San Clemente / South Orange County
San Clemente's grocery trips run through three areas. Camino de Los Mares by I-5 has two Brixmor centers next to each other: Ocean View Plaza (Ralphs and Trader Joe's) and Plaza By The Sea (Stater Bros.). Avenida Pico has Albertsons at 804 and Pavilions at 989, with Sprouts and San Clemente Plaza a short drive away on Camino de Estrella. In Talega, Regency's Talega Village Center is anchored by Ralphs and had the most listed vacancies of the owner pages we checked, seven spaces from about 1,000 to 3,800 SF.
Population
63,273
Median HHI
$140,062
Median age
45.6
Homeownership
66.5%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates.
Primary retail corridors
Avenida Del Mar · El Camino Real · Avenida Pico · Avenida Vista Hermosa · Avenida Talega
Specific shopping centers in San Clemente that already carry credible co-tenancy for this use. Listed in approximate order of fit.
801 Avenida Talega
Anchors / key tenants: Ralphs
Size: 102,273 SF
Regency Centers-owned community center anchoring the Talega master-planned neighborhood. Ralphs (about 46,000 SF) is the only anchor. Fitness in place via Anytime Fitness and Club Pilates. Food is Peet's Coffee plus independents such as BallPark Pizza, Barnoa Wine Bar, Basanti, Fettuccine Marcello, and Kiann's.
Existing operators are the most honest comp for whether a use can support San Clemente rents. These are publicly visible grocery-anchored retail space businesses currently trading in the market.
Ralphs (Talega Village Center)
801 Avenida Talega, San Clemente, CA 92673
Regency Centers owns the center and lists Ralphs as its key retailer at 46,000 SF in a 102,273 SF center. Inline tenants on Regency's roster include Peet's Coffee & Tea, Anytime Fitness (5,606 SF), Club Pilates, Phenix Salon Suites (4,034 SF), ProSport Physical Therapy (4,885 SF), Mission Heritage Primary Care (7,833 SF) and BallPark Pizza. Regency showed seven spaces available or coming available, from 1,021 to 3,844 SF.
Ralphs (Ocean View Plaza)
638 Camino de Los Mares, San Clemente, CA 92673
Brixmor's leasing page describes Ocean View Plaza (169,963 SF) as dual-anchored by Ralphs (45,000 SF) and Trader Joe's. Other tenants include CVS (16,825 SF), Crunch (20,200 SF), MemorialCare Medical Group, Chase, Wells Fargo, The Habit Burger Grill, Starbucks and Supercuts. Four spaces were listed as available, 1,098 to 1,812 SF, two of them pads.
Trader Joe's
638 Camino de Los Mares, San Clemente, CA 92673
Trader Joe's store 16 per the grocer's own locator. Brixmor lists it at 9,461 SF in Ocean View Plaza.
Stater Bros. Markets
616 Camino De Los Mares, San Clemente, CA 92673
Anchor of Brixmor's Plaza By The Sea (48,697 SF), next door to Ocean View Plaza. Brixmor lists Stater Bros. at 27,722 SF with inline tenants including Better Buzz Coffee, Round Table Pizza, Bank of America, Einstein Brothers and Handel's Ice Cream. The page showed no available spaces.
Albertsons
804 Avenida Pico, San Clemente, CA 92673
The only Albertsons in the city per the grocer's locator, which names the store 'Avenida Pico & Presidio'.
Pavilions
989 Avenida Pico, San Clemente, CA 92673
The only Pavilions in San Clemente per the grocer's locator, with pharmacy and a Starbucks cafe. Mattress Firm's own store page places its 'Plaza Pacifica' store nearby at 979 Avenida Pico, Suite M.
Sprouts Farmers Market
550 Camino De Estrella, San Clemente, CA
Confirmed on Sprouts' store page. Nordstrom's September 2022 release placed its 32,000 SF Nordstrom Rack in San Clemente Plaza at the southwest corner of the I-5 and Camino de Estrella, with Sprouts, HomeGoods and Ulta as co-tenants. Burnham USA Equities markets leasing at San Clemente Plaza (400 Camino De Estrella) and showed a 1,200 SF suite available.
Target
990 Avenida Vista Hermosa, San Clemente, CA 92673
General merchandise store that also sells groceries. Target's store page lists a CVS pharmacy, Starbucks, Target Optical, clinic care by Kaiser Permanente, wine, beer and spirits, and WIC acceptance.
01
Zoning: Table 17.36.020 lists Grocery/Food Stores (Not Convenience Stores) and Specialty Food Stores as permitted (P) in every commercial zone from NC 1.1 through CC 4, and Table 17.40.030 lists grocery stores as permitted in all mixed-use zones. Convenience Stores need a Conditional Use Permit in every commercial zone and are subject to Section 17.28.120, so a small-format market should get Planning's written read on which category it falls under.
02
Specific plans: Table 17.52.060 lists seven adopted specific plans (Talega, Forster Ranch, Marblehead Coastal, Marblehead Inland, Pier Bowl, Rancho San Clemente and West Pico Corridor), and Section 17.52.030 says an adopted plan operates as the zoning for its property. Check the zoning map for an SP label on Talega Village Center or any Avenida Pico parcel before relying on the Title 17 use tables.
03
Parking by use: Table 17.64.050 sets general retail at 1 space per 300 sq ft (1 per 400 in mixed-use zones inside the Central Business overlay), but beauty and nail services, massage and medical offices at 1 per 200 sq ft. A 1,548 sq ft former salon space like Ocean View Plaza's space 14 needs 8 spaces as a salon or clinic against 6 as retail (17.64.050.A.7 rounds fractions up), so confirm the center has surplus parking when a service tenant replaces a shop.
04
Availability is uneven between neighboring centers: Brixmor showed no open spaces at Plaza By The Sea (Stater Bros.), four at Ocean View Plaza (1,098 to 1,812 SF, including pads 68 and 73), while Regency showed seven at Talega Village Center, including a 1,275 SF salon suite (1-105) and restaurant spaces of 3,844 and 1,986 SF. On Camino de Los Mares, ask the leasing reps about upcoming expirations, not just current vacancies.
05
Existing categories at Ocean View Plaza already include a 16,825 SF CVS, a 20,200 SF Crunch, Ralphs and Trader Joe's. Pharmacy, fitness, specialty food and alcohol users should ask for the grocer and anchor use restrictions recorded against the center before the LOI.
06
The owners report traffic differently: Brixmor cites 2.8 million annual visits at Ocean View Plaza (Placer.ai 2025) and 34,000+ vehicles a day on Camino de Los Mares (Kalibrate 2025), while Regency shows 1,198,464 annual visits at Talega Village Center. Ask both landlords for the same data source and time period before comparing sites.
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.