursuing it. For now, the corner of the 400 block will keep its current mix of a single building and an open lot.
Diradour has dealt with a closed Starbucks before. The chain's store at 1017 N. Arthur Ashe Blvd. near Scott's Addition closed in 2025, and in September 2026 he sold that building for $2.4 million to Gregg Nigro, a local Dunkin' franchisee who plans a Dunkin' there. Pizzeria Mungo also operates in that building. City records show Diradour bought it in 2014 for $675,000. That building was sold with a coffee plan attached. What goes into 400 N. Robinson will depend on Diradour's next lease.
Further South, the Same Pattern on a Smaller Scale
Across Grove Avenue, the rest of the corridor shows the same thing. Each storefront changes when its operator or owner makes a move. Juan More Taco closed at 304 N. Robinson St. after two years, BizSense reported on Sept. 1.
At 105 N. Robinson St., Henry Fletcher of the 1115 Mobile Kitchen food truck announced Hank's Fried Chicken, a brick-and-mortar spinoff with both traditional and vegan fried chicken. It's named for his grandmother's nickname for him. Richmond Magazine reported in January that Fletcher polled his food truck's social media followers on where to open, and the Fan came out a favorite.
The long-running places on and near the corridor are investing in their space this year:
- Sidewalk Cafe, 2101 W. Main St., opened in 1991 and is now run by the founding Giavos family with a business partner, which makes 2026 its 35th year. In March, the owners asked the city for permission to enclose the front patio and use it for dining, in place of the sidewalk seating, per BizSense.
- The Cask Café, 206 S. Robinson St., applied in July for a special-use permit to make its existing patio permanent, BizSense reported.
- Cahoots, 2526 Floyd Ave., at the corner of Floyd and Robinson, opened in November 2025 under owner David DeLuca. It has restaurant and live-music space downstairs and a cocktail bar upstairs.
The Corridor by Address
| Address | What's there now | What changed in the past year |
|---|---|---|
| 400 N. Robinson St. | Vacant storefront, Lion's Paw Development | Starbucks closed Sept. 26, 2026; plan for a building on the adjacent lot dropped |
| 402 N. Robinson St. | Robinson Street Market | Building sold in the $7.6 million portfolio deal, late 2025 |
| 404 N. Robinson St. | Idle Hands Bread Co. | Bakery moved in from Strawberry in March 2026 on a 10-year lease |
| 407 Strawberry St. | Trolley Car Sweets and Treats | Candy shop opened July 1, 2026 in the former Idle Hands space |
| 304 N. Robinson St. | Former Juan More Taco | Closed after two years, reported Sept. 1, 2026 |
| 105 N. Robinson St. | Hank's Fried Chicken | Announced in January 2026 by Henry Fletcher of 1115 Mobile Kitchen |
| 2526 Floyd Ave. | Cahoots | Opened November 2025 |
What comes next depends on the person holding the lease, and two owners now control most of the 400 block. One has already moved a bakery onto it. The other is choosing a new tenant for its most visible corner.
The Fan District Association, based a few blocks over at 208 Strawberry St., holds its Holiday House Tour on Saturday, Dec. 12 and Sunday, Dec. 13. The tour includes nine decorated homes. Tickets are $45 before Dec. 12 and $60 on tour weekend, and one ticket covers both days.
When a storefront a block from your house changes hands, it becomes part of how buyers see your street. At Chris Small Group, we have followed the Fan's corners for four decades, and we can tell you how changes like the ones on Robinson figure into your home's story. Schedule a Private Consultation, and we'll go over your block, building by building.
