Two weeks ago, the Bed Bath & Beyond building on the west side of Ocean Ranch Village stopped being a vacancy and started being a grocery store. Trader Joe's Store 103 opened its doors at 32391 Golden Lantern at 8 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 22, and closed its old store at 32351 Golden Lantern the same week. Alcohol permit signs naming the chain had shown up on the building beforehand, the first public sign the move was close.
For anyone who shops this center at the southern edge of Laguna Niguel, the move is the visible piece of a longer chain of changes. It began when one national retailer closed and is still working its way through the property. Each tenant is at a different point in the process. The first move also opened up a new vacancy.
The Store Number Stayed, the Building Changed
The new store keeps the old store's crew and its number, Store 103. According to the Orange County Register, Trader Joe's is leasing 14,277 square feet from owner Shea Properties, more than twice the size of the store it left.
A company representative described the change to the Register on Oct. 19:
"The new store will have the same amazing Crew Members and products with a newly designed layout and bigger space."
So the familiar staff and shelves are the same, and the aisles are where the change shows. It also moves you across the property. The new store sits in the former Bed Bath & Beyond on the west side of the center, which Shea is redeveloping as two retail spaces. Trader Joe's has one half, and Ulta Beauty is the other tenant.
Bed Bath & Beyond's closing made the space available. The Register covered the Laguna Niguel move as early as April 2026, roughly six months before opening day.
A Grocery Chain That Grows Into Empty Chain Stores
What happened at Ocean Ranch fits a pattern across Orange County. On the same Thursday Store 103 reopened, Trader Joe's opened its first Anaheim Hills store, Store No. 295, at 6336 E. Santa Ana Canyon Road, in a former Big Lots. The Register also lists a second Costa Mesa store that opened late last year in part of a former 99 Cents Only Store, and a store in Orange that expanded into a closed CVS next door and reopened in its larger format just before Thanksgiving.
Put together, these stores show the chain expanding into big-box space that other retailers have given up. In Laguna Niguel, it got room to more than double without leaving the shopping center its regulars already drive to.
What "Coming Soon" Means at Ocean Ranch Right Now
Shea Properties' August 2026 leasing brochure for Ocean Ranch Village marks four tenants as "coming soon." Here they are as of early November, from closest to opening to furthest out.
Ulta Beauty, in the other half of the old Bed Bath & Beyond. It's the one most closely tied to the Trader Joe's move, since the two share a single redeveloped building. Neither Shea's brochure nor the Register's October report gives an opening date.
Urbane Cafe, 32545 Golden Lantern, Suite C. This one has the clearest public paper trail. The Orange County Health Care Agency's plan review record shows plans received on Aug. 27. They came back as "unable to approve" on Sept. 23, revised plans arrived Oct. 26, and on Oct. 28, 2026, the status changed to "plan approved / authority to construct." That approval lets construction start. It doesn't set an opening date, and none has been announced.
Jersey Mike's, 32545 Golden Lantern, Suite A. It's in the same building as Urbane Cafe, according to Shea's brochure, with no posted opening date.
Good Boy, in the former Hendrix Restaurant & Bar space. Shea announced in July 2026 that Good Boy, a new concept from Specialty Restaurants Corporation, will open in early 2027. It's pitched for dinner, after-work drinks, weekend brunch and late-night celebrations. Specialty Restaurants Corporation also runs Orange Hill Restaurant in Orange.
Three of the four are food. When they open, they'll join a dining row that already includes Bottega Angelina, The Habit Burger Grill, Seasurf Fish Grill, Pokeworks, Zen Sushi, Luna Grill, I Love Bagels and Board & Brew, plus Peet's Coffee & Tea and Nekter Juice Bar for morning stops.
What Urbane Cafe Will Bring
Urbane Cafe is the furthest along of the newcomers, so its menu is the one to look at now. WhatNow reports that Tom Holt founded the chain in Ventura in 2003 around a hearth oven and focaccia baked on site. The menu is built on house-roasted meats and house-made sauces. Its sandwiches include the So Cal, made with roasted chicken, avocado, pepper jack, tomatillo salsa and chipotle aioli, and the UC Banh Mi, with pickled vegetables, Fresno chilis and sweet chili aioli. Salads include the Crunchy Peanut and Ahi, and bowls include Baja and Seared Ahi Tuna. The chain also caters with sandwich platters and boxed meals, which is useful for an office lunch or a team practice.
The Address That Says Dana Point
Anyone who looks up these new tenants will run into a small mismatch. The county health record lists Urbane Cafe's city as Dana Point, and WhatNow's headline says Urbane Cafe will open "in Dana Point." The Register puts Ocean Ranch Village in Laguna Niguel, on Golden Lantern at the southern end of the city where it meets Dana Point. WhatNow places the center near Golden Lantern and Camino del Avion.
So the store is in Laguna Niguel, and the mailing address may say Dana Point. If you're giving delivery drivers or out-of-town guests directions, use the street address and the cross street rather than the city name. The center has long served both cities. Dana Point Animal Hospital is one of its tenants.
The Storefront Trader Joe's Left Behind
The Bed Bath & Beyond closure set all of this in motion, and now there's a new vacancy. The old Trader Joe's at 32351 Golden Lantern, the store regulars used for years, is empty as of early November, and Shea Properties hasn't announced a tenant for it.
That puts the space where the old Bed Bath & Beyond building was earlier this year, a known address waiting for its next tenant. The center's anchors around it are unchanged. Ralphs, CVS Pharmacy and Cinépolis Luxury Theatres are all still on Shea's tenant list, and so are everyday stops like See's Candies, Aim Mail Center, Fleet Feet Sports and Curl Fitness.
The one firm date on the calendar is Good Boy's early 2027 target. Shea's Lillian Kuo said in the July announcement that the restaurant "further strengthens Ocean Ranch Village's dining collection." Until then, the shopping trip has changed in practical ways. The grocery run now ends on the west side of the center, the Ulta storefront next door is still dark, and Suites A and C at 32545 Golden Lantern are the ones to watch for construction crews now that Urbane Cafe can start building.
At Coastal OC Real Estate Group, we follow changes like these at Ocean Ranch Village and beyond, from Golden Lantern to Dana Point Harbor. If you'd like to talk about how the area around Ocean Ranch is shifting and what it could mean for your plans, we'd be glad to have that conversation. Work With Us.
