Almost every place that opened in Cave Spring this year moved into a building that was already standing. The cookie shop, the wing counter, the coffee house and the needlepoint studio all took storefronts that came with parking lots, signs out front and years of earlier tenants.
The cranes at Starkey Road and the block walls on Brambleton Avenue belong to a separate group of projects that move more slowly. Tanglewood Crossing is scheduled for 2027, and the Publix on Brambleton is still going up. This winter's new places are in the plazas.
This Year's Openings Moved Into Plazas That Were Already There
Start at Old Country Plaza. WFXR reported that Crumbl opened its first Roanoke location there on August 21, 2026. The store's own page lists it at 4361 Starkey Road. That's a brand the region had been watching for over a year, and it landed in an existing strip.
Head up Electric Road to Southwest Plaza, where Roanoke Growth & Development followed Wingstop's arrival through the spring. Wingstop's ordering page now carries a Roanoke location on Electric Road.
West Village, at 3555 Electric Road, is the clearest case. Two locally owned businesses with different trades now share that address:
- Kind Brew Coffee & Tea House started as a homemade mobile coffee trailer run by owners Kirsten and Matt. Roanoke Growth & Development describes a menu of specialty coffee, white espresso, loose-leaf tea, bubble tea and custom drinks, plus a consignment gift shop stocked by local vendors, with a thrifting side.
- Needle in the Noke is a needlepoint shop and gathering space in Suite J. It turned its West Village storefront into a specialty shop and set its grand opening for Saturday, October 10, Roanoke Growth & Development reported.
None of these four needed grading, utility lines or a rezoning before they could open. A tenant moving into a finished storefront has to deal with signs, fixtures and a build-out, and that's why each of them reached its opening day in a single season.
The Next Two Arrivals Follow the Same Route
Both of the openings closest to Tanglewood are also going into existing space.
Bramble & Oak has "coming soon" signs up at 4301 Brambleton Avenue, where Don Camaron Seafood used to be. The project listing describes the concept as modern breakfast and craft burgers. Diners who knew the old seafood spot will recognize the building.
The Perk & Pit comes from two Salem businesses that already work together. Roanoke Growth & Development reported on October 8 that Bean Bliss Coffee Bar and Big Daddy's BBQ & Sweet Shack are building out a morning-to-night concept in the Tanglewood area, aiming to open in December 2026. Mornings would center on craft coffee, pastries, biscuits, bowls and burritos. Later in the day the menu moves to Texas-style barbecue, and a full bar would pour cocktails, wine and bourbon.
If you've been to either Salem location, the menu won't surprise you. Bean Bliss runs out of 9 S. College Avenue in downtown Salem and uses locally roasted Gladheart Coffee and biscuits from Scratch Biscuit Co. Big Daddy's is at 602 W. 4th Street and smokes its brisket, ribs, pulled pork and sausage for up to 18 hours. Both started as food trucks in 2023 and 2024 before opening storefronts in 2025. This is their third time stepping up from a smaller setup to a larger one.
The Ground-Up Projects Run on a Different Clock
Tanglewood Crossing sits on the other side of Starkey Road from these smaller moves, at 4502 Starkey Road where it meets Route 419. ABoone Real Estate and the Boxley family are building it on 3.74 acres near Tanglewood Mall. Roanoke County's September 30 announcement says phase one is set to open in March 2027 with five tenants:
- Bubbakoo's Burritos
- Dave's Hot Chicken
- Biscuit Belly
- European Wax Center
- Mattress Warehouse
According to the county, four of the five will be new to the Roanoke market, and Mattress Warehouse already has stores in the region. Phase one is a 13,270-square-foot retail building facing Electric Road. Next comes a four-story mixed-use building with 10,410 square feet of shops and restaurants under 42 apartments, expected in late 2027. A third building will hold another 56 residential units.
In the county's release, developer Alexander Boone tied the project to a decision made seven years ago:
"Tanglewood Crossing is the town center that Roanoke County envisioned in 2019 when it created the Reimagine 419 district."
That 2019 date explains the gap between the plazas and Tanglewood Crossing. The plaza tenants signed leases and opened within a year. Tanglewood Crossing is the result of a corridor plan that took years to reach construction equipment, and its residential buildings will finish after its restaurants.
A few blocks south, on Brambleton Avenue at Old Cave Spring Road, Publix is building its first Roanoke-area store as a standalone building. Roanoke Growth & Development reported in mid-August that the parking areas and utilities looked mostly finished and that concrete block walls had started going up.
George's Flowers is the one longtime local business in this group building new. The shop is leaving its Franklin Road property, partly because of the city's flood mitigation work along Ore Branch. Its new home is a single building at the corner of Ogden and Starkey roads, according to the company, with a walk-in cooler four times the size of the old one, large windows where customers can watch designers at work, and a 24-hour flower vending machine. The company's locations page lists 2750 Ogden Road as its main location.
The Calendar, Corner by Corner
| Place | Where | Type of space | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crumbl | Old Country Plaza, 4361 Starkey Rd | Existing plaza | Opened Aug. 21, 2026 |
| Wingstop | Southwest Plaza, Electric Rd | Existing plaza | Listed on Electric Rd |
| Kind Brew Coffee & Tea House | West Village, 3555 Electric Rd | Existing plaza | Featured in August 2026 |
| Needle in the Noke | West Village, 3555 Electric Rd, Suite J | Existing plaza | Grand opening date was Oct. 10 |
| Bramble & Oak | 4301 Brambleton Ave | Former restaurant | "Coming soon" signs up |
| The Perk & Pit | Tanglewood area | Build-out underway | Targeting December 2026 |
| George's Flowers | Ogden Rd at Starkey Rd | New building | Lists 2750 Ogden Rd as main location |
| Publix | Brambleton Ave at Old Cave Spring Rd | New standalone store | Walls going up as of August |
| Tanglewood Crossing, phase one | 4502 Starkey Rd | New construction | Scheduled for March 2027 |
| Tanglewood Crossing, mixed-use building | 4502 Starkey Rd | New construction | Expected late 2027 |
One storefront moved the other way. The KFC at 4057 Electric Road, near Tanglewood Crossing, is now listed as permanently closed, Roanoke Growth & Development reported on October 19.
The Roadwork Outlasts All of It
The Route 419 and Route 220 interchange has the longest timeline of anything in the area. VDOT's project page shows the diverging diamond interchange under construction, with work that began in spring 2025 and an estimated finish in fall 2028. VDOT says Route 419 carries about 40,000 vehicles a day in this stretch and Route 220 about 52,000.
The same project rebuilds three signals on 419, at Ogden Road, Elm View Road and South Peak Boulevard, as thru-cut intersections. Side-street drivers who used to cross 419 will instead turn left or right at the light and use a nearby crossover to make a U-turn. VDOT estimates that change affects less than one percent of the traffic at those intersections. Ogden Road matters here because George's Flowers is moving to its corner with Starkey. Every phase in the timeline above, from the Perk & Pit's December target through Tanglewood Crossing's apartments in late 2027, will open while this interchange is still under construction, and VDOT's 2028 finish date is the latest one on the list.
If the changes at Tanglewood are making you think about your own corner of Cave Spring, Matysan Kestner follows these openings block by block, from the West Village storefronts to the Starkey Road site. Schedule a Free Consultation and we'll talk through what's changing near your street.
