Which Corte Madera holiday do you want this year? Starting tomorrow, the town's two big shopping centers offer two different seasons. Both run through the same six weeks, and the details are now posted.
The Village at Corte Madera has built its holidays around a schedule of appointments. Each one has a start time, an end time and a place to stand. Town Center Corte Madera has built its season around things that repeat. There's a food drive that runs for two months, a market that comes back every Wednesday, and a bookstore with something on the calendar most weeks. Each center is good at a different kind of outing.
The Village runs its season from a single workshop door
Most of The Village's holiday events happen in one spot. Santa's workshop sits at the east mall entrance, beside Verizon. Visits start Friday, November 20, and they're free. Photo packages are sold for anyone who wants prints.
The workshop also hosts specific evenings and mornings for specific visitors:
- Pet Nights with Santa: Mondays, November 23, November 30 and December 7, 4 to 7 p.m., at the workshop beside Verizon.
- Sensory Santa Cares: Sunday, December 6, 9 to 10:30 a.m. It's a sensory-friendly Santa visit held before the center gets busy.
- Warm Weather Clothing Drive: November 20 through December 24. The Village is collecting new socks and gently used gloves, scarves, hats and coats for the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Marin.
Every item on that list has a fixed date. If you have a dog who belongs in this year's holiday card, you have exactly three Monday evenings. If your family needs a quieter room for Santa, there's one Sunday morning slot. The clothing drive starts on the same day as Santa and ends on Christmas Eve, so it runs on the same calendar. You can drop off a bag of coats on the way to the workshop line.
The newest names at The Village are national brands
The Village's new storefronts this fall follow the same planned approach as its events. In July, sportswear brand On announced a 4,000-square-foot store at 1702 Redwood Highway, Space 039, with an opening date of September 3. It was one of four new California stores in On's announcement.
Reformation is the other new arrival. The Southern Marin Ledger reported that construction began in August, with a target opening around November 13. The Los Angeles clothing brand started in 2009 by altering vintage clothing. The Village's store directory has the latest on the Corte Madera store.
These openings fit The Village's pattern. They're planned, announced in advance and tied to a date. A gift run through the new stores and a Santa visit can easily happen on the same afternoon.
Town Center started its holidays two weeks earlier, with a turkey
Town Center's season began on November 5, and it began with giving. The Giant Turkey is back near Arhaus for Town Center's 34th annual food drive. It collects nonperishable food for the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank through January 1.
Thirty-four years means the drive is older than many of the stores around it. It also runs about eight weeks, three weeks longer than The Village's clothing drive. That length changes how you use it. You don't plan a trip to the turkey. You add a few cans to the bag whenever you're already at Town Center, and you can do that any week from early November to New Year's Day.
The same goes for the farmers market. It's in center court every Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., listed with no seasonal end date. Thanksgiving week, the first week of December and the week before Christmas all have a market Wednesday. Town Center's holiday season is mostly its regular week, with the turkey added.
A corner space filled in time for the season
The newest restaurant at Town Center also adds to that everyday routine. Asian Box opened in late September at 147 Corte Madera Town Center Drive. It's the Palo Alto-based chain's first North Bay restaurant and its ninth location overall.
The space has a history. North Bay Business Journal reporting in the Press Democrat notes that Veggie Grill opened there in January 2015 and closed in August 2023. That left the 2,401-square-foot space, on the Safeway side of the 440,000-square-foot open-air center, without a restaurant for just over three years.
The menu is made to order and entirely gluten-free. It includes build-your-own boxes, pho, banh mi, spring rolls, boba teas, and beer and wine, with vegan and vegetarian options. Hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday. Co-founder and chef Grace Nguyen, who worked under Charles Phan at Slanted Door, described the opening to the Press Democrat's business desk in personal terms:
"I'm excited to bring a healthy fast-casual option and authentic Vietnamese flavors from my own family's heritage to a new community."
For anyone dropping off food at the turkey or walking the market on a Wednesday, a bowl of pho is now a few doors from the Safeway entrance.
Book Passage is Town Center's evening calendar
Book Passage, at 51 Tamal Vista Boulevard, supplies Town Center's evening programming. Its holiday listings start Thursday, November 19.
| Date | Event | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Thu, Nov. 19 | The Author's Club: Monthly Meetups for Youth with Anna Gonzalez | 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. |
| Thu, Nov. 19 | Holiday Cheese Board Workshop | 5 to 7 p.m. |
| Wed, Dec. 2 | Book Passage All-Stars: Annual Holiday Book Talk 2026 | 11 a.m. |
| Wed, Dec. 2 | Rebecca Handler with Daniel Handler, In the Round | 6 p.m. |
| Sat, Dec. 5 | Winter Cardmaking with Suzanne Gailey | 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. |
| Sat, Dec. 5 | Willow Older with Erin Gordon, Get Off That Screen! | 11 a.m. |
| Sun, Dec. 6 | Holiday artist reception with Tom Killion | 3 to 5 p.m. |
| Wed, Dec. 9 | Matt O'Hara with Rebecca Herman, The Flying Death | 6 p.m. |
The Holiday Book Talk is the staff's yearly roundup of favorite picks across genres for the season. It's also listed as a virtual event, so anyone not in Corte Madera that morning can still tune in. The youth Author's Club meets again on December 17. The December calendar is worth checking before you go, since bookstore listings change.
Look at the days on that table. Two of the biggest dates fall on Wednesday, December 2, which is also a market day. The holiday book talk starts at 11 a.m., the same hour the farmers market opens in center court. So the bookstore calendar fits into Town Center's weekly routine instead of sitting apart from it.
One weekend and a Monday that use both centers
Because the two centers run on different patterns, it's easy to pair them. Their calendars overlap without competing.
- Saturday, December 5. Winter cardmaking at Book Passage from 10:30 a.m., with cards made for the season. After that, a gift stop at The Village, where Santa's workshop is open by the east entrance.
- Sunday, December 6. Sensory Santa Cares at The Village from 9 to 10:30 a.m. In the afternoon, Tom Killion's holiday artist reception at Book Passage from 3 to 5 p.m.
- Monday, December 7. The last Pet Night with Santa, 4 to 7 p.m., followed by an early dinner at Asian Box on the Town Center side.
The two drives also pair well on one errand. Bring canned goods to the Giant Turkey near Arhaus and a bag of gently used coats to The Village for St. Vincent de Paul. Both collect through late December, and the food drive keeps going until January 1.
If family is coming in for the holidays and wants to see more of Corte Madera than its two shopping centers, Miranda Hanson would love to help you plan their visit and answer their questions about the town. Let's Connect.
