Brea Marketplace
835 East Birch Street
Anchors / key tenants: big-box and grocery anchored community center
Big-box and value-tier daily-needs community center on Birch Street serving North OC residents.
Brea / North Orange County
Grocery-Anchored Retail Space in Brea
Brea has two grocery nodes. Near Brea Mall, Regency's Brea Marketplace on Birch Street (Target and Sprouts) and Brixmor's Brea Gateway on Imperial Highway (Ralphs) are the two owner-documented grocery centers, and both publish tenant rosters with available suites. Farther east on Imperial Highway, Albertsons and Trader Joe's share the 2500 E. Imperial address near Kraemer Boulevard, and Whole Foods anchors Regency's Village at La Floresta at 3301 E. Imperial. Inline tenants at these centers lean toward food, fitness, personal care and medical: Brea Marketplace lists Jersey Mike's, Piccolo Coffee, Great Clips, Phenix Salon Suites and Gentle Dental, and Brea Gateway lists Starbucks, Shake Shack, Cava, Tous les Jours and Pacific Dental Services.
Population
47,469
Median HHI
$131,129
Median age
39.7
Homeownership
59.7%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates.
Primary retail corridors
Imperial Highway · Brea Boulevard · State College Boulevard · Birch Street · Lambert Road
Centers worth touring for grocery-anchored retail space in Brea
Specific shopping centers in Brea that already carry credible co-tenancy for this use. Listed in approximate order of fit.
Brea Gateway
Imperial Highway / Brea Boulevard area
Anchors / key tenants: Brixmor-owned daily-needs and service mix
Brixmor community center with daily-needs and service-retail tenancy.
Grocery-Anchored Retail Space operators already in Brea
Existing operators are the most honest comp for whether a use can support Brea rents. These are publicly visible grocery-anchored retail space businesses currently trading in the market.
Sprouts Farmers Market (Brea Marketplace)
735 E. Birch Street, Brea, CA 92821
Sprouts' own store list names the center as Brea Marketplace. Regency Centers' leasing page shows Sprouts at 24,930 sq ft and Target at 158,648 sq ft in a 352,289 sq ft center (center address 835 E. Birch Street).
Ralphs (Brea Gateway)
305 Imperial Highway, Brea, CA 92821
Brixmor's leasing page describes Brea Gateway as a Ralphs-anchored center of 181,819 sq ft, with Ralphs at 46,354 sq ft, HomeGoods (25,567), Boot Barn (23,921) and World Market (18,500).
Whole Foods Market (Village at La Floresta)
3301 E. Imperial Highway, Brea, CA 92823
Address from Whole Foods' own store page. Regency Centers lists the store at 37,263 sq ft in the 86,969 sq ft Village at La Floresta (3301 to 3477 E. Imperial Highway), a LEED Silver center that Regency describes as part of a master-planned community.
Albertsons (Kraemer & Imperial Hwy)
2500 E. Imperial Highway, Brea, CA 92821
Albertsons' own store page places it near Imperial Highway and Kraemer Boulevard, with a pharmacy.
Trader Joe's Brea (store 11)
2500 E. Imperial Highway, Brea, CA 92821
Trader Joe's locator gives the same street address as the Albertsons above, so the two grocers appear to share a site near Kraemer Boulevard. We did not find an owner page naming that center.
What to diligence before LOI
01
Zoning: Brea's Table 20.11.020.A (amended through Ord. 1269, December 2, 2025) permits Markets, large (supermarkets and grocery stores over 10,000 sq ft, including large drug stores, per 20.00.070) by right in C-P, C-N, C-C, C-G and C-M, and a Shopping center (15 or more contiguous stores planned as one project) by right in C-N, C-C and C-G. Off-sale alcohol does not need a CUP when it is part of a large market.
02
Drive-through: a pharmacy or pickup window is a Drive-through facility, which needs a Planning Commission conditional use permit in C-N, C-C and C-G. Brea's CUP page says the City mails notice to owners within 300 feet at least ten days before the hearing and confirms completeness within 30 days, and appeals must be filed within 10 days.
03
Parking (20.08.040.D): Markets, large and Retail sales, general are 1 space per 200 sq ft, and a Shopping center is 5.5 per 1,000. Under 20.08.040.B.1, changing a suite to a category that needs more stalls requires adding them, and under B.2.c each shopping center tenant's required parking must sit within 200 feet of its main entrance. Ask for a parking count by building, not just the center total.
04
Brea Marketplace (Regency, 352,289 sq ft) listed four spaces on September 24, 2026: suite 03A at 2,918 sq ft marketed as medical space, suite 28 at 564 sq ft, and suites 18 (1,831 sq ft) and 35B (2,000 sq ft) shown as available soon. Regency's page reports 3,867,855 annual visits.
05
Brea Gateway (Brixmor, 181,819 sq ft) showed suite 203C at 4,550 sq ft and a proposed pad (OPO 1) as available. Brixmor cites more than 60,000 vehicles per day on Imperial Highway (Kalibrate, 2025) and an estimated 3.9 million annual visits (Placer.ai, 2025). Verify those figures against your own traffic data.
06
Village at La Floresta (Regency, 86,969 sq ft, Whole Foods 37,263 sq ft) showed one vacancy, suite C1, a 4,936 sq ft space marketed for restaurant use. The roster already includes several food users (Mendocino Farms, Urban Plates, Dynasty Noodle Bar, The Kebab Shop, Reborn Coffee), so a restaurant looking at C1 should ask for the center's existing exclusives.
Sources
Zoning, licensing, and demographic figures on this page come from the public records below. Codes and licenses change, so confirm with the city and the licensing agency before you sign.
- Brea Zoning Code Table 20.11.020.A, Permitted Land Uses (Title 20 Attachment 7), Zoneomics-hosted copy of the ecode360 attachment
- Brea Zoning Code, Division I (20.00.070 definitions, 20.08.040 off-street parking, 20.11.020 land uses), Zoneomics copy
- City of Brea, Conditional Use Permit page
- Regency Centers, Brea Marketplace property page
- Brixmor, Brea Gateway leasing page
- Regency Centers, Village at La Floresta property page
- Sprouts Farmers Market, California store list
- Whole Foods Market, Brea store page
- Albertsons, Brea store page
- Trader Joe's, Brea (11) store page
- U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates, DP02 and DP03, Brea city
- Cushman & Wakefield MarketBeat, Orange County Retail, Q2 2026 (PDF)