If you live near Vanderbilt Beach, the intersection you drive through most is not the one that leads to the sand. It is the northwest corner of Airport-Pulling and Vanderbilt Beach roads, where the Galleria Shoppes at Vanderbilt has spent the past twelve months quietly rewriting itself. The plaza that used to be a convenience stop for CVS, the dry cleaner, and a rotating cast of restaurants has, over the course of 2025 and 2026, become the closest thing Vanderbilt Beach has to a daily-life anchor. That matters. Mercato is fifteen minutes with traffic. Waterside is farther. This corner is five minutes from the beach access at Vanderbilt Beach Road, and it now has a functioning restaurant row, a wine marketplace on the way, and a wellness studio under construction.
Here is what a resident actually needs to know about what has opened, what is coming, and which of the plaza's new tenants are worth a reservation.
The Corner, in One Paragraph
The Galleria Shoppes sit at 2343-2355 Vanderbilt Beach Road, spread across the northwest corner of Airport-Pulling and Vanderbilt Beach. A new two-story commercial building is in the works on the southeast corner of the property, expected to add even more space for dining, retail, and services in 2026, and the plaza is evolving into a lifestyle destination rather than just a shopping center. The leasing pace over the last year has been aggressive enough that the plaza's own directory cannot keep up with the openings.
What Is Actually Open Right Now
The tenant mix as of mid-2026 tilts heavily toward food. A quick map of what you can walk into today:
| Tenant | Suite | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Aufieri & Martinez Argentinian Steakhouse | 200 | Wood-fire asado, opened Dec. 3, 2025 |
| Mister01 Extraordinary Pizza | 176 | Second Naples location, Neapolitan-style |
| Mojo Thai & E-San | — | Reopened October 2025 after renovation |
| Crazy King Burrito | 100 | Casual Mexican, next to True Fashionistas |
| Sway by Shape of Wicker | — | Hand-woven indoor and outdoor furniture |
The steakhouse is the headline. Aufieri & Martinez Argentinian Steakhouse recently launched in the Galleria Shoppes at Vanderbilt in North Naples, focuses on high-quality grilled meats, and specializes in authentic Argentine asado, an open-fire cooking tradition and a cultural way of life in the South American nation. It is the first dining concept locally for Walter Rolando Aufieri and Daniel Martínez. The new steakhouse launched during the holidays at 2355 Vanderbilt Beach Road, Suite 200, a longtime restaurant space that has been home to a variety of local dining spots such as Havana Blue Cuban Cuisine & Lounge, Salsa Cuban Restaurant & Lounge, French Folies, Absinthe and The Basin, and after a brief stint as Paradise Golf, Aufieri and Martinez expertly renovated the unit to create a luxurious dinner spot with a full bar.
That suite has burned through concepts for years. The fact that a wood-fire Argentine kitchen finally landed in it, right as the price of beef has risen greatly since the pandemic began and most noticeably in the past couple of years by as much as 20%, tells you something about the confidence operators now have in this specific corner.
On the more casual side, two new eateries have already opened their doors in the Galleria Shoppes at Vanderbilt, with Crazy King Burrito, known for its fresh, flavor-packed Mexican favorites, opening near True Fashionistas, and Mojo Thai & E-San reopening in October 2025 after a renovation, introducing dishes inspired by Thailand's vibrant northeastern region.
What Is Coming, and When
If you are the kind of resident who tracks these things because you have out-of-town guests arriving in season, the pipeline matters as much as what is open. Three concepts are worth watching:
Ambrosi & Sons. Among the most anticipated additions is Ambrosi & Sons, a new Italian market and café slated to open in early 2026, a family-owned concept that will bring a taste of Italy to North Naples with imported meats, cheeses, olive oils, pastas and more. It is taking the adjoining spaces once occupied by The Cave Bistro & Wine Bar and Naples Wine Collection at the Galleria Shoppes at Vanderbilt, which is a lot of square footage for a market-plus-café format and suggests something closer to a proper Italian food hall than a corner deli.
The Good Pour. The Good Pour, a Florida-based wine and spirits retailer, is opening its sixth location next year at the Galleria Shoppes at Vanderbilt in North Naples, coming to the 1000 Building, a new four-unit building recently built behind the CVS pharmacy outparcel on the corner of Airport-Pulling and Vanderbilt Beach roads. The more than 7,000-square-foot space will be the sixth location for The Good Pour, whose five existing locations are all in Florida, in Apopka, College Park, Gainesville, Longwood and Winter Park. A 7,000 square foot bottle shop within walking distance of the Gulf Shore Drive condos is a different kind of amenity than what the plaza has offered before.
The Supper Club. The new significantly larger space will maintain the dinner lounge atmosphere of the concept since it opened in East Naples, drawing inspiration from supper clubs of the 1930s and 1940s, and the new 2,200-square-foot location will feature crushed red velvet walls and drapes, high ceilings, chandeliers and bronze accents with casual lounge seating and a black stone bar, expanding its beverage program with a full liquor license and introducing craft cocktails along with international wine and beer selections.
Beyond those three, a two-story building under construction at the Galleria Shoppes will add about 20 new units and is on schedule to be completed near the end of the year. Playa Bowls, known for açaí, pitaya and coconut bowls, is also taking over the former Nautical Bowls space.
The Wellness Addition Nobody Predicted
Restaurants get the press. The tenant that may actually shift daily routines the most is on the wellness side. The health-minded crowd will soon be able to unwind at SweatHouz, a modern wellness studio offering private infrared saunas, cold plunges, and vitamin C shower experiences, a brand known for its sleek design and spa-like environment that is expanding quickly across the Southeast and adding North Naples to its lineup. Private sauna and cold plunge suites are, until now, something Vanderbilt Beach residents drove to Mercato or into Bonita for. Having it five minutes from a Gulf Shore Drive condo changes the calculus on early-morning routines during season.
The Road Change That Reshapes the Rest of North Naples
Vanderbilt Beach residents rarely drive to Golden Gate Estates. What matters about the Vanderbilt Beach Road extension is the second-order effect on the roads you do drive.
Collier County's Vanderbilt Beach Road extension project has reached substantial completion and is planned to open to traffic shortly after 10 a.m. June 12 in Golden Gate Estates. The 7-mile roadway project is one of the biggest the county has undertaken. Backed by a comprehensive $153 million structural budget, the highly anticipated extension is stretched across a critical 7-mile corridor within the rapidly growing Golden Gate Estates neighborhood, introducing vital east-west travel capacity, with the primary operational intent of easing severe traffic congestion on overburdened parallel routes including Immokalee Road, Randall Boulevard, and Golden Gate Boulevard.
Translated into resident terms: Immokalee Road, which is the corridor most Vanderbilt Beach households use to reach I-75, has been carrying commuter traffic that had no other east-west option. That is now diverting. Whether the relief you feel driving to Publix at Pavilion or heading toward RSW is meaningful will become clear over the balance of the summer. You can see the county's own project page at the Collier County transportation site if you want the engineering detail.
Reservations Worth Knowing About
Two more things a resident should have on the radar.
First, if you have relied on The Grill at The Ritz-Carlton, Naples for a certain kind of steakhouse evening, plan around this: The Grill is temporarily closed through October 2026 for a transformation, with dinner service returning in October 2026. That is a full season without one of Vanderbilt Beach's signature dinner rooms. It also frames why the arrival of Aufieri & Martinez a mile inland has landed with more weight than it otherwise might.
Second, the Turtle Club is doing what it has always done. Since 1998, the Turtle Club has come to represent a fusion of Olde Florida and New Florida in Naples, combining a relaxed casual Olde Florida beach environment with sophisticated modern cuisine and gracious hospitality. Reservations are strongly suggested for dinner, and lunch is seated on a first-come, first-served basis. Worth knowing when the season fills up.
And for something newer that most residents have not yet heard of: Amber Cove is a locally owned fine dining restaurant in North Naples, just minutes from Vanderbilt Beach with ample complimentary parking and no valet required, honored by Gulfshore Life among Naples' Best New Restaurants of 2026. The no-valet detail is not a small thing during high season.
What This Means for the Neighborhood
Vanderbilt Beach has always been defined by the Gulf on one side and a quiet residential grid on the other, with the plaza at Airport-Pulling and Vanderbilt Beach treated as a utilitarian stop. That definition is out of date. The plaza is now a destination in its own right, and by late 2026, when Ambrosi & Sons is open, The Good Pour has stocked its shelves, The Supper Club is pouring cocktails, and the 1100 Building has begun leasing, the balance of what makes daily life here comfortable will have shifted closer to home.
For anyone thinking about whether Vanderbilt Beach still delivers on the walk-out, drive-a-mile, be-home-by-sunset rhythm that drew them here in the first place, the answer this year is stronger than it was last year.
If you would like to talk through how these shifts are affecting values along Gulf Shore Drive, Vanderbilt Drive, and the surrounding condo towers, The Whitcomb Group knows this corner of Naples block by block. Reach out when you are ready.
