When Is The Northgate Costa Mesa Opening?

Northgate Costa MesaFormer Albertsons site at Harbor & Wilson, hopefully will become a Northgate

The new Northgate Costa Mesa Mercado store is finally open if you want to check it out with a review and pictures click this paragraph to be taken to the article.


Update November 13th 2023: This Friday November 17th the new Northgate Market in Costa Mesa has its grand opening. The new market called Mercado by Northgate will actually be open Wednesday 15th and Thursday 16th for a soft opening. If you want check out the new store it’s at Harbor and Wilson.

Update February 22nd 2023: Construction has finally began on the Northgate Market Costa Mesa click on this article to be taken to an update

November 13th 2021: When the Albertsons grocery store at the corner of Harbor & Wilson closed many long time fans were not happy to lose their local grocery store. Yes there is a Vons at Harbor & Adams but not everyone has cars or easy access to transportation.

The closure of Albertsons location was somewhat offset by the announcement that Northgate Markets would open a new grocery concept in the same location but it would be about a year before the store would open. People weren’t happy about the delay but the concept sounded interesting with many stalls inside the store cooking up fresh food.

Now two years after the Albertson store closed we still have a shuttered store with plywood on the windows and doors without a local grocery store in the Harbor & Wilson area. At one point Northgate Markets were working on the store and hiring management for the store on Glassdoor.com but since then there has been little activity at the location.

Northgate Costa Mesa
Future Northgate Costa Mesa One Day

I have contacted Northgate several times and they have have said they have no announcement about the store and didn’t want to comment further. There has been much speculation about the store and why it hasn’t opened but i think the most likely reason is lack of staff. There are many job openings at its existing stores that haven’t been filled and in the current climate filling all the positions in a brand new store might be a challenge.

Hopefully as we enter 2022 things change and the store is able to open although as the current pandemic situation looks like it could be getting a little worse which would delay a opening. There is a good chance that the locals in this part of Costa Mesa will be without a local grocery store for quite a while.

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Update August 20th 2022:

Most of 2022 has gone by with no Northgate Costa Mesa opening and it looks like it will be 2023 at the earliest before we see the new supermarket. Originally the reason for the delay often stated was the issue with getting enough employees to run a new store. Yes there is still a lot of job openings in the local Northgate stores but i think many factors combined in to why the store was delayed.

Outfitting and filling a store with merchandise as well as hiring employees at a time of great uncertainty for all retail is tough. Just dealing with the original stores, with customers, employees, masks, sanitizer, social distancing etc during the pandemic became a huge part of doing business.

The planed format for the new Northgate Costa Mesa with a more open store format like a real market with open spaces instead of aisles also is challenge especially during the time when social distancing was required. Hopefully Northgate Costa Mesa will open some time next year as the residents in this part of Costa Mesa need a nearby local supermarket.

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44 thoughts on “When Is The Northgate Costa Mesa Opening?”
    1. Thanks Teresa for your comment, the articles before were dated but after an update that changed even though it should be dating each one. I am now putting a date on each one, thank you for your feedback.

    1. Isabel thank you for your comment, yes i agree Northgate needs to provide a date but at this time they are not planning to open it anytime soon. I will keep asking them and, hopefully at some point they will decide to open the store.

        1. Thank you for your comment Cattiva. Northgate Market is a family owned hispanic focused supermarket chain that is family owned with about 40 locations. The chain is based in Norwalk but has locations in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties. The stores have pre made hispanic food options but also have a good selection of meat, fish and produce. Yes there are a Hispanic market but they also carry the items you would find in a typical non hispanic grocery store. The location is too small for a traditional Walmart it could be a Walmart Neighborhood Store but Walmart has been pulling back on opening those stores and in fact closed one in Anaheim in the last year. The point is kind of moot as Northgate was the ones that signed the lease and they seem happy opening a store in Costa Mesa as its a city with a big hispanic population but also a city that has a big non hispanic population so I’m sure they will adjust as needed to local tastes.

          1. Northgate is great. We travel outside of CM to shop at their other stores. They have outstanding fresh produce and an incredible meat market. Plus their ready to eat “deli” area has some outstanding items. They have pre-packaged goods also, if looking for boxed, bagged, or canned items. Walmart would be a terrible retailer to bring to CM. That’s the wrong direction for our city.

        2. Northgate is amazing – so excited to have it there. What an ignorant comment though – not wanting a store that you know nothing about.

          1. Thank you for your comment Scott. I agree you should at least check the store out and give it a chance before being negative about a store. I do shop at Northgate i’m not hispanic and, don’t eat a lot of hispanic food so some of thats not for me. That being said they generally have a really good fruit and vegetable section as well as bakery and meat section. I may not be buying a lot of their prepared hispanic food but the pricing on their other groceries is reasonable.

          2. Yes , I agree totally, why make a comment on a store you don’t know anything about , I can’t wait to go there and get fresh produce at a reasonable price! ?

  1. I heard a rumor that the neighbors complained about the opening of a Northgate market in their neighborhood and signed petitions to move to another location. Is this true?

    1. I hadn’t heard about a petition to have the market moved to a different location. When Albertsons announced the closure and that it would be replaced by Northgate there were lots of comments. People were upset that Albertsons closed and yes there were comments and discussion because some people were upset that Northgate is a Hispanic market. Some would prefer a non Hispanic market some emails and, comments i received were anti Hispanic. Over time i think for the most part opinions have changed and, most residents just want the grocery store opened and, it doesn’t matter that its Northgate. Others are looking forward to Northgate opening and, most are just frustrated it hasn’t opened. Thank you Jaime for your comment.

  2. That area of Costa Mesa is heavily Hispanic, so Northgate makes sense. El Metate is great, but small. From a customer standpoint, Northgate Markets seem very well managed and I’m sure that this location would stock more Anglo items than Santa Ana for instance. They are going to stock what sells after all.

    1. I agree the area is heavily Hispanic so Northgate would do well and, as a family owned business Northgate has done well competing with much bigger companies so they know what they are doing. I’m not Hispanic but i still need the basics like bread, eggs, milk etc which they will carry so it doesn’t really matter to me that the supermarket is Hispanic.

      Your point that Northgate would adjust the products they sell to local needs as needed. At a typical Northgate all the big name Anglo brands can be found at a Northgate, because of the addition of Hispanic brands maybe there is only 20 options of ketchup for example instead of 50 in an Albertsons or Vons but how much ketchup options do you really need. I have shopped Northgate in Santa Ana and you can find generally what you need and the prices are competitive. Thank you Drew for your comment hopefully Northgate in Costa Mesa opens so we can all check out the selection.

  3. I and my neighbors have soooo been looking forward to this Northgate opening-there is not a decent grocery store in this area. Do hope things progress in a quick smooth matter!!

    1. It will be super nice to be able to walk to the store again. I don’t mind Von’s, but it’s quite a hike. I did a lot of shopping for work at the Harbor and 1st Northgate and it’s a nice market. Weekends are a little crazy though.

    1. Thanks for the comment JPS, we all hope the same its so inconvenient for many people not having a neighborhood supermarket.

    1. Thanks for your comment Elizabeth, it looks like Northgate plans to open sometime in 2023 we will have to see if that happens.

      1. rumors circulating through some vendor partners of current Northgate stores (pepsi, coke, frito lay) that some employees from current stores have been asked recently if there is interest in transferring to this new store. Seems to be some internal rumblings that the store is slated to open Oct/Nov 2022.

        Again just rumors were hearing in the world of vendors.

        1. Thanks for your comment Sean, It would be great if it opened that quickly. Opening a new chain store its always good if you can get some experienced employees to move to the new store. Opening a new store with experienced managers but all new staff that have to be trained is not fun.

  4. Thanks for the update !! Hoping 2023 will bring aguas frescas and fresh pan ! We will complain about traffic but it will eventually subside.

  5. I want apply ,the new opening but we’re can I get cost a mesa northgate market number or online ,”I try it already.

    1. Right now they are not advertising jobs for the Costa Mesa location as will most likely happen early 2023. To check out Northgate Markets available jobs visit their career page and, they usually post openings to Glassdoor.com

  6. Closing two Santa ana stores in early November while grand opening a new large format concept store in Santa Ana. Shortly after focus and priority will shift to Costa Mesa store opening with this new large format concept. Employees from two closing stores in Santa Ana being offered positions at either of the two new stores though many more hirings will come.

    Costa Mesa store opening (depending on some left over construction inside) early-mid December

    1. That Stater Bros (that’s where they are moving I think) was way smaller than the 1st and Harbor Northgate. They must have done a bunch of work. The Northgate by the college was tiny though.

      1. And hopefully the new concept will have a full size grocer. I love their prepared foods, but we need a proper supermarket there like Albertsons was.

    1. Thanks for your comment. As far as your comment i have heard this rumored but i think most likely its just that. Home Depot has 234 stores just in California i don’t think Home Depot would be concerned about it being a Mexican oriented store as long as the store brings traffic to the shopping center in general.

      Home Depot doesn’t own this location and lease contracts usually protect big chains from a direct competitor or a competitor selling certain products moving in to the same center. I think a supermarket of whatever kind brings regular traffic to a shopping that might also decide at Home Depot at the same time.

  7. I really do like the Northgate market it’s new to me this year but I go there a lot now the only problem I have is if I ask a question half of the people in the stores don’t speak English that’s got to change! How do you hire people that don’t speak English I just don’t get it.

          1. Tina and Sean thank you for your comments, yes contraction at the Northgate Market at Harbor & Wilson has finally started.

  8. Looks like it’s finally happening. Lots of construction going on ott it side and inside the store. Parking lot has construction trailers in it.

  9. Man it’s going be a joke if they decorate like it’s the 1980’s. Cheap way to appeal to the Hispanic community as if we’re a monolith. The Northgate family has made millions off the communities they serve but can’t put a bit of extra money in decor that’s not outdated and stereotypical.

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