Rheem's Old Supermarkets Became T.J. Maxx and HomeGoods. Grocery Outlet Is Getting a New Building.
Moraga's second grocery store isn't moving into an old supermarket building. Rheem Valley Shopping Center has had five grocery stores since it opened in 1954, and every former grocery space that local histories can locate is now used by another business. Grocery Outlet is getting a new 17,404-square-foot store on the row between CVS and Dollar Tree, and the Town's most recent estimate puts the opening in March or April 2027.
That changes how the center works. For decades, wherever Rheem kept its supermarket was the stretch people drove to. When the new store opens, that stretch will be the CVS and Dollar Tree row, and the center's history explains why.
In January, Lamorinda Weekly published a look back at the center based on records from the Moraga Historical Society. It counted five markets that came and went, and it names the current use of every space except the first.
| Former grocery store | What's in that space now |
|---|---|
| Clark's Market, the first, opened with the center in 1954 | Location not identified in the history |
| Lucky | The Saint Mary's College annex |
| Safeway | T.J. Maxx |
| Petrini's, 1986 | HomeGoods |
| Apple Market, after Petrini's | HomeGoods |
Safeway and Petrini's turned into big-box retail. The Lucky building turned into college space. The center's other spaces have changed over just as completely. Longs Drugs opened in 1984 and became CVS in 2008. Dollar Tree took over the old Blockbuster Video space around 2011. Taco Bell sits where the T-Bone Drive In used to be. The 24 Hour Fitness building once held a Thrifty's Drug Store.
That turnover is still going. Dover Saddlery at 444 Center Street, in the space that once held Neldam's Bakery, closed for good on January 22, 2026, Bay Area Telegraph reported.
With the known former supermarket spaces taken, a grocery store coming back to Rheem needed a new building.
The Grocery Outlet replaces a largely vacant strip of older storefronts totaling 11,167 square feet. The new building is about 56 percent larger than what it replaces. The plan also adds more commercial space, changes the parking layout and adds new landscaping along Moraga Road.
Here's how the project got from approval to a spring target:
Bay Area Telegraph calculates that a spring opening would come nine or ten months after the original mid-2026 target. The paper describes the date as an estimate, not a confirmed grand opening. It also notes the Moraga store is going ahead even though some other Grocery Outlet locations in California have closed. In March 2026, KTVU reported that the Emeryville-based chain had confirmed signed leases for new stores in Moraga and Oakland.
This matters more for Moraga than for most towns. The same report says Safeway at the Moraga Shopping Center has long been the town's main full-service supermarket, and shoppers who want another option often drive to Lafayette, Orinda or Walnut Creek. Grocery Outlet carries brand-name groceries, household basics, frozen food and wine, and its stock can change a lot from week to week.
Because the store is going between two businesses that already draw daily trips, the grocery run will now begin on that row. Bay Area Telegraph expects a grocery store to bring much more regular foot traffic to the center and help the shops next to it.
Here's what was operating around the new store, according to each business's own location page in mid-October 2026:
The center's look changed before the store went in. The scaffolding came down this summer, according to Lamorinda Weekly's July report. Rotting wood was repaired, white and golden-brown paint replaced the old chocolate-brown and dark-green exteriors, and large gold letters now name each business. The same report says the work started when the Town asked property owners to spruce the buildings up and make the center more "cheerful."
One building at Rheem has kept the same use through the grocery turnover. Lamorinda Weekly's history calls the 1957 Rheem Theatre about the only business that hasn't changed, apart from modern upgrades.
The theatre hasn't always had an easy time. Lamorinda Weekly reported in 2018 that it had been closed for about six months before it reopened on June 14 that year, under a management agreement with Zemrak Pirkle Productions and the Moraga Community Foundation. The property was sold to Cinema West in 2019.
Today, Cinema West's Rheem Theatre page lists 350 Park Street with hours of Thursday through Sunday plus select weekdays and holidays. It has showtimes posted through December 2026, and its memberships include invitations to special screenings.
With the theatre keeping a mostly Thursday-to-Sunday schedule, a grocery store gives Rheem a reason for steady trips on the other days too.
The grocery store is the most visible piece of a bigger push. At the June 24 Town Council meeting, Town Manager Scott Mitnick gave an economic development update. Lamorinda Weekly quoted him describing the goal:
"This community is clamoring for positive redevelopment. Not to have a whole bunch of density and make it look like Walnut Creek, or Palo Alto, or San Jose – that's not in the cards – but to have a more vibrant and self-sustaining local economy that offers opportunities to people that live here in Lamorinda."
The same report lists the pieces that are already moving. In January, the Town signed a one-year, $60,000 agreement with Kosmont Companies for real estate and economic development advice. A Chipotle is planned where the Bank of America ATM now stands, and no opening date has been announced. The Saint Mary's College Rheem Campus is on the market, and Kosmont is talking with the college about redeveloping the site.
Ownership is split, which shapes what comes next. Lamorinda Weekly reports that Rheem has several property owners, and U.S. Realty Partners is the largest. Owners are open to considering attached housing, which would make Moraga a test case for that company, but construction costs have gone up. According to the report, Kosmont is working with the owners on concepts that make sense for each property.
That puts the Lucky-era annex in a familiar spot. It was a supermarket, became college space, and may now change again.
For the next few months, the Rheem errand stays as it is: CVS and Dollar Tree on the row, Safeway across town, the theatre on Park Street. If the Town's estimate holds, groceries come back to Rheem in March or April 2027, in a new building on the row between CVS and Dollar Tree.
If you'd like to know what the Rheem changes could mean for your street or your plans, Black Rose Real Estate is happy to talk it through with you. Let's Talk.
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