Expanded Vons to reopen on 17th Street

Editor’s note: This corrects where the second location is and when the wine tasting will be held.

COSTA MESA — After undergoing an expansion that displaced at least one longtime tenant, the 17th Street Vons is gearing up to open later this month.

The grocery store, which opened in 1979 in the plaza owned by parent company Safeway at 185 E. 17th St., expanded from 30,000 square feet to about 43,500 square feet, said Carlos Illingworth, manager of public affairs and government relations.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony and grand opening celebration, complete with a food sampling from 3 to 8 p.m. March 31 and wine tasting from 6 to 9 p.m. is scheduled for March 30.

The wine tasting costs a minimum of $25 per person and will be donated to local nonprofit Share Our Selves.

Safeway closed the store closed last year because it was an “undersized facility that did not allow us to provide our Costa Mesa customers with the broad offering and wide selection we’re known for,” Illingworth wrote in an e-mail.

The new store will utilize the additional space by adding full or expanded departments in deli, floral, meat, seafood, produce and organic items.

“Vons is continually reviewing locations in order to best serve the residents of Orange County,” Illingworth said.

He added that a second Vons store, operating under the Pavilions name, will open in the Vido Lido Plaza in May.

Last year, the Costa Mesa Omelette Parlor was one of the tenants given a 30-day notice to vacate in May. The restaurant had been in the center for 27 years. A hair and nail salon also received a notice.

Tenants in the building adjacent to the Vons were vacated before construction began. Some of those tenants will be returned to the new building, Illingworth said.

It is not clear which tenants will be able to return.