Queensbury Plaza Is Filling Back Up. Here's What's Open and What's Still Coming.

Monday through Saturday, the newest businesses at Queensbury Plaza now cover 5:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. between them. A drive-thru coffee stand opens before sunrise. An off-price store with a 19,000-square-foot footprint stays open until 11 at night. A Mexican restaurant has a lease on the outparcel where Red Lobster used to be. All three arrived under one stated rule from the landlord, and the rule explains why the plaza at 750 Upper Glen Street looks the way it does this fall.

The rule behind the Red Lobster pad

When Red Lobster closed, the freestanding building at the front of the plaza drew interest from many kinds of businesses. Michael Palumbo, chief operating officer of Flaum, the plaza's owner, explained the decision to the Glens Falls Chronicle in April. He said the owners wanted an operator that would complement the plaza's current restaurant offerings, not compete with them.

"Mi Rancho Alegre stood out as a strong fit in that regard, offering something distinct that adds to the overall dining experience at the property."

Palumbo also said that given the building's layout and its position as an outparcel, the owners considered a restaurant the most appropriate use. So the site stays a restaurant, with a different cuisine.

Mi Rancho Alegre is a small regional chain with restaurants in Syracuse, Rochester, Hudson and Lake Katrine. The Glens Falls Business Journal describes a menu of tacos, burritos, fajitas, and other meat and seafood dishes in tortillas. Tables get tortilla chips, red salsa and a complimentary warm bean dip. The restaurant's own website already lists a Queensbury location at 750 Upper Glen St., Unit 19. It doesn't give an opening date or hours.

Status matters here. The most recent reporting we found is from August 18, and it still described Mi Rancho Alegre as planned for the former Red Lobster site. We could not confirm whether it has opened as of October 10, 2026.

A coffee stand built on empty parking

The rule continues at the plaza entrance. A conventional café with indoor seating would have overlapped with places already in the plaza. 7 Brew uses a different format. The Arkansas-based company runs small, prefabricated drive-thru stands with no seating. The menu covers coffee, shakes, smoothies, teas, fizzy sodas, lemonade and energy drinks.

This is also the only one of the three that didn't fill a vacancy. The stand at 754 Glen St. sits on a part of the parking lot that used to be empty, on the left side of the main entrance. It added a building to the plaza.

It soft-opened in late July and raised $26,600 in customer donations for Double H Ranch in Lake Luzerne, a year-round camp for children with serious illnesses. The official grand opening with the full menu was Monday, August 10, which NEWS10 reported the next morning. The Queensbury stand is one of 17 that 7 Brew has in upstate New York. Most are in central and western New York, and the nearest others are in Schenectady, Colonie and Johnstown.

Burlington took more than the JoAnn space

JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts was one of 800 stores the company closed in May 2025 after its bankruptcy. Burlington didn't simply move into that space. It took 19,000 square feet, made up of the entire former JoAnn store plus part of the former Tuesday Morning store next door. Two old storefronts are now one larger box.

The store's address is 756 Upper Glen St. It opened on Friday, August 28, and The Post-Star reported nearly 100 early customers that morning. According to the company, the Queensbury location has wider aisles and bold signage. It is Burlington's 76th store in New York State. New stock arrives each week across clothing, footwear, beauty and fragrance, and items for babies and pets.

Burlington sells brand-name goods at off-price discounts and doesn't replace what JoAnn sold. A fabric and craft store left, and the plaza replaced it with a different category instead of the same one.

The plaza's new hours

The plaza's hours changed more than its tenant list did. These are the published hours for the businesses that are open now:

On a Saturday, coffee is available at the entrance from 5:30 a.m. and Burlington's registers run until 11 p.m. On a Sunday, both close at 10 p.m. Hours for the 7 Brew stand come from its location page, which is the place to check if they change for winter.

The calendar slipped, and the leasing kept going

In April, the Business Journal laid out a schedule. Here is how it compares with what actually happened:

Each opening came several weeks to a couple of months after the projection. The same April article said the three businesses together were expected to create at least 40 jobs.

Palumbo connected the activity to traffic that comes from outside town: "Tourism in that area seems to be growing, driving traffic up there. That's what is prompting these tenants to be looking for new locations." He also said other national retailers were looking at the plaza: "We're working on a couple deals for the last few vacancies." We found no named announcement of those tenants as of October 2026, so the remaining empty storefronts are still unaccounted for.

The next proposal is a few miles south, on Sherman Avenue

The plaza's approach is to use national and regional chains, each chosen to avoid overlap. A proposal for the Afrim's Dome area takes a different approach. The Adirondack Food Truck Park would be a year-round site on 1.2 acres at 332 Sherman Avenue. It would have repurposed shipping containers for permanent vendors, an area for seasonal food trucks, and an on-site hydroponics program growing leafy greens and herbs. The proposal describes a place to "taste local," watch recreational games and attend weekly events that complement other activities at Afrim's Dome.

According to the Chronicle, the project was on the Queensbury Planning Board agenda as a discussion item on July 28, 2026. The Post-Star reported the hope of opening "by next spring" and gave the address as 332 Upper Sherman Avenue. We couldn't confirm any Planning Board action after that July discussion. The meeting audio and minutes on the Town of Queensbury's agendas and minutes page are the place to watch for it. For now, it is a proposal with no approval and no opening date.

In the meantime, Queensbury Plaza has two new businesses running from early morning to late evening and a lease signed for the Red Lobster building. The owners have said they're working on deals for the remaining vacancies but haven't named any tenants.

Commercial turnover along Upper Glen Street is something we follow closely at Davies-Davies & Associates Real Estate LLC, whether you own property near the corridor or are thinking about a commercial or investment property in Queensbury. If you'd like to talk about what changes like these could mean for a property you own or are considering, contact us.