Orange / Central Orange County
The fullest pet services stack we found is at 1500 E. Village Way, where PetSmart runs grooming, PetsHotel, Doggie Day Camp and training and Banfield runs the vet clinic. Petco is on East Katella Avenue at 1824 with grooming, training and a vaccination clinic, and VCA's Orange Animal Hospital is on West Chapman Avenue. Dogtopia's Orange County location pages are for Anaheim Hills and Santa Ana South Coast, and Hounds Town has no California location, so a franchise dog daycare would be new to the city, but boarding and daycare uses face the tightest zoning here. Grooming and vet clinics without boarding are permitted by right in the four regular commercial zones, which makes a neighborhood strip suite the easy path for those uses.
Population
138,266
Median HHI
$117,113
Median age
37.2
Homeownership
56.7%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates.
Primary retail corridors
Chapman Avenue · Tustin Street · Glassell Street · Katella Avenue · Main Street · La Veta Avenue
Specific shopping centers in Orange that already carry credible co-tenancy for this use. Listed in approximate order of fit.
1500 East Village Way
Anchors / key tenants: Target, Burlington
Value-tilted center on Tustin Street. The enclosed mall portion closed on January 31, 2024 and the site is planned for residential redevelopment, so confirm which buildings remain before touring.
Existing operators are the most honest comp for whether a use can support Orange rents. These are publicly visible pet service space businesses currently trading in the market.
PetSmart Orange (store 2493)
1500 E. Village Way, Suite 2380, Orange, CA 92865
PetSmart's store page lists grooming, PetsHotel, Doggie Day Camp, training, adoptions and veterinary care at this store. The address is the one the catalog gives for The Village at Orange, and Wikipedia lists PetSmart among the outside-facing tenants that stayed open after the enclosed mall closed.
Banfield Pet Hospital, Orange
1500 East Village Way, Orange, CA 92865
Banfield's hospital page shows the PetSmart logo for this location, so it is the veterinary service inside the PetSmart above.
Petco Orange
1824 E. Katella Avenue, Orange, CA 92867
The only Petco with an Orange address. Petco's store directory lists full-service grooming, dog training, a vaccination clinic and an aquatics department.
VCA Orange Animal Hospital
1100 W. Chapman Avenue, Orange, CA 92868
Per VCA's hospital page. On West Chapman Avenue.
01
Grooming: Table 17.13.030 (Ordinance 13-18, 2018) lists Dog and cat grooming without boarding as P in CP/C1, C-TR, C2 and C3 and in OTMU-15, OTMU-24, NMU-24 and UMU, but not in OP, CR (the Katella Avenue zone) or OTMU-15S. Grooming with boarding is not permitted in any commercial zone and is C only in OTMU-15, OTMU-24, NMU-24 and UMU. The chapter has been amended many times since 2018, so confirm the current rows with Planning.
02
Veterinary: a veterinary clinic or animal hospital where boarding is only part of medical treatment is P in CP/C1, C-TR, C2, C3, OTMU-15, OTMU-24, NMU-24 and UMU, and not permitted in OP, CR or OTMU-15S; a hospital with general boarding is C only in the same four mixed use zones. State law adds its own step: Business and Professions Code 4853 requires every veterinary premises to be registered with the Veterinary Medical Board, naming each owner and a responsible licensee manager, and the registration cannot be transferred to a new owner. Applications go through BreEZe, and the Board inspects premises for sanitation, practice management and record keeping.
03
Daycare and boarding: Chapter 17.04 defines a kennel as any place where four or more domesticated animals over four months old are housed, groomed, bred, boarded, trained or sold, and Kennels, Dog are C+ only in M1, M2 and A1. Section 17.13.050(R) asks the Planning Commission to look at site coverage (no more than 30% of the site), 200 dogs per acre of run area, 10 foot setbacks and a six foot masonry wall around runs, and requires staff on site at all times, compliance with the Chapter 8.24 noise rules and a current Orange County Animal Control license. Because PetSmart advertises PetsHotel and Doggie Day Camp at 1500 E. Village Way, ask Planning in writing how a new daycare in a retail center would be classified before you sign.
04
Parking: Table 17.34.060(B) sets grooming without boarding at 4 spaces per 1,000 SF, grooming with boarding at 4 per 1,000 plus 1 per 10 boarded pets, kennels at 3 per 1,000 of building and kennel area (outdoor runs not counted), and veterinary clinics at 5 per 1,000, the same as medical offices. A 3,000 SF vet clinic needs 15 spaces where a retailer would need 12.
05
Indoor operation: Section 17.18.080 requires uses in the commercial districts to be conducted entirely inside a building, and outdoor dog play areas are not on its list of exceptions. Plan runs and play yards indoors with sound treatment, and check the landlord's rules on dog relief areas and odor control for shared walls.
06
County license and The Village at Orange: OC Animal Care requires an Animal Facility Business License, with routine inspections, for grooming parlors, mobile groomers, pet shops and commercial kennels, and it runs dog licensing for the City of Orange. If you are looking at 1500 E. Village Way, note that the enclosed mall closed January 31, 2024, its interior was demolished during 2024, and the manager plans housing, so get the site plan showing which buildings stay.
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.