Trader Joe's Moved Next Door at Ocean Ranch Village. Here's What Else Is Shifting on Golden Lantern.

Which door is Trader Joe's behind now? Since Thursday, Oct. 22, it has been in the old Bed Bath & Beyond building at Ocean Ranch Village. Store 103 opened there at 8 a.m., and the old store a few doors down closed the same week.

The grocery move is the latest of several changes on Golden Lantern, and they all point the same way. The gym came back in January with a pool and a cold plunge. The old Hendrix corner has a new restaurant lined up, built around brunch and late nights. Over the past year, each empty space here has gone to a business designed to keep people around longer. Once Good Boy opens, which is slated for early 2027, a visit to Ocean Ranch Village could start with a cold plunge before work and end with a steak after dark.

A Grocery Store That Doubled Without Leaving the Lot

The new Trader Joe's is at 32391 Golden Lantern, and the old store was at 32351. According to the Orange County Register, the new store fills 14,277 square feet leased from center owner Shea Properties, which is more than double the size of the store it replaced.

A company representative told the Register the new store would have "the same amazing Crew Members and products with a newly designed layout and bigger space." The store's crew and number stay the same. Only the floor plan grew.

The move also settles what happens to the building that sat empty after Bed Bath & Beyond closed. Shea redeveloped it into two retail spaces, with Trader Joe's in one and Ulta Beauty in the other. The Register first reported Ulta's 10,000-square-foot lease at the center in February. One large box that drew one shopper at a time now holds a supermarket and a beauty retailer under one roof.

Laguna Niguel was one of two Trader Joe's openings in Orange County that Thursday. The chain opened its first Anaheim Hills store the same morning, in a former Big Lots on East Santa Ana Canyon Road.

Where Things Sit Now

Here is a quick guide to how the Golden Lantern side of the center has changed:

The Corner Gym That Came Back With a Pool

Months before the grocery move, a different rebuild at the corner of Camino del Avion and Golden Lantern hinted at where the center was going. Shea Properties first announced Curl Fitness for Ocean Ranch Village in January 2025, with founding-member enrollment set to start that March.

The gym that opened a year later is a lot more than a set of treadmills. In its January 2026 opening announcement, Shea described a major rebuild that doubled the training and sauna space and added an outdoor cold plunge and pool. The Register listed Curl as open at 32331 Golden Lantern in its Jan. 26 retail update.

Saunas, cold plunges and a pool are built for long visits. A gym laid out this way gives people a reason to come early and stay a while, and it sits a few doors from what is now a much larger grocery store.

The Hendrix Corner Has Been Rebuilt Before

The pattern is clearest at the restaurant pad on the Laguna Niguel and Dana Point border. The Register's July report listed three earlier tenants on the site:

1. Chevy's
2. Fred's Mexican Cafe
3. Hendrix, from Rainer Schwarz and John Nye, the team behind Driftwood Kitchen and The Deck

Hendrix ran for more than seven years and then closed in 2024. The space stayed empty long enough that, in the Register's words, "many locals" were "waiting to see what would come next." The wait ended in July, when Shea Properties announced the next tenant.

Good Boy Is Being Built for the Evening

Good Boy is a new concept from Specialty Restaurants Corporation and is slated to open in early 2027. Specialty Restaurants is a decades-old group based in Costa Mesa, founded by David Tallichet. Its portfolio includes Orange Hill in Orange, along with restaurants in Los Angeles, Florida, New York and Ohio. OC Business Journal put the company at 17 restaurants nationwide, with Orange Hill as its other Orange County location at the time.

The plans describe a restaurant meant for long evenings. Shea's announcement says Good Boy "will be a place that feels equally suited for dinner, an after-work drink, weekend brunch, or a late-night celebration." In the same release, Specialty Restaurants COO Ryan Smith called it "a playful, steak-forward concept with a 'no veto' menu designed to offer something for everyone," and said it is a place where guests can "find themselves lingering well into the evening."

The menu hasn't been revealed. The Register reports Good Boy will serve at least brunch and dinner, and Shea says more details will come later.

In the same release, Lillian Kuo, Shea's senior vice president of commercial management, said, "Ocean Ranch Village continues to evolve as a vibrant gathering place for residents and visitors alike." The tenant Shea picked for the Hendrix pad matches that description, a restaurant built around brunch, after-work drinks and late nights.

Good Boy will join a lineup that already has range. The Register lists Bottega Angelina, Seasurf Fish Co. and Yoshiharu Ramen among the restaurants in the same Golden Lantern complex. Italian, seafood and ramen are already here, and a steak-forward place pitched for late-night celebrations adds something new to the mix.

The Next Space to Watch

The next address to watch is 32351 Golden Lantern, the store Trader Joe's left behind when it moved to 32391.

The past year shows how Shea has handled empty space here. The empty Bed Bath & Beyond became two tenants. The old gym reopened with a pool and cold plunge. The restaurant pad that sat empty after 2024 went to a group whose pitch is built around late nights. Whatever moves into the old Trader Joe's space will show whether the center keeps going in that direction.

For now, the dates are set. Trader Joe's is open in its larger building as of Oct. 22, Curl Fitness has been open at the corner since January, and Good Boy is slated to open on the Hendrix corner in early 2027.

Laguna Niguel is home base for Suzi and Ryan, and changes on Golden Lantern are part of the local knowledge they bring to every conversation with clients near Ocean Ranch Village. If you're curious how this corner of town figures into your own home's value, DaileybytheSea is glad to talk it through. Get Your Free Home Valuation.