"For decades, our La Habra store has proudly served generations of families," Oscar González, co-president of Northgate González Market, said in the August release. He announced that the store at 1305 W. Whittier Blvd. will become a Mercado González. He said the company wants the new version to be a gathering place as much as a place to shop.
That announcement came on Monday, Aug. 17. The City of La Habra's planning records show the gathering-place part has been in the works since December 2025. Three hearings between December and July reshaped the store's café and the outdoor patio next to it. Read together, they describe the space the Mercado is being built around: a heated, gated, all-ages dining patio with drinks served inside the meal.
A Store That Has Already Moved Once
Northgate has been in La Habra much longer than the current building. Its first La Habra store opened in 1986, according to the Los Angeles Times. That branch was on La Habra Boulevard. Sources disagree on whether it was the company's second store or its third. The family-run chain, founded by Don Miguel González, opened its first market in 1980.
The store moved to Whittier Boulevard on March 29, 2017. It took over the former Ralphs space, and the Whittier Daily News covered the opening as the anchor of a remodeled shopping center. A café permit for the store was already before the city in June 2016, before the building opened. By February 2017, city reports used the name "Paseo Gonzalez" for the center's shared outdoor seating area between Northgate and the neighboring shops. When the store opened, shoppers could carry food from the tamale, salad, salsa and ceviche counters out to that patio.
The city's planning documents call the site La Habra Town Center, a 10.8-acre shopping center. Cars enter from Whittier Boulevard, Idaho Street and Hacienda Road. For close to a decade, that patio has worked as an informal spot to eat what you just bought inside. The 2025 and 2026 permits change that.
Three Hearings, One Direction
The changes came before the La Habra Planning Commission in order. Each one builds on the one before it:
- December 8, 2025. The commission allowed the store's existing restaurant to grow from 33 seats to 86, including a 16-seat bar. It also allowed beer, wine and spirits under a Type-48 license.
- March 9, 2026. The commission switched that license from Type-48 to Type-47. It also approved fencing off 1,500 square feet of the 3,000-square-foot patio.
- July 27, 2026. A new hearing took up a four-foot glass windscreen, gated entry points around the patio, outdoor furniture, lighting and heating. The changes would make room for more restaurant seats and extend the licensed area to the whole outdoor dining space. The city's exemption notice for that project was posted with the state on July 29.
Three weeks after that notice, Northgate announced the Mercado.
What the License Switch Means for a Weeknight Dinner
The March change matters most for anyone planning to bring the family. The city's resolution explains the difference plainly. A Type-48 license allows a bar where food isn't required and minors aren't allowed. A Type-47 license requires the space to run as a real restaurant with substantial meal service, and it allows minors. The city described this as moving the operation toward a restaurant model, with alcohol served alongside food.
The same resolution limits alcohol service to 10 a.m. through 10 p.m., within the store's existing hours. The perimeter gate around the patio is a state Alcoholic Beverage Control requirement to keep open containers from leaving the area. No new building is part of the plan. The July project covers no grocery expansion and no major change to the shopping center.
So the space growing at 1305 W. Whittier is the patio people already know. It gets a windbreak, heaters, lights and table service for families, and the alcohol hours end at 10 p.m.
The Mercado Fills That Space With Named Stalls
The August announcement lists what will feed those seats. The OC Register reported that Mercado González puestos planned for La Habra include:
- Taquería Los Mesquites
- Carnitas Don Miguel
- Las Cazuelas Guisados
- Rosticería Los 13 Pollos
- El Pariente, which focuses on seafood
- A tamalería, a paletería, a pastelería, a tortillería and an aguas frescas stand
A La Habra version of Entre Nos, the indoor cocktail bar at the Costa Mesa Mercado, is also planned. It will serve Mexican beers, mezcal and tequila. The announcement adds a new outdoor patio and stage for live music and other programming. The plans also include murals, Mexican-inspired architectural details, and a section for artesanías and sweets.
It stays a grocery store. Produce, meat, pantry goods and other staples will still be sold alongside the prepared food. Costa Mesa shows the scale Northgate is working from. That Mercado covers about 70,000 square feet, opened nearly three years ago, and has more than 20 puestos.
The planning records describe the setting and the announcement describes the menu. The 86 seats, the all-ages license and the heated patio approved earlier are what give the puestos and the stage a place to land.
The Churros Opened First
One piece of this block is already open. El Moro Churrería, founded in Mexico City in 1935, has its own storefront at 1327 W. Whittier Blvd. It isn't part of Mercado González. The OC Register describes it as a separate business a stone's throw from the future market. It is El Moro's second Orange County location, after its U.S. debut inside the Costa Mesa Mercado.
The La Habra Area Chamber of Commerce scheduled El Moro's ribbon-cutting for Thursday, Sept. 10. Diners were logging visits by Sept. 27 and Oct. 2. El Moro's own site lists La Habra hours as 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week.
The menu is short. Churros are made to order as traditional roscas and bite-size moritos. Dipping sauces are chocolate, cajeta, condensed milk and chocolate hazelnut. The hot chocolates come in several styles, from the cinnamon-touched Mexicano to the bittersweet Especial. Those 11 p.m. hours run an hour past the 10 p.m. cutoff for alcohol on the Northgate patio next door. That makes El Moro the late stop on this stretch of Whittier Boulevard.
Where Things Stand in October
| Piece of the block | Status as of Oct. 5, 2026 |
|---|---|
| El Moro Churrería, 1327 W. Whittier Blvd. | Open. Posted hours are 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily |
| Restaurant expansion to 86 seats with a 16-seat bar | Approved Dec. 8, 2025 |
| Switch to Type-47 license, alcohol 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. | Approved March 9, 2026 |
| Patio windscreen, gates, heaters and lighting | Heard July 27, 2026. Completion not confirmed |
| Mercado González puestos, Entre Nos, stage | Announced Aug. 17, 2026. No opening date |
| Grocery store during construction | Not yet announced |
Northgate hasn't set an opening date for the La Habra Mercado. The company says more details, including grand-opening plans, will come in the months ahead. No published source says whether the grocery aisles will stay open during the remodel. Northgate's own updates on Mercado González's Instagram are the place to watch.
If you live nearby, the visible changes to watch for are a glass windscreen and gates around Paseo González, and new heaters and lights over the patio tables. Those were the last items the city reviewed before the Mercado was announced.
A new gathering place on Whittier Boulevard changes a neighborhood in ways a listing doesn't show. If you've been wondering how changes like the Mercado affect what your home is worth, Christine Kennedy and our family team have been watching this part of La Habra for decades, and we'd be glad to talk it through over churros. Get a Free Home Valuation and we'll go over the numbers with you.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
