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MODESTO -- Neighbors in Empire are at their breaking point and even moving out of their apartment home complex, fed up with being a 24/7 bug buffet.

They say the mosquito problem on Abbie Road has become so bad in recent months, they don't even want to go outside.

"I can't take it. I can't take it anymore," said neighbor Blanca Macias.

Macias won't take her dog for walks or even garden at her home thanks to the relentless bites.

"You can't even go outside to get in your car without them attacking," said Macias. "They try and bite you through your Levi's, they try and bite through anything."

For complex manager Tami Stewart, the problem is hurting business. She says multiple tenants have moved to escape the mosquitoes and she can't fill the vacancies due to these pesky neighbors.

"They're vicious. You can't go outside. It's worse than COVID," said Stewart.

"Does it surprise you that tenants are leaving?" asked CBS13 reporter Ashley Sharp.

"No, it doesn't shock me. It shocks me that I can't go in my backyard," said Stewart.

Stewart and Macias believe the neighboring corn field that lines the back of the complex and its standing water could be to blame for the bug boom a few months back.

"We get bit at night when we are sleeping. That is just crazy," said Macias.

Aside from the constant scratching, it's a health concern. Stanislaus County health leaders in June said they anticipate an active mosquito and mosquito?borne virus season this year.

"The late rains and increased temperatures will hasten the development of West Nile Virus in the Central Valley," David Heft, of Turlock's Mosquito Abatement District, said in June.

West Nile activity has been reported in Stanislaus County this summer.

In neighboring San Joaquin and Merced counties, human cases have been reported. They're two of just five counties in the entire state of California with people contracting the disease, according to the latest state data.

"I'm very worried about it. I can't afford to be sick or die from a mosquito," said Stewart.

Stewart said she and her dozens of tenants have called the East Side Mosquito Abatement District daily to no avail. They want the county to step in and help spray or remove the corn in the field by next summer to hopefully cut back on the problem.

The East Side Mosquito Abatement District's office closed at 3 p.m. and could not be reached for comment as of the airing of this story Wednesday night.

The board will have a regularly scheduled meeting on September 12. These neighbors say they plan to take their fight to the public comment podium.

If you’re tired of bumping into shopping carts and other shoppers at Modesto’s always cramped Trader Joe’s, get ready to stretch those elbows with abandon.

The popular specialty grocery store is expanding its Modesto location on Dale Road. The food seller will take space from its neighbors to the north and south in the Vintage Plaza retail complex to create a larger floor plan.

And that’s not the only major change coming to the busy north Modesto shopping center. There’s the pending arrival of a new national chain to the city.

Trader Joe’s Public Relations Manager Nakia Rohde confirmed that work has started on the market’s expansion which will increase the overall size of the sales floor. She said the store also will move its checkstand area to “improve our customer’s experience while shopping in their neighborhood Trader Joe’s.”

Customers who stop in the north Modesto store will notice its southern wall (with the meat and cheese refrigerated coolers) is under construction. The ceiling is also being worked on in unrelated repairs to install a new roof.

In an email response to questions about the expansion, Rohde said all work “should be complete this summer.”

Sanders Construction President Steve Sanders, whose company built the plaza and has owned and operated it for the past 45 years, said the Trader Joe’s expansion will add about 3,700 square feet to the store, bringing it to 13,000 square feet. That is almost double the shop’s original size of 7,300 square feet when it opened in 1993.

To increase its footprint, Sanders said the store is taking over about 1,500 square feet of storage space directly to its south, between Trader Joe’s and the Lane Bryant store. On its northern edge, the grocer will cut in to take about 2,200 square feet from the Hibachi Grill Sushi & Seafood Buffet.

That Asian buffet restaurant, which has been in the same location under different names for 16 years, first as Jumbo Buffet and since 2012 as Hibachi Grill, recently closed. Restaurant representative Ivy Wang said they stopped serving in April, and are currently deciding what to do with the remaining space. That could come in the form of a new restaurant concept, but nothing has been finalized, she said.

On the other side of the buffet, the also recently closed Tuesday Morning store already has found a new tenant. The national discount home goods seller shut all of its stores after filing for bankruptcy earlier this year. The Vintage Plaza location had been open since 2017, though the chain had a store elsewhere in town since 2002.

Sanders said Five Below, a national discount chain known for selling items for $5 and under, will move into the space instead. The discount retailer has taken over retail spaces from other bankrupt national chains as part of its rapid growth strategy of late. The chain opened its first Stanislaus County in Turlock in 2021, in the former Pier 1 space in Monte Vista Crossings after the imports company shuttered all its stores.

The Modesto Five Below store will be the city’s first, though Sanders said there’s no timeframe for its debut yet.

Trader Joe’s, in a shopping complex that also includes The Party Guys/Grand Events!, Plato’s Closet and Big 5 Sporting Goods, will remain open during construction.

This will be the chain’s second expansion since opening in Modesto 30 years ago. In 2000, The Bee reported the popular store expanded to create wider aisles and “flow-through” checkout stands. Previously, customers had entered and exited through the same doors.

The expansion also comes after dedicated campaigns to get a second store in the area have failed. Turlock fans of the private grocery brand started a campaign to get a store in their town in 2010. And in 2019, the new local owners of Century Center at Oakdale Road and Orangeburg Avenue erected signs asking people to lobby the company to move into the east Modesto complex.

Alas, the north Modesto location remains the company’s only site in Stanislaus County.

With all the changes coming to the complex, the Modesto Trader Joe’s remains a powerhouse draw three decades after its opening — especially on the weekends — with customers often jockeying for parking spaces. And now we can expect it to be a more spacious draw for years to come, too. Sanders said the national chain recently resigned its lease for its space, since its original 30-year lease just ended.

Happy roomier shopping, Modesto.

This story was originally published May 10, 2023, 11:55 AM.

Stanislaus County’s first-ever Filipino food truck has opened in Modesto, bringing more of the rich flavors of the southeast Asian nation to the Valley.

The new food trailer, Filipino Corner, opened June 11 at the corner of McHenry Avenue and Meily Way in north Modesto. The small space serves up big, authentic flavors from two church friends who saw an opportunity in the region.

Co-owners Alma Timbreza of Modesto and Marisol Manipol of Salida go to New Beginnings Christian Center together, where Manipol’s husband serves as pastor. After the electronics company Timbreza worked at closed and moved out of the region last summer, she decided to use her severance to start a food business.

But the cost of opening a trailer solo was too high, which is when Manipol and her husband decided to help and invest in the project.

“I was almost about to give up. My husband is always the one encouraging me when I am down to keep going,” Timbreza said. “And God is good, so the pastor and Marisol were like, ‘If you want we can be business partners.’”

They bought an 18-foot trailer in February and have been converting it since. Earlier this month, the women opened their first eatery together at the busy corner just south of the Walmart Supercenter on McHenry. The space has become a mini food truck court, with Rafa Tacos and Sinaloense Mexican seafood trailers also on site.

The inviting, bright red trailer takes its full name, Filipino Corner by JrAilaM’s, from a combination of the popular Filipino food cart turned franchise Potato Corner and a melding of the two women’s family names. The Jr. and Aila are for Timbreza’s grandchildren and the M stands for Manipol.

Timbreza serves as head chef, with the trailer staffed entirely by family, including Timbreza’s husband and children. They crank out Pinoy favorites including pork adobo (a marinated meat dish not to be confused with Mexican adobo), grilled liempo (pork belly), pancit (stir-fried rice noodles) and two styles of lumpia (the thinner Shanghai-style and a thicker style of fried crispy meat-and-veggie filled rolls).

The menu has a handful of staples, ranging from $9 to $13 a plate, as well as daily specials.

Timbreza said the recipes all come from her mother, who cooked for them growing up and lived with her and her husband until a few years ago. Since moving to Modesto three years ago, she has been developing the recipes at home and was encouraged by friends and family to share her food.

“I wanted to share some of the most popular Filipino dishes,” Timbreza said. “Our food, the aroma, it’s very flavorful and colorful. Filipinos really, really love to eat.”

The food from the Philippines archipelago is a mixture of its indigenous cuisine plus colonial influences from its time under Spanish and American rule and later Japanese occupation during World War II. The flavors blend salty, sweet and sour. And expect plenty of pork; indeed, one of the island country’s most celebrated dishes is lechon, a traditional whole, slow-roasted pig.

The Filipino Corner menu also has chicken dishes, including one of the specials, chicken katsu (which fans of Japanese food will recognize as breaded chicken cutlets). Timbreza said they also are open to customer suggestions for dishes to add to the menu.

The new venture is only the second Filipino eatery to operate in Modesto. In May 2021, the restaurant Kusina opened in Century Center in east Modesto, serving a wide variety of dishes.

While open just a little more than a week, the new food trailer already has attracted fans and members of the region’s Filipino community from as far away as Sonora and Waterford.

Diamond Bitzer from Waterford came to try the trailer for the first time late last week. “Sometimes we are tired of cooking at home so it’s nice to have Filipino food available,” Bitzer said. “We’re happy to have more businesses like this.”

Filipino Corner, at 3824 McHenry Ave. in Modesto, is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 3 to 8 p.m. Sunday. For more information visit www.facebook.com/filocornerjrailams or call 209-624-6848.

This story was originally published June 20, 2023, 7:00 AM.

Fans of Bed Bath & Beyond have only a little time left to shop at its one remaining Stanislaus County location before the national home goods seller closes all of its stores for good.

Last week, the national chain announced it was filing for bankruptcy, planned to liquidate its assets and would close all of its 360 stores across the country, including its Modesto location on Sisk Road. The Modesto site has been open since 1999 as one of the original tenants of the Vintage Commons shopping center that now includes TJ Maxx and Ulta Beauty.

The Bed Bath & Beyond website has a statement about the closures: “Thank you to all of our loyal customers. We have made the difficult decision to begin winding down our operations.”

The company will keep stores open through its planned June 30 final closure. But the timing for each individual store closure is different. Staff at the Modesto location said they have not been told their last day.

Sales started at all stores last week with the announcement of the bankruptcy. The company also abruptly halted the use of its famous and ubiquitous 20% off coupons as of April 26.

Now, if you’re like me and keep a stash of those discount mailers in a kitchen drawer, fear not. You still can use the coupons at two other national chains with a handful of Central Valley locations.

Discount retailer Big Lots has said it will accept Bed Bath & Beyond coupons through Sunday, May 7. The 20% off coupons will be valid on Big Lots purchases of $50 or more.

Big Lots has 1,425 stores across the country including three in Stanislaus County — two in Modesto on Sisk and Oakdale roads and one in Turlock on Countryside Drive. Another Big Lots store should open later this year in Ceres, splitting the former Rancho San Miguel supermarket building on Hatch Road into two spaces with an also newly planned Grocery Outlet.

Another national chain that will take unexpired Bed Bath & Beyond coupons locally is JOANN Fabric & Craft. The national supplies seller has Stanislaus County locations in Modesto on Standiford Avenue and in Turlock on Countryside Drive. Other nearby locations include Stockton, Merced, Manteca and Sonora. But, again, the coupons cannot have an use-by date that has expired.

The Modesto site was among 41 remaining Bed Bath & Beyond locations in the state. The local store had weathered previous closure announcements by the national corporation. In 2021, the company shut down its Turlock site on Countryside Drive in the Monte Vista Crossings shopping center. That closure was part of a larger shuttering of 200 locations during the 2020-21 fiscal year.

Those worried that Cost Plus World Market would be affected by their one-time parent company’s liquidation should also take heart. The Alameda-based specialty retailer was sold by Bed Bath & Beyond in 2021. The buyer? Kingswood Capital Management LP.

A year later, the same Los Angeles-based private equity firm bought well-known Valley supermarket brand Save Mart. The March 2022 sale ended 70 years of family ownership by the Modesto-based grocery chain.

As Bed Bath & Beyond with its seemingly endless and amorphous offerings heads off into the great beyond, no word yet on what will fill the store’s prime 30,000-square-foot space. Might I humbly suggest the long-promised and hoped for HomeGoods? Just a suggestion, universe.

This story was originally published May 4, 2023, 12:32 PM.

A $3.2 million state grant will expand Modesto’s efforts to replace lawns with water-saving surfaces.

Most of the money, $2.36 million, will go to 21 parks where some of the turf is little used by visitors. The rest will supplement a rebate program for homeowners and businesses.

The funding came from the Urban Community Drought Relief Grant Program at the California Department of Water Resources.

A few nearby cities have similar incentives to remove lawns. They require that the new surface be permeable, aiding groundwater recharge during storms. Homeowners should apply before digging up the sod.

Modesto pays $2 per square foot. The total cannot exceed $3,000 for a residential customer or $6,000 for a business. Details are at www.modestogov.com/922/Turf-Replacement-Program.

The parks will get varying amounts of bark mulch, decomposed granite and drought-tolerant plants, city spokesman Andrew Gonzales said by email Friday.

The treatments will total about 18 acres, leaving plenty of grass for kicking a soccer ball, walking a dog and the like.

The parks are Chrysler, Creekwood, East La Loma, Mark Twain, Moran Estates, Orchard, Sharp, Brewers Rose, Marshall, Muncy, Robertson Road, Stockard Coffee, Coleman Brown, Woodrow, Chrysler 99, Eisenhut, Freedom, West Basin, Ustach, Sanders and Lateral 2.

“Water wealth is a part of Modesto’s heritage, and it’s vital we do everything we can to preserve this most precious resource,” Mayor Sue Zwahlen said in a news release.

It came from state Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil, D-Jackson, whose district takes in Modesto.

“I commend the city of Modesto for its commitment to water conservation and proactive efforts in preparing for future drought conditions,” she said.

An online search found rebates for lawn replacement in these nearby cities:

Ceres: $1 per square foot, up to $500 per home or $1,000 for other customers. Details are at https://www.ci.ceres.ca.us/659/Rebates.

Riverbank: $2 per square foot, up to $2,000 per home, www.riverbank.org/623/Turf-Replacement-Program.

Patterson: $1 per square foot, up to $2,000 per home, www.ci.patterson.ca.us/678/Rebate-Incentive-Programs.

The California Native Plant Society has tips about lawn alternatives in various climate zones.