Block at Orange Adds Nightclub, Bowling Center to Lure Youth Dollars
Moving to strengthen its position among Orange County’s entertainment-based shopping centers, the Block at Orange has lined up a nightclub and bowling center as new tenants to entice youthful spenders.
The announcement Wednesday comes as centers throughout Orange County--some already open and others still on the drawing boards--are hustling to collect high-energy, entertainment-themed tenants to pull in more customers.
In one of the major coups last year, the Irvine Spectrum Center lured the Crazy Horse Steak House, one of the nation’s most admired country music venues, to South County from Santa Ana. The Spectrum also features a Dave & Buster’s game center and Sing Sing, a popular dueling piano bar.
Downtown Disney, a shopping and entertainment complex that will link Disneyland and its new theme park, California Adventure, will include Latin and live-music nightclubs. Pointe Anaheim, a retail, entertainment and hotel complex that is supposed to be built across the street from Disneyland, expects to offer three live theaters.
And Gotcha Glacier, the centerpiece of the planned Sportstown Entertainment Complex in Anaheim, has said it expects to sign Jillian’s, an operator of giant entertainment centers that combine bars, restaurants, billiards, bowling and other games under one roof.
The Block’s new tenants will build on the center’s other youth-oriented attractions, which include Dave & Buster’s and GameWorks centers, as well as Van’s Skate Park, which attracts younger customers.
“They’re making a statement: ‘This is really what we stand for, this is what we are,’ ” said retail expert Gregory Stoffel of Gregory Stoffel & Associates in Irvine. “The only way they’re going to survive in the long run is to be, above all, unique.”
The new tenants will include a Polly Esther’s Disco and Culture Club nightclub and The Zone, which includes bowling and a microbrewery. It will be Polly Esther’s first site in Southern California and The Zone’s first United States operation.
The Block previously said it was planning a larger expansion that would add more stores geared to older, more affluent shoppers. General Manager James Mance said those plans are still alive but have not advanced beyond the market research stage.
The Block, which opened in November 1998, is the county’s largest entertainment-based shopping center.
In addition to the bowling center and disco club, the Block’s other new tenants opening this year will include MARS Music, which sells musical instruments, and a Burke Williams Day Spa and Massage Center.
When the new stores are in, the Block will be about 98% occupied, Mance said.
At the Spectrum, the Crazy Horse and other entertainment attractions have helped fuel retail sales, said Jennifer Smith, a spokeswoman for the Irvine Co., which owns the center. In the first quarter, sales at stores open at least a year were up 15.6%, the company said.
The Block said its comparable store sales are up 6% through February, the latest figures available.
