Located an hour north of San Francisco, the center is situated directly on Highway 12, which connects the Sonoma and Napa Valleys with the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and the Sierra Nevada Foothills.

Montgomery Village features over 280,000 square feet (26,000 m2) of retail space and is home to over 60 shops, services and eateries, including lululemon, Rise Cycle Co., Avid Coffee, Sonoma Outfitters, Sur La Table, Copperfield's Books, See's Candies, and Lori Austin Gallery.

Santa Rosa developer and two-time city councilman Hugh Codding purchased a pair of orchards south of Montgomery Drive with the intention of building a shopping complex.

He created Montgomery Village Development Co.[2] and began construction on the center in 1949; it opened the following year, featuring about a dozen businesses.

The shopping center was part of the unincorporated Montgomery Village neighborhood that Codding proposed as its own city; the area was incorporated into Santa Rosa in 1955.