Rivian is accelerating its retail and service buildout across California, signing a long-term lease for roughly 60,000 square feet at a former Fry’s Electronics site in Sacramento.
The company plans to open a combined showroom, service and delivery center in the third quarter of 2027.
The Sacramento facility is the latest addition to a widening California footprint that already includes new Los Angeles showrooms and 150 chargers, a Laguna Beach flagship Space and a 480,000-square-foot parts distribution center at Sacramento’s Metro Air Park that opened last year.
The Laguna Beach flagship Space recently hosted public screenings of FIFA World Cup matches as part of a brand-awareness campaign timed to R2 deliveries, turning a retail location into a community gathering point — a format Rivian has used to differentiate its Spaces from conventional dealerships.
California is Rivian‘s home state — the company is headquartered in Irvine — and its single most important market, with the densest concentration of Adventure Network charging stations and retail Spaces of any region in North America.
Rivian expects to deliver roughly 5,000 R2 mid-size SUVs in California alone this year, out of a projected 20,000 to 25,000 across the continent.
Scaling the physical network to match that demand is a strategic priority the company flagged during its fourth-quarter earnings call, when executives told investors Rivian would significantly expand both service capacity and customer-facing Spaces ahead of the R2 ramp.
Sacramento Site
Sacramento City Councilmember Lisa Kaplan’s office announced the Northgate Boulevard lease on Monday.
“Rivian‘s decision to expand in District 1 is a tremendous win for Sacramento,” Kaplan’s office said in a statement. “This investment brings quality jobs, new economic activity, and momentum for District 1 that I and my team are working to build on.”
The facility is designed as a customer-facing destination with a large showroom floor, demonstration stalls, vehicle service lifts and full maintenance capabilities.
Kaplan said the center will serve both prospective buyers and existing owners seeking repairs or upgrades, consolidating purchasing, servicing and delivery into a single site.
An estimated 35 to 45 new positions are expected across management, service, sales and customer service roles.
Rivian‘s Director of Commercial Real Estate Tommy Carrillo described Sacramento as critical to the automaker’s growing commercial footprint in Northern California.
The Northgate Boulevard project will be Rivian‘s second major Sacramento-area investment, following the Metro Air Park logistics hub.
The former Fry’s Sacramento store closed in 2020, and the electronics retailer’s remaining locations shut down permanently in 2021.
The 17.6-acre property near Interstate 80 has since been earmarked for redevelopment as Northgate Industrial Park, and Rivian‘s lease is the most prominent tenant commitment announced so far.
Barry Broome, with the Greater Sacramento Economic Council, told CBS Sacramento he hopes the expanding Rivian presence will attract EV research and develop jobs to the region.
Broome said the council would like to see the automaker build and develop its autonomous vehicles locally.
California EV Sales
California remains the leading U.S. state for EV adoption, with more than 20% of new vehicle registrations typically being zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs).
ZEV adoption reached a record 29.1% of new vehicle registrations in the third quarter of 2025, as consumers accelerated purchases ahead of the expiration of the federal EV tax credit on September 30.
Following the end of the incentive, EV demand weakened considerably.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, ZEVs accounted for just 18.9% of new vehicle registrations in California.
The slowdown continued into 2026, with battery electric vehicles (BEV) representing only 13.7% of new vehicle registrations in the first quarter, down sharply from 21.0% in the first three months of 2025.
State Ties Run Deep
Rivian‘s California footprint extends well beyond retail.
The automaker has secured some of the largest public-sector EV fleet contracts in the state, anchored by a deepening relationship with the California Department of Transportation.
Caltrans placed an initial order for 453 Rivian vehicles — 138 R1S SUVs and 315 R1T pickups — in June 2025 and received the full shipment within 200 days.
A second order of 524 units followed this year, lifting the combined Caltrans deal to 977 vehicles and $97 million.
The relationship now dwarfs the rest of Rivian‘s government business; the company disclosed in contract documents that it had sold roughly 700 vehicles to all government entities combined in three years through August 2025.
Other California public agencies operating Rivian vehicles include the Palo Alto Police Department, the Contra Costa County Fire Department and the California Highway Patrol’s Dignitary Protection Section, which purchased two vehicles that serve the Governor’s motorcade.
Governor Gavin Newsom also replaced his Chevrolet Suburban with a Rivian R1S as his official state vehicle.
Rivian also secured a Sourcewell cooperative purchasing contract that opened its lineup to more than 50,000 government and public organizations through at least November 2029, and said in those filings that public fleet volume was ramping following the California award.
Nationwide Expansion Picks Up Pace
The network push has been extending beyond the West Coast.
A dedicated showroom near CityCenterDC in Washington is expected to open in fall 2026, while a new Space at Oak Brook Center in suburban Chicago is planned for summer 2026.
In Orlando, Florida, Rivian is developing a roughly 40,000-square-foot hybrid showroom, service center and charging hub near Millenia Mall along the Interstate 4 corridor, though no opening date has been confirmed.
Sacramento’s planned facility stands out among the group for its scale.
At 60,000 square feet, it is the largest of the announced locations and one of the few combining showroom, service and delivery operations under one roof.
Service Overhaul Backs the Buildout
The retail expansion comes alongside a sweeping overhaul of Rivian‘s after-sales operations.
Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe recently said that the company has cut service wait times by 90% over the past four years, addressing a persistent pain point for early R1 owners who faced long delays and gaps in geographic coverage.
Hybrid facilities like the one planned for Sacramento are central to that strategy.
Rather than requiring customers to visit separate locations for purchasing, servicing and picking up vehicles, Rivian is consolidating those functions into single sites in key metro areas as the R2 broadens the brand’s customer base beyond the premium R1 buyer profile.
Rivian manufactures trucks and SUVs at its Normal, Illinois plant, with a second facility under construction in Georgia — expected to pick up production in 2028.
