Laguna Beach / Coastal Orange County
Laguna Beach does not have the large-format showroom space found in Irvine or Tustin; home and design retail here is small and street-front. Downtown, Tuvalu Home sells coastal home furnishings at 295 Forest Avenue. In the HIP District, which its merchant site describes as ten walkable streets from Thalia Street to Diamond Street, the listed merchants include Covey Gardens (1590 S. Coast Hwy), Abode (1200 S. Coast Hwy) and Artist Eye Gallery (1294 S. Coast Hwy), and Visit Laguna Beach counts 26 art galleries in the district. The zoning text is friendliest to furniture and home furnishings in the LBP, C-N and South Laguna Village zones, where those uses are permitted outright.
Population
22,710
Median HHI
$143,843
Median age
53.9
Homeownership
66.1%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates.
Primary retail corridors
Pacific Coast Highway · Forest Avenue · Broadway Street · Laguna Canyon Road · Glenneyre Street
Specific shopping centers in Laguna Beach that already carry credible co-tenancy for this use. Listed in approximate order of fit.
Forest Avenue at North Coast Highway
Anchors / key tenants: walkable historic downtown art, dining, and boutique retail
The cultural and visitor core. Art galleries, chef-driven restaurants, surf/lifestyle, and specialty boutiques cluster on Forest, Ocean, and the lower blocks of North Coast Highway. Strong year-round visitor traffic and an affluent local resident base.
South Coast Highway between Thalia Street and Diamond Street
Anchors / key tenants: art galleries, independent dining, coffee, boutiques
Just-under-one-mile strip with 26 art galleries, 17 restaurants, and several independent coffee shops with outdoor seating. The artisan-and-gallery node of Laguna retail. Tenants include Stephanos jewelry.
South Coast Highway
Anchors / key tenants: chef-driven dining and boutique retail
Established in 1934 — small intimate center with brick herringbone paths. Tenants include La Rue du Chocolat, Gelato Paradiso, and Smitten boutique. Pure coastal-village positioning.
Existing operators are the most honest comp for whether a use can support Laguna Beach rents. These are publicly visible showroom retail space businesses currently trading in the market.
Tuvalu Home
295 Forest Avenue, Laguna Beach, CA 92651
Coastal home furnishings store on Forest Avenue downtown, per the retailer's own site.
Covey Gardens
1590 S Coast Hwy, Laguna Beach, CA 92651
Home decor and interior design shop in the HIP District, listed on the district's merchant page and on the shop's own site.
Abode (ABODE Bodega + Goods)
1200 S. Coast Hwy, Suite 106, Laguna Beach, CA 92651
Home goods and lifestyle shop in the HIP District, per the district's merchant page and the shop's own site.
Artist Eye Gallery
1294 S. Coast Hwy, Laguna Beach, CA 92651
Fine art gallery (paintings, sculpture, photography) on the HIP District merchant page. Galleries are Laguna's most common showroom-style use.
01
Use by zone: furniture and antique sales, including home furnishings, are permitted in the LBP zone (Section 25.18.002(L)) and C-N zone (25.19.002(K)), and furniture and antique sales are permitted in South Laguna Village (25.25.002(I)). Interior design services are permitted in LBP (25.18.002(E)) and C-N (25.19.002(M), which also names home decorating studios). In C-1, stores for retail business are permitted only if conducted entirely within an enclosed building (25.20.004(A)).
02
Appliance, hardware and plumbing showrooms: 'retail supply stores' of neighborhood scale with no open storage are permitted in C-N (Section 25.19.002(AA)) but need a Conditional Use Permit in LBP (25.18.004(A)). South Laguna Village permits retail supply stores including kitchen and bath goods (25.25.002(T)).
03
Parking: Section 25.52.012(G) sets furniture, appliance and other bulky-merchandise stores at 1 space per 500 sq ft, excluding storage and loading areas, with a minimum of 4 per tenancy, compared with 1 per 250 sq ft for general retail. A 2,000 sq ft furniture showroom needs 4 spaces instead of 8, so describe the use as bulky merchandise in the application. Adding stalls or in-lieu certificates is required when a use changes to one with a higher requirement (25.52.004(E)).
04
Outdoor display needs a CUP in C-1 (Section 25.20.006(P)), LBP (25.18.004(R)), C-N (25.19.006(G)) and South Laguna Village (25.25.006(F)). In C-1 the display cannot reduce required parking, must stay at ground or street level, counts toward floor area, and another outdoor display within 1,000 ft can be grounds for denial.
05
EV and auto showrooms: none of the C-1, C-N, LBP or South Laguna Village use lists includes vehicle sales, and C-1 lists only service stations and repair facilities as conditional uses (Section 25.20.006(A) and (B)). A vehicle gallery would depend on a Planning Commission similar-use finding after a public hearing (25.20.006(R) or 25.19.006(N)). If allowed, parking is 1 per 350 sq ft of office, plus 1 per 1,000 sq ft of display and 1 per 300 sq ft of service area.
06
Size limits: LBP does not allow parcels to be merged for development beyond 10,000 sq ft (Section 25.18.008(A)), C-1 buildings top out at 36 feet (25.20.008(D)(2)), and under the exception in 25.52.012(A) an interior division of an existing commercial building cannot create more than three additional tenant spaces or any space under 500 sq ft; more, smaller spaces take a CUP and, where required, a coastal development permit, and the City may ask for a parking impact assessment. Storefront and building changes in these zones go through design review (25.05.040).
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.