It’s SOCO Cool

When you’re driving north on the 405 Freeway just past Harbor Boulevard, look to the right and you’ll get an up-close preview of Orange County’s hippest retail makeover. The SOCO (South Coast Collection), formerly an unremarkable collection of stores, is being turned into a stylish and sustainable shopping village with creative showrooms like Wildflower Linens, Let Them Eat Cake, a soon-to-open fabulous Stark carpet store, trendy restaurants, and, in November, Paul Mitchell’s flagship Store-Salon-School.

SOCO, by Burnham-Ward Properties a subsidiary of Burnham USA of Newport Beach, reminds us of an upscale version of The LAB. When the transformation is complete, you’ll be able sip coffee by the fire pits, shop at the OC Mart MIX (a contemporary marketplace of hip and trendy stores), buy luxury items for your home, and find fresh produce at a Farmers Market—all in one place, hence the name, “collection”.(You can get updates on the OC Mart MIX on Facebook and Twitter/TheOCMartMIX.)

SOCO is between Sunflower and the 405 Freeway just north of Harbor Boulevard in the 3300 block of Hyland Ave. in Costa Mesa.