Since it was finished in 2017, the USC Village has fostered an ever-revolving set of storefronts, with some locations seemingly changing businesses yearly. 2024 is no exception.
While staples like Trader Joe’s and Cafe Dulce are thriving, other campus-adjacent retailers, like Pizza Please and Honeybird, shut their doors for good recently. Here’s everything Trojans will miss when they return to USC, and some new stores they can look forward to.
What’s New:
Asian market Yoboseyo Superette opened under the same ownership as Dulce
Fans of Dulce’s popular matcha lattes will be excited to hear that a new shop, with the same husband-and-wife co-owners as the cafe, is now serving teas and boba in the Village. Yoboseyo Superette opened on July 20, and offers specialty drinks and asian-inspired snacks and goods. Nearly all of the products are made by other small businesses.
“This is a new sister concept [to Dulce] called Yoboseyo, we started about a year and a half ago in Little Tokyo,” General Manager Sam Hong said. “It’s been pretty successful, at least with the community. They love that there’s this mini-mart aspect of it, that they can get Korean goods and other Asian makers and so forth.”
Yoboseyo is currently open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., though Hong says the shop plans to extend its hours to late nights once the fall semester starts.
Sephora opened in a long vacant storefront
Mega makeup retailer Sephora opened its doors in the Village on July 26. A brunch spot called The Butcher, The Baker, The Cappucino Maker (BBCM) formerly occupied the space, but closed in 2019 and sued USC for promissory fraud, misrepresentation and breach of contract alongside Rance’s Chicago Pizza. The two restaurants alleged that USC promised them students would be able to use dining dollars to pay for meals, justifying the above market rent prices. They also claimed that the university didn’t disclose that there would be a dining hall in the village. This storefront sat empty until now.
Simply Nail Bar expanded
More availability opened up last week at Simply Nail Bar after their expansion. The salon, which provides manicures and pedicures, waxing, eyelash extensions and other beauty services, is “just waiting for more people to sign up for appointments” according to a receptionist. New barbers and an esthetician joined the store, and students can book with them through their website.
Sheikh, an athletic clothing and shoe store, opened
On April 24, Sheikh joined the USC Village. The brand is a retailer for big names like Vans and Nike, and sells primarily shoes, athletic clothing and jerseys. Store manager Sandra Velasquez said the location has an open house coming up and hopes to partner with USC for cultural events.
“We’re just waiting for all of you guys to come back to school, we can’t wait to see new faces,” Velasquez said. “We want to provide the best service that we can and obviously the coolest shoes that we got.”
What’s gone:
Study Hall closed, Roadside Taco opened in its place
Study Hall wasn’t in the Village, but its legacy as a favorite Trojan hangout makes its closure on the eve of its 10 year anniversary just as relevant to returning students. The sports bar and eatery, located on the busy corner of Hoover and West 29th across from Greek Row, permanently shut its doors this summer. It was quickly replaced in early July by Roadside Taco, a Mexican restaurant with another location in Studio City, and will open for business on August 15.
Study Hall first opened in September 2014, and had a brief closing scare in late 2019. It ultimately survived after students created a petition to keep it in business. The site is located just two blocks from the Village.
Stout Burgers and Beers closed after a short tenure
Stout Burgers and Beers, a classic pub-style American restaurant, shut its doors this summer after a short stint in the village. A representative from Stout confirmed that all locations besides the restaurant in Hollywood are closing. Previously, the space was occupied by a Wahlburgers location, a burger chain created by the Wahlberg family (Ronnie Wahlberg of New Kids on the Block, actor Mark Wahlberg), which closed three years ago. It is unclear what will replace it.
Honeybird location still empty
Honeybird, a restaurant serving Southern-inspired breakfast and lunch in the Village, closed in March after six years at the location.
“It is with a heavy heart that we announce that we will be closing our USC Village location,” the restaurant wrote in a statement on their website. “We have been fortunate enough to have operated since the inception of the Village but unfortunately, as the years have gone by we have seen less and less business which ultimately has led us to make the difficult decision of closing this location.”
The storefront remains empty as of August.
Workshop Salon + Boutique closed, now Target storage
Workshop Salon + Boutique, which opened in 2019, left the USC Village in June, citing rising costs as the reason they didn’t renew their lease.
“When it came time to renew our lease, we decided not to,” the salon wrote in an Instagram post. “The cost of supplies, utilities, products and wages have increased tremendously. In order to continue business, we would need to raise our prices significantly, which ultimately we decided against.”
Target is now using the space as storage ahead of the back-to-school rush.
Pizza Please becomes second pizza joint to shut down in same space
According to employees at the neighboring restaurant City Taco, Pizza Please closed just last week. The restaurant opened a year and a half ago, and was the only eatery in the village to offer pizza. The storefront was previously occupied by Rance’s Chicago Pizza, which closed in 2019 and subsequently sued USC for $5 million alongside BBCM.
The Sammiche Shoppe’s storefront remains vacant
L.A. food blogger @30daysoftakeout reported in October 2023 that The Sammiche Shop was shutting its doors after a year of business in the Village, writing that the closure was “unfotunately due to lack of business and staffing issues.” The shop opened in September after its Inglewood location catered an event for USC’s Sol Price School of Public Policy, according to the Daily Trojan. The storefront remains empty, though employees at neighboring restaurant Il Giardino said they think it will become a burger restaurant, as their chefs saw fryer equipment being moved in this summer.