Grocery Outlet is now expected to open at Rheem Valley Shopping Center in March or April 2027. That would make it the sixth grocery store in the center's history. The other five came and went. One business has held its spot the whole time: the Rheem Theatre on Park Street, which opened in 1957. This year Rheem Center got new paint, a new shop, a delayed grocery opening and a planned Chipotle. Even with all that, the center still works the way it always has. Stores change around the edges, and the theater stays.
Five Grocers and One Marquee
Lamorinda Weekly's January look back at the center, written with help from Moraga Historical Society President Susan Sperry, traces where each grocery store went. Almost every one left behind a building that now holds something else:
- Clark's Market opened with the center in 1954. It was Rheem's first grocery store.
- Lucky was in the building that is now the Saint Mary's College annex.
- Safeway was in the space T.J. Maxx uses today.
- Petrini's opened in 1986 in the building HomeGoods uses now.
- Apple Market followed Petrini's in that same building, before HomeGoods.
The rest of the center has changed hands just as often. Longs Drugs opened in 1984 and became CVS when the chain sold in 2008. A dollar store moved into the old Blockbuster Video space around 2011. The post office used to be Jo and Eve's Variety Store, which also sold donuts. Neldam's Bakery is now Dover Saddlery, and Moraga Art Gallery is where Beaubell's Real Estate once was. The 24 Hour Fitness building was a Thrifty's Drug Store, which the Lamorinda Weekly piece remembers for its cheap, oddly shaped scoops of ice cream. Charles Drugs was split into three storefronts: Nation's, Subway and a pet shop that has since closed.
The same article picks out one exception. Apart from modern upgrades, about the only business that hasn't changed is the 1957 Rheem Theatre.
Where the Sixth Grocery Store Is Going
Grocery Outlet isn't taking over a former grocery building. It's getting a new one instead. The 17,404-square-foot store replaces an 11,167-square-foot wing between CVS and Dollar Tree. By the time demolition started, that wing was mostly empty except for a Goodwill donation center. The project also includes attached space for another tenant and two separate building pads. Moraga Jewelers moved a few doors down in July 2024, and the Goodwill donation center closed before the excavators showed up. In January, Lamorinda Weekly said the center hadn't seen retail construction like this in decades.
The opening date has moved back. In June 2026, Lamorinda Weekly reported that the store had missed its mid-2026 target because of weather, sewer-line work and county-related delays, and that the opening was pushed to early 2027. At the September 9 Town Council meeting, the town manager narrowed that to March or April and said interior work would start the following week. That's the latest estimate on record. It's a forecast, not a confirmed opening day.
A Fresh Coat of Paint, by Request
The new paint wasn't the owners' idea alone. The Town of Moraga asked the property owners to spruce up the buildings and make the center more "cheerful." By July, the scaffolding was gone. Rotting wood had been repaired, white and golden-brown paint had replaced the old chocolate brown and dark green, and each business had its name in large gold letters.
Town Manager Scott Mitnick explained what the town wants at the June 24 council meeting:
"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 town is putting money behind that goal. In January, Moraga signed a one-year, $60,000 agreement with Kosmont Companies for real estate and economic development advice on key properties. Rheem has several property owners, and U.S. Realty Partners is the largest. The Lamorinda Weekly reporter also heard several residents at a local event ask when the same improvements would reach the Moraga Shopping Center.
The Parking Lot Pad on Its Third Use, With a Fourth Coming
One small spot in the parking lot shows how often things change at Rheem. A Fotomat kiosk used to stand where the Bank of America ATM is now, near the Taco Bell, which was once the T-Bone Drive In. Bank of America lists that ATM at 430 Moraga Road. A Chipotle is planned for the ATM site. The July report that announced it gave no opening date. For now, it's a plan without a date.
Fotomat, then ATM, then a burrito counter. One pad will have had three different jobs. The Rheem Theatre, a short walk away, has had one job since 1957.
The Shop That Chose the Theater
The newest opening at Rheem took a different approach. It moved in right next to the theater instead of near the grocery construction. Zenbrosbreaks, a sports card and trading card game shop, opened in August at 354 Park Street. Its neighbor is the Rheem Theatre at 350 Park Street.
The owners are brothers Ben and Matt Scheve. Both live in Moraga, and their father grew up in town. They paid for the business themselves. Ben is a CPA, and Matt is working on a psychology degree at the University of Oregon. They told Lamorinda Weekly they had watched the space sit open for years before taking it.
"It's been a pretty good, steady flow every day. The after-school rush gets a little crazy at times, and we do get the theatre crowd."
The shop carries Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering, One Piece and sports cards. A big part of the business is online "breaking," where boxes are opened on livestreams through the Whatnot platform, and buyers must be 18 or older. Matt pointed out that before the shop opened, anyone in Moraga who wanted to trade cards had to go as far as Danville. The brothers plan to host trade nights around town where kids can come with their parents. They're also planning themed birthday gift bags and a possible workshop that teaches kids safe negotiation.
The theater has anchored this end of the center since 1957. Cinema West bought it in 2019, and the community group that had been running it handed over the keys on July 30 of that year so Cinema West could renovate and reopen it. Cinema West now runs it as Rheem Theatre & GSL. It posts showtimes online, and its membership program advertises invitations to special screenings.
What's Open, What's Coming
Here's where each change stands as of early October 2026:
- Open now: Zenbrosbreaks at 354 Park Street, since August. The anchors listed by the center's management, T.J. Maxx, CVS/Pharmacy, Dollar Tree and the U.S. Post Office, plus HomeGoods and the Rheem Theatre.
- Finished: the façade repairs, new paint and gold lettering, done by July.
- Under construction: Grocery Outlet, between CVS and Dollar Tree, now forecast for March or April 2027.
- Planned, no date: Chipotle on the Bank of America ATM pad.
When Grocery Outlet opens, it will be the first new grocery store at Rheem since Apple Market, in a building that didn't exist a year ago. The Rheem Theatre will still be in the space where it opened in 1957.
At Jodi Nishimura Group, we keep track of how Lamorinda's shopping centers change, from the stores that come and go to the ones that stay put. If you own a home near Rheem and want to know what all this activity might mean for its value, ask us for a free home valuation.
