Business Question for those now living in OC (Anaheim, Riverside: real estate, how much)

[tx2ca]

I need some help from OC residents and/or business owners.

I'm currently running a large business in Texas for kids and have been for the last 15 years. A co-worker and I would like to venture out on our own, but don't want to stay in Texas. We have the funding and know that cost of living is expensive. That's really not the issue. We both have visited CA many times and love it! My future partner actually lived in SoCal for 5 years about 15 years ago.

My question is: I've looked at all the demographics and statistics, but now I want to hear from the people who actually live there. Where would you recommend starting a business that needs lots of kids/families to support it? My demographic is ages 2yrs - 15yrs, preferably family income levels of 80K+. I've done competitve analysis and am not very worried about our success; I just want to hear from the locals as to the best area in your opinion!

We're focusing in on southern OC (Mission V, Aliso, Laguna N., etc.) or Costa Mesa/Irvine, maybe even Yorba Linda/Placentia/East Anaheim.

Love to hear your input!

[missionhome]

There is a lot of competition in Mission Viejo for the youth market.
Some examples:
Laser Quest- Large laser tag center in Kaleidoscope.
Howie's Game Shack- Also in the Kaleidoscope, a gaming center where you play X-Box 360 against others in the store.
Build A Bear Work Shop- In the mall, make your own bear.
K1 Speedway- In neighboring Irvine. Indoor go-carts on a huge course.
Regal Cinemas- Kids love the movies around here.
Jump N Jamin- At Kaleidoscope, huge indoor play park for kids

If you business doesn't compete with those, I would say you could do excellent in Mission Viejo. It is overflowing with kids and Ladera Ranch next door has even more. If your business is in entertaining kids, the Kaleidoscope is a good area. This plaza has established itself as a hit for entertainment and your business could feed off the other ones in the plaza. Ex: Kids go to laser Quest see your store and check it out.
So, If your looking for kids Mission Viejo has plenty and a lot of people way over that income mark. Actually, all the areas you are looking at are good choices. Those would be my three too, I just know Mission Viejo area best.

[tx2ca]

Thanks for the input!

[kturbe]

Not sure what the business is but South Orange County is an excellent area, higher income, great schools, lot's of active kids. Cities you could consider:

Irvine, Rancho Santa Margarita, Mission Viejo (Ladera Ranch), Laguna Niguel, Aliso Viejo, San Clemente (telaga) even Lake Forest area or canyon areas that include, Foothill Ranch, Portola Hills, up towards Rancho Santa Margarita, Dove Canyon, Coto might be lacking some activities except for the standard, little league, soccer, etc.

A while back the City of Lake Forest is doing an opportunity study and part of that is outsourcing childrens activities, not sure if this fits but might want to check it out.

A little cheaper area but is totally exploding with business is South Corona in Riverside County.

Best of luck, if you need any contacts out here please do not hesitate to contact me direct.

[bonsainut]

First, you need to tighten up your demographic target. I don't know what it is like in Texas, but there is a huge difference here in terms of what 2-4 year-olds will do, versus 5-9 year-olds, 10-13 year-olds and 14+. Regardless of how you slice the market, there will be plenty of kids. For all intents and purposes you should consider Orange County an urban market. You will probably have 500,000 pop. within a 10 mile radius of your location regardless of where you locate.

Your #1 issue will be real estate - depending upon how much space you need. Retail here STARTS at $2.00 per square foot PER MONTH and that is for large spaces in distressed areas. You can easily see $3.50 per month or more in high traffic areas. If you try to get out of retail into light industrial or R&D, you will probably not have the parking available in order to get a business permit. Parking will be your #2 issue after locating a space - even in strip malls it is tough sometimes to get business approval since businesses cram in so tightly and the retail developers squeeze the max retail space out of every square foot of land (leaving minimal parking). You can FORGET about an outdoor location unless you have millions to spend - at least in south orange county. If you have an entertainment concept that requires a lot of space, I would recommend north county or inland empire.

Any hints about what you are trying to do?