The once-controversial Vallarta Mexican grocer in the Old Orchard Plaza -Santa Clarita’s oldest shopping center- is getting an impressive face lift just one year after opening.
Gone is the 40 + year old gray concrete facade and block-shaped utilitarian design; Vallarta is upscaling the property and adding a Latino twist with a Moorish/Spanish roof-line reminiscent of California’s Spanish missions.
Construction began in April and a store manager at the popular Mexican grocer told me the it was expected to take 2-3 months.
Vallarta, which faced much opposition from homeowners in the Old Orchard I and II tracts before it opened in early 2007, has packed the parking lot at the once-flagging strip mall on Lyons Avenue near Orchard Village Road. Pedestrian traffic has increased around the store and Vallarta vans constantly shuttle shoppers to and from other areas in Newhall.
Anecdotally, at least a third of the clientèle who shop at Vallarta are white, English speaking, while the rest are Latino or other ethnic groups.
Fears that the entire Old Orchard shopping center would be run into the ground have been largely unrealized; shortly after the store opened, an old Hallmark store closed, citing a lack of business from Latino shoppers. In its place a Latino themed gift shop opened alongside a rehabilitation place and the popular Tuesday Morning store. The grounds of the shopping center are well maintained, and grocery carts are routinely picked up in area neighborhoods.
I couldn’t get a comment from a Vallarta executive on how the business was doing, but it’s obvious from the time and money they’re putting into the store that Santa Clarita’s first Latino super-mercado has been a success for all involved.
Now if only Trader Joes would move into the vacant grocery store on San Fernando Road (the one Tresierras was supposed to move into before Vallarta moved to town). Trader Joes is desperately under-sized for the amount of people who shop there now.
The store remains open during construction