Anaheim Hills' First Trader Joe's Lands Next to Shops That Were Already There

Where has an Anaheim Hills Trader Joe's run ended up all these years? Every time, in another city: Tustin Street in Orange, Yorba Linda Boulevard in Yorba Linda, Imperial Highway in Brea or Irvine Boulevard in Tustin. Trader Joe's scheduled the opening of Store No. 295 for 9 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, at 6336 E. Santa Ana Canyon Road, in the former Big Lots at Anaheim Hills Village. That puts the weekly grocery run inside a strip center that already had a café, a pizza place, a donut shop and a sports bar, so coffee, dinner and groceries can all happen in one parking lot.

The Old Trader Joe's Run Always Left Anaheim

Before Store No. 295, Trader Joe's official location pages showed these nearby stores, each in a different city.

The chain's California store index has an entry for Anaheim Hills and none for Anaheim as a separate city. So the new store is the only Trader Joe's listed under any part of Anaheim. For years, a bag of frozen orange chicken meant driving across a city line, so any coffee or lunch on that trip usually happened somewhere else too.

Store No. 295, by the Details

The Orange County Register reported that the store covers 9,769 square feet at the corner of East Santa Ana Canyon Road and South Fairmont Boulevard. It's open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. According to the same report, the Monrovia-based chain hired more than 40 crew members from the area, and some of them transferred from nearby Trader Joe's stores. The official Store 295 page carries the Santa Ana Canyon Road address, and the company's store-opening announcement set the grand opening for 9 a.m. on Oct. 22.

The store took months to get from announcement to opening date. In June, the Register's status update described the store as "coming soon" in the former Big Lots at Anaheim Hills Village, with no opening date yet. The Oct. 22 date came about four months later.

A Grocer in a Closed Big Box Fits the Countywide Pattern

Anaheim Hills got its Trader Joe's the same way much of Orange County has lately, with a grocer moving into a store some other retailer left behind. The Register's Oct. 19 report lists several examples.

• Costa Mesa: a second Trader Joe's opened late last year in part of a former 99 Cents Only store.
• Orange: an existing Trader Joe's grew into a closed CVS next door and opened the larger format just before Thanksgiving last year.
• Laguna Niguel: the Ocean Ranch Village store is moving into a former Bed Bath & Beyond, which is being split so Ulta Beauty can take the other half.
• Lake Forest: Fresh Choice Marketplace opened in a closed 99 Cents Only store at 22631 Lake Forest Drive.

The last example has an Anaheim Hills connection. Fresh Choice Marketplace, which the Register describes as carrying food "from all over the world," including halal meats, breads and produce, already runs a store at 440 S. Anaheim Hills Road. So the neighborhood now has two grocers that the paper covered in the same story, on two different roads.

The Anaheim Hills case differs from the others in what surrounds the empty box. Here the former Big Lots shares a parking lot with a row of independent food and service businesses. The center's leasing materials say redevelopment and upgrades are underway at the property. A grocery anchor is the kind of tenant that brings repeat weekly trips to every storefront near it.

The Neighbors Were Open Before the New Sign Went Up

These businesses show current activity at Anaheim Hills Village through their own websites, ordering pages or event calendars, listed here in address order along Santa Ana Canyon Road.

1. Pepz Pizza & Eatery, 6304 E. Santa Ana Canyon Rd. Handcrafted pizza and other food, with online ordering. Its events page lists a weekly happy hour and Tuesday trivia.
2. Kaffeine Alley, 6312 E. Santa Ana Canyon Rd. An Orange County café serving coffee, tea and food, open daily. Its site lists the hours, and its online ordering page takes scheduled pickup orders.
3. D's Donuts, 6350 E. Santa Ana Canyon Rd. Donuts, croissants, breakfast sandwiches and drinks, available for pickup and delivery through its ordering listings.
4. The Hive. A sports bar and grill listed among the center's northeast shops, with a current food menu and a weekly taco special on its calendar.

One date shows how closely the new store and the existing tenants now line up. The Hive's events calendar put its weekly taco special on Oct. 22, the same Thursday Trader Joe's scheduled its opening a short walk across the lot.

Building the Errand Around the Store

Once the grocery stop sits next to these businesses, a few combinations come down to timing. Trader Joe's opens at 9 a.m. and closes at 9 p.m. every day. Within those hours:

• Morning: D's Donuts sells breakfast sandwiches and drinks, and Kaffeine Alley takes scheduled pickup orders. You can place a coffee order ahead and pick it up on the way to the grocery aisles.
• Tuesday evening: Pepz Pizza & Eatery runs trivia that night, and Trader Joe's stays open until 9 p.m., so dinner and the grocery run can share one parking spot.
• Thursday: The Hive's weekly taco special falls on Thursdays, based on the Oct. 22 calendar listing.

Anyone who has been driving to Tustin Street or Yorba Linda Boulevard for groceries had to fit these stops in separately. Now the cold items can wait in the car for the length of a coffee instead of a trip across a city line. Keep in mind that the store is new and the center is in the middle of upgrades, so check hours on each business's own page before you plan around them.

Halloween Weekend and Into November

The store's first full weekend falls on Halloween, and two free events that weekend, plus one in mid-November, are a short drive from Santa Ana Canyon Road.

• Friday, Oct. 30, Santiago Oaks Regional Park. OC Parks hosts Escape the Oaks!, an after-dark, escape-room-style program in one-hour slots from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. It's free, you have to register in advance by email, and parking costs $3 per vehicle.
• Saturday, Oct. 31, Anaheim Hills Festival. The center's free Halloween Boo-Nanza runs 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., with trick-or-treating at participating stores and restaurants, a DJ, face painting, balloon twisting and photo spots. A map of participating stores was still to come on the event page.
• Wednesday, Nov. 18, Santiago Oaks Regional Park. The Oak Woodland Bird Walk is free. OC Parks recommends registering but welcomes walk-ins, and parking is $3. Check the listing for a start time.

The Boo-Nanza ends at 1 p.m. on Halloween. Trader Joe's is open until 9 p.m. that day, which leaves time for a grocery stop before evening trick-or-treating.

A new anchor store changes how people use the whole corner, and buyers notice that kind of change in the daily routine around a home. If the Trader Joe's on Santa Ana Canyon Road has you curious about how your own Anaheim Hills home would show today, Cassie French can help. Request a free home valuation and staging plan, and we'll show you what your home is worth and how we'd stage it for buyers who want this corner close by.