The Oaks has been adding places to do something more than places to buy something. The openings this season are a collectibles shop, a candy maker, a martial arts gym and an October of storytimes and stroller workouts. They show the stretch of Hillcrest Drive and Moorpark Road around the mall turning into somewhere you might go several times a week, not just when a store errand comes up. Just across Hillcrest, a new Italian trattoria opened in late September. On Sunday, October 18, the whole corner turns into one long street party.
Taken one at a time, these are small updates. Together they show a part of Thousand Oaks being rebuilt around repeat visits. That started with an ownership change most people never noticed.
A New Owner, and a Different Kind of Tenant
Stockdale Capital Partners, a Los Angeles investment firm, bought The Oaks at 350 W. Hillcrest Drive for $157 million. The firm announced the deal in a December 12, 2024 release, and a Ventura County Reporter feature on how local malls are reinventing themselves reported the price. In that piece, new marketing director Kate Carter described the early work as fresh paint and landscaping in the common areas. She also talked about drawing people to the center at different times of day, with dining from breakfast through cocktails, family entertainment, free fitness classes and programs for kids.
The first big result arrived this August. POP MART, the blind-box collectibles brand, opened on the mall's first floor near Starbucks. Stockdale's August 17, 2026 announcement called it the first major retail opening since the purchase and scheduled a ribbon cutting for Saturday, August 22. It's also POP MART's first shop in Ventura County. The same release said more tenant openings and leasing announcements were coming.
Two more followed in September, and both fit the experience-first plan Carter described:
- Newberry Candy opened on Level 1 near Slime Kitchen, selling handcrafted toffee, fudge, chocolate-dipped treats and caramel apples. The mall's listing notes the candies are made in Thousand Oaks.
- Pugilist Gym opened with MMA, boxing, Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, fitness classes and kids' programs.
The mall directory also lists BiBro and Gem Lab as opening soon, with no dates announced yet.
Look at the mix. A gym gets you there on a schedule, several mornings a week. A candy counter with caramel apples is something to stop at on the way to the movies. POP MART's blind boxes are built around coming back for the next release. All three bring you back more than once.
The October Calendar Shows It Best
Programming tells you even more than tenants do, because events are what bring people back to a place on a regular basis. The Oaks' events page for this month reads more like a community center schedule than a sales calendar:
- The weekly farmers market, which keeps running through the season.
- October Classes & Events at Pitter-Patter Play, all month, with classes, special events and open play for little ones.
- FIT4MOM Fall Open House, October 5 through 11, a free week of stroller-friendly workouts, mom-only classes and meetups.
- Little Oaks Storytime with Glinda, Thursday, October 15, through the mall's Little Oaks Kids Club.
- Little Oaks Trick-Or-Treat Spooktacular, Friday, October 30, with trick-or-treating throughout the center alongside the Ventura County Sheriff's Office.
One more program runs much longer. Acorns for Education started September 1 and continues through April 30, 2027. Shoppers submit receipts from shopping, dining or seeing a movie at The Oaks, and the purchases turn into funding for 15 local schools. It's designed to last two seasons. Every lunch and every movie ticket over the next seven months counts toward it, so the program pays off for families who keep coming back.
Carter put the goal in community terms when she spoke with the Reporter:
"I love to go to our events and programs and meet the moms and the kids, and to see their excitement of the changes that we're making to the space…It's their 'third place' per se."
That interview is from 2025, before POP MART, Newberry Candy and Pugilist Gym opened. This fall's calendar shows the idea taking shape.
Across Hillcrest, an Italian Spot Changes Hands
The changes reach past the mall's parking lots. Across the way at 140 W. Hillcrest Drive, the Marcello Ristorante sign came down this summer and the windows were papered over. Conejo Valley Guide traced the new beer and wine permit to Capri Trattoria and Pizzeria. The Guide reported it open as of September 22, 2026.
Owner Nando Silvestri also runs Spumoni Pizza Restaurant in Santa Monica. WhatNow reported in August that Capri is the third concept from his Tutto Bene Restaurant Group, after Prima Cantina and Spumoni. The space at 140 W. Hillcrest stays a sit-down Italian restaurant, now run by an operator with a track record on the Westside. It's an easy walk from the mall's theater and patios, which makes dinner and a movie on Hillcrest a simpler plan than it was a few months ago.
Up Moorpark Road, a Change in Quick Bites
Head north on Moorpark Road toward Janss Road and the changes are more about everyday meals. Raising Cane's opened Monday, August 10, at 400 N. Moorpark Road, in the former Amy's Drive-Thru spot in the Best Buy plaza. It has dine-in, a drive-thru and hours that run past midnight. Those hours make it one of the few places on this stretch still serving well after the mall closes.
A little farther up, Cafe Rio at 595 N. Moorpark Road closed. Its reported last day was Sunday, August 23. The Ventura County Local opening and closing tracker lists both changes in its September 19, 2026 update. One quick-service spot opened and another closed within about two weeks in August. The overall mix along the road stayed about the same, but where you grab a fast meal on the way home shifted a few doors.
October 18 Brings It All Onto One Street
The best way to see all of this in one afternoon is the 34th Annual Thousand Oaks Rotary Street Fair. It runs Sunday, October 18, 2026, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Moorpark Road between Hillcrest and Wilbur, the blocks that run alongside The Oaks. Admission is free.
The Rotary Club of Thousand Oaks bills it as the largest event of its kind, with:
- More than 300 vendors
- Live entertainment
- Rides and activities for kids, with donations appreciated
- Food trucks and food vendors
- A chance to meet local police, the Ventura County Fire Department, first responders and medical professionals
Parking is free at Janss Marketplace, across from the fair.
The car show runs on the same day and the same hours. According to the 2026 car show registration page, cars arrive between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. and awards run from about 1 to 3 p.m. Classes include classic, modified, modern, Corvette and truck, along with Best in Show and People's Choice awards. If you want to see the cars before the crowds arrive, the early arrival window is the time to go.
The organizers say 100% of the fair's net proceeds have historically gone to community needs. A sponsorship document on the fair's site names organizations that may benefit, including Community Conscience, the Conejo Free Clinic, Senior Concerns and Interface-CASA.
The fair hasn't posted road closure hours for 2026. Last year, the Acorn reported that Moorpark Road between Hillcrest and Wilbur closed for the event. If you usually take Moorpark Road to get to Raising Cane's, Capri or the mall's south lots on a Sunday, plan a different route for October 18 until the 2026 details are out.
The timing works out well. Twelve days before Halloween, the fair fills the street right next to the mall, then The Oaks' Trick-Or-Treat Spooktacular follows on October 30. Between those two dates, a resident can take in the new candy counter, the gym, the trattoria and the rebuilt kids' calendar without leaving this one corner of Thousand Oaks.
New owners, new tenants and new programs change how people use this part of town, and they can also shape how buyers see the streets nearby. If you live near Hillcrest or Moorpark Road and want to know how these changes might show up in your home's value, Renee Rosen is glad to walk through it with you whenever you're curious. Request your valuation, and you'll get a clear, unhurried look at where your home stands this fall.
