This place is dangerous, and I say it because pedestrians are the main problem that I come across here. I don't know who taught them that you have to look both ways BEFORE you cross the street.
You don't just walk in traffic, but whatever, I'll just review this shopping center instead of rant on how people in Irvine act. After midnight the workers at All That Barbecue get drunk and drink in their cars, or behind that bench next to their work.
For starters, Marie Callender's has been gone since 2015 and Outback Steakhouse has been gone since 2017, it's old news but I don't mind writing all this junk here. Now the debate is with the Irvine Company, people don't want to renew their lease with the increase in rent.
It happened with Baskin Robbins, Armstrong Gardens and the previous owners of 7-Eleven. It happened originally with Rich, who owned the 76 Unocal gas station (back until 2007), he had other locations and didn't mind losing this one, which became the Chase bank we have now.
I knew the original owner of 7-Eleven (owned from 1983-1996), he sold the place because he retired and still owned a store at the University shopping center for his children to work at. Because he retired, this doesn't have an effect on the business.
The next owner of 7-Eleven (the old guy with the son) owned it from 1996-2022 decided NOT to renew the lease and sold the business. I recall he was friends with the owner of the car wash, and they both said Asians own the shopping center (I find it funny because I'm part Asian) and he was done giving them money just to keep his store open.
The Baskin Robbins went out of business because the workers were stealing money from the register. Nobody noticed until they stopped making money (due to the Asian stores next to here), so this location went out of business.
Now the Sam Woo Barbecue place was owned from 1994-2021, I knew the manager and he said they were going out of business. It's not a renewal issue, which people expected, Sam Woo went out of business because the owner got busted for tax fraud.
https://la.eater.com/2020/8/18/21373831/sam-woo-restaurant-owner-gary-cheung-tax-insurance-fraud-guilty
The first place to go out of business was actually 24 Hour Fitness, you couldn't go in and workout. The pandemic killed the theme they had of being 24 hours, and the laws were questioned about people sweating on the equipment and how everyone would workout with masks.
The Armstrong Garden Center relocated, of all the years they stayed here it was the rent that made them leave. They got charged too much for rent, took their ball and left to Tustin.
It's a shame, because they remodeled their store (and also installed that huge wall around it) to make it a perfect location for years. I still remember when they installed the speakers and played their own music, that location was perfect to play it too.
The problem is "All That Barbecue" and "99 Ranch Market", they all ruin the parking for this location. The customers park all over, the only safe stores are CVS, BevMo, O'Reilly's and the Chevron gas station.
They basically hemorrhage business with stupid customers, willing to park far from the store (and spread shopping carts all around) when they walk around just to be rude. But that's not all, then you have the security guards (who must be bored out of their minds in Irvine) and all they do all day is drive their golf carts around with the lights flashing.
No reason for them doing this, they just want to feel like they're actually working and not blocking your vehicle from driving. Now that I think about it, this shopping center is pretty bad.
Sorry I couldn't find how long Armstrong Gardens existed here, they just seemed to pretend this store never existed. I'm pretty sure it was around since the late 70's, or early 80's.
I'm not sure how long Petco will last, but their inventory has declined over the last decade. They've been around here since 1994 (I thought it was 1993) but I'm finding this plaza forgettable.
The other stores are expected to fail, only the Mc Donald's is still going pretty strong, but they have a drive thru. All I'm saying is when 99 Ranch Market and All That Barbecue are closed, people drive better and you can park your car without any trouble. read more
