The Bonfare Market located at 650 Central Avenue in the Neptune Plaza Shopping Center is slated to close its doors in mid-September. In order to sell down their $300,000 backstock of alcohol, all liquor and wine is 30% off.
Owner Lionel Singh told the Alameda Post that the landlords of the property decided to raise their rent from $10,000 a month to $16,000 a month. Singh and the Bonfare Market franchise’s parent company tried to negotiate and were willing to pay $12,000 a month, but their offer was rejected. As a result, they are closing their doors permanently.
Singh said that he has operated Bonfare Market for almost 11 years and is sad to close up shop. When asked what he will miss the most about his business, he said, “The neighborhood. I built a good relationship with a lot of the customers here. So many people are upset. It’s unreal how upset they are.”
Singh doesn’t plan to open a Bonfare Market in another location and disclosed that another franchise, Bevbox, was interested in taking over the space. According to Singh, Bevbox was willing to pay $15,000 a month, but the landlord rejected that offer as well. It is unclear if the space will be rented to another tenant in the near future or will remain empty.
A similar fate befell the Pagano’s Hardware store that was located in Neptune Plaza. In a 2024 interview with the Post, Pagano CFO Shenille McCoy said that a large increase in CAM charges (shared expenses paid by tenants for property maintenance, security, and garbage) due to other tenants leaving, as well as a decrease in sales and an increase in theft caused them to close. The space has been sitting empty since January 2024.
There was speculation among some neighborhood residents that Neptune Plaza’s landlords were trying to drive out businesses in order to build condos or housing on the property, but the Post confirmed with several existing tenants that they had recently renewed their leases and were slated to remain for at least five years.
Owner Alvin Lee of Rang Dong Restaurant and an employee who was working the register of Lee’s Donuts both told the Post that their businesses would be staying. Destine Fantasy Games just expanded into the suite next door and signed a new five-year lease on both their existing space and the new suite.
The owner of Destine Fantasy Games, Jensen Dang, said that he felt that his rent was reasonable, but echoed McCoy’s concerns about the increasing CAM costs, especially since Bonfare Market would be closing. He told the Post he thought that Cardoza Properties, Inc, which manages the property, was “trying to glow up the plaza” and that “they are actively trying to get people in.”
Like Pagano’s, Destine Fantasy Games and Bonfare Market have had their share of break-ins and theft. The front windows of Bonfare Market are noticeably boarded up from someone smashing the window and trying to steal the ATM, a crime similar to what multiple Alameda businesses experienced in December 2024 and January 2025. Singh said the thieves did not succeed and he was left with $40,000 in repair bills. Destine Fantasy Games has had to deal with multiple break-ins and was recently the victim of a drunk driver. Dang told the Post that the driver crashed into their storefront.
Jean Chen is a contributing writer for the Alameda Post. Contact her via [email protected]. Her writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Jean-Chen.
