Small Shopping Centers Can Match the Monster Malls in Style
The county’s small shopping centers sometimes get lost and forgotten in the shadow of the glamorous major malls. But several of these supporting players are worth a visit.
Two good examples--the Marketplace in Irvine and Town & Country in Orange--are tiny centers that make up in style what they lack in size.
The Marketplace, a skip away from UC Irvine on Campus Drive, is a vibrant, splashy spot to browse or nosh away an afternoon. In a modernized Mediterranean motif, arched frames are supported by ribbed columns, pointed roof lines emerge from stucco storefronts and walkways lead shoppers around and through the center toward a fountain in the middle.
Bright-colored trim against stucco walls, creative window designs (Chinese fireworks hang in the window of Metro Sports) and arty signs lend a youthful, festive mood to this small collection of shops, restaurants, Edwards Cinema and the new Improvisation Comedy Club and Restaurant. Outdoor cafe tables and terraces punctuated by palm trees allow plenty of places to soak up the ambiance.
Marketplace stores reflect the tastes of college-age buyers, who thrive on T-shirts, earrings, records and cookies. The center also has a good selection of gift items, socks, posters, sportswear and frozen yogurt.
The most unpredictable merchandise is at Elements, where one can pick up a carrying case for condoms or a security blanket for adults, along with earrings, stationery, books and assorted knickknacks. Browsing at Elements, with James Taylor on the stereo and incense in the air, is vaguely reminiscent of college days long ago--except the university crowd of the early 1970s rarely shopped in workout clothes or bought condom cases.
Another shop, called En-Passant, draws both regulars and curiosity seekers. En-Passant sells wafra: sandwiches made of assorted fillings heated inside waffle-like slabs. Although the spinach, mushroom and cheese variety was rather bland, the clerk insisted that En-Passant has been “very well received” and that the pizza wafra is the most popular. You don’t argue with a wafra seller.
Bounded by University Tower (an office building), Edwards Cinema and the Improv, and Chinatown restaurant, the 2-year-old center houses 16 shops and restaurants and is adding a half dozen more. The center, owned by the Irvine Co. and managed and marketed by Donahue Schriber, has 30 spaces (including stores, services, restaurants and offices) open now; when completed, it will have 60 spaces.
Joining Swept Away (mostly T-shirts and other cotton clothes), Spectrum Blue (gifts, earrings), Golden Spoon (mostly yogurt), the Sock Shop, Interfashion (hair salon), Wafra, Famous Amos (cookies), White Mountain Creamery (ice cream, sandwiches), Metro Sports (sportswear), Graphics West Gallery (posters and some original art), Peer Records & Video, Soundquest (stereo equipment) and Ms. DeNoux (sportswear) will be, among others, Factory Fashion Works, Le Diplomat (French bakery), Nassrin’s White Rose Skin Care and a swimwear store.
Full-service restaurants now open include Pinky’s (a 1950s-style hamburger and malt shop across the parking lot from most of the stores), Hershel’s (deli), Chinatown (Chinese food) and Twoheys (hamburgers, salads, spaghetti, chili and onion rings). Tortilla Flats, another full-service restaurant, will open in late spring. Also planned are a Sizzler restaurant, the Oasis nightclub and a pizza shop. Among the open services are an optical shop, a travel agency, a copy center and stationery store, and a real estate office.
With four full-service restaurants, the movie theater and the Improv, there is already plenty to do at night at the Marketplace. And with the stores and lunch counters, it is already a hub during the day. It could still use a bookstore and a variety store, but students’ demands will ultimately determine the supply.
A couple of freeways away, Orange Town & Country is a more tranquil and conventional center of about 50 shops and 50 offices. With 100,000 square feet of retail space, Town & Country is small potatoes contrasted with MainPlace/Santa Ana across the street. Attracting customers before MainPlace rose from the ashes of Fashion Square was one thing, surviving with a mega-mall across the street quite another.
Mall manager Nancy Paull said Town & Country had hoped MainPlace would help attract business, but since MainPlace opened last fall, store sales have remained about the same. Town & Country restaurants, however, have been busier, probably with the overflow from MainPlace, she added. Those restaurants include Knott’s Country Kitchen, Viking Sub (sandwiches, light lunches and party platters), South of Sante Fe (Southwestern), Ruckus (soup, salad bar and steaks), Louie Louie’s (Italian-American) and Chelsea’s Choice (frozen yogurt and muffins).
With its Spanish-style tiles, fountains, well-kept walkways and abundant flowers, the 25-year-old center is an attractive place to shop. While the variety of stores could be improved, especially for gifts and home furnishings, the stores that do exist are noteworthy.
Crystal Cave is a cozy oddity that sells crystals, jewelry, books by various swamis and healers and assorted equipment used by channelers and psychics. Bottles hold oils with names like Ylang-Ylang (for marital problems) and citronella (reputed to attract friends and customers and aid in writing letters). A sign says, “Shoplifting plays hell with your karma.” It hangs over books by and about Shirley MacLaine and Edgar Cayce. New-age music plays in the background, the air smells of incense and customers ask for information about past lives and numerology.
Next door physically if not philosophically is the Deseret Book Co., which is affiliated with the Mormon Church. Along with its religious literature, Deseret has a large selection of books for children.
Some stores at Town & Country sell surprisingly disparate merchandise. La Tortuca, for example, carries clothes, books, pottery, jewelry, toys and handbags. Most of the goods are imported: necklaces from Greece, folk art from Mexico and jewelry from South America. O’Malley’s nearby sells coffee, flowers, cards, antiques and vases.
A clothes shop worth visiting is called Apropos, which has a sister store at Fashion Island in Newport Beach. Some of the unusual items include silk T-shirts and dresses by fashion designer Stephen Sprouse, who decorated the clothes with graphic designs from Andy Warhol’s estate, according to the sales ticket ($176 for the dress). Another dazzler is a pink and navy three-piece Italian knit suit by Spadafora ($360).
Town & Country has nine stores for women’s apparel, three stores for men’s clothes, three gift shops and one home furnishings store. And there’s a handful of vacant stores, which if filled would presumably widen the appeal of Town & Country. Paull said, however, that now is a tough time to lease retail space; she is hopeful that the spaces will be filled by fall.
Meanwhile, Town & Country is worth a stop, if only on the way over to MainPlace for some serious shopping.
TOWN AND COUNTRY AT A GLANCE
Address: 777 S. Main St., Orange: Main Street exit off Garden Grove or Santa Ana Freeway. Phone (714) 835-1400
Number of stores and services: 50.
Number of restaurants: four full service, two specialty counters.
Most unusual shop: Crystal Cave sells everything from Dark Moon body oil (reputed to enhance one’s Karma) to Egyptology paraphernalia. This very curious shop provides a clue to what’s happening as the Age of Aquarius marches toward the 1990s. The store also has incense, music, books, crystals, jewelry and posters for “New Age” types.
Best values: In a charming shop called La Tortuca are all-cotton shirtwaist dresses for $68 and bead and stone necklaces imported from Greece for $20 and up.
Quick bites: Viking Sub has a good variety for lunch, although it is not the kind of place you would take mother for dinner. This luncheonette-style restaurant has sushi, a tasty concoction called bulgokee (beef teriyaki with steamed rice and lettuce, $3.10) and apple boysenberry juice (55 cents). You can also get a hot dog for $1.85.
THE MARKETPLACE AT A GLANCE
Address: Campus Drive at Bridge Road, across from UC Irvine. (714) 720-5600.
Number of stores and services: 16.
Number of restaurants: four full service, three specialty counters.
Most unusual store: Elements is an upbeat boutique of jewelry, cards, toys and other academic necessities. Here is the place to pick up that all-important carrying case for condoms ($14 and $9), a “Magic Eight Ball” that provides answers to questions ($8.50) and a security blanket for adults ($12).
Best value: In a snappy little store called Metro Sports are men’s and women’s T-shirts (3 for $10), men’s Bermuda shorts ($4.99) and cotton shirts with collars ($6.99).
Quick bites: Famous Amos cookies are a good bet at 75 cents for a large white-chocolate-and-macadamia nut. Or try a “homemade” ice cream cone for $1.15 at White Mountain Creamery.
