Brea Mall's Fall Lineup Is Arriving Out of Order: What's Open, What's Still Coming

Walk out of Din Tai Fung's patio on a weeknight and you are standing on a street that did not exist two years ago. The Sears building is gone. In its place is a 123,000-square-foot Life Time club, a row of restaurants and a Rivian dealership. Go back through the mall doors and the main corridor is a different story. A few new signs are up, a few storefronts are marked "Coming Soon," and the "Fall 2026" interior phase announced in July is only partly here.

Brea Mall is being rebuilt from the outside in. Right now the old Sears end is the finished part of the property, while the inside is still taking shape.

The Old Sears Side Is the Finished Half

The Orange County Business Journal reported in July 2026 that the Life Time club cost $90 million to build. It sits where Sears used to be and is the centerpiece of Simon's $300 million mixed-use redevelopment of the mall. About 85,000 square feet of the club is indoors. Roughly 38,000 more square feet of outdoor amenities spread across about three acres. Those include indoor and outdoor pickleball courts and a resort-style pool with cabanas and a winding water slide. It is the company's fourth Orange County location, after Irvine, San Clemente and Laguna Niguel. Life Time founder Bahram Akradi told the Business Journal that the club is the main anchor for this part of the redevelopment.

The restaurants around it opened on a steady schedule this year. North Italia opened its Brea Mall restaurant on April 22, 2026, and it was the chain's 50th location. Din Tai Fung came next. The Orange County Register reported a first service date of August 7 and a grand opening on August 31. Until the grand opening, it seated by reservation only, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. The Brea restaurant is about 14,000 square feet, with an open kitchen where you can watch cooks fold xiao long bao and a large outdoor patio. It is the chain's northernmost Orange County location, after South Coast Plaza, Downtown Disney District and Irvine Spectrum Center.

Before Din Tai Fung, Brea's nearest location was a drive to Anaheim. Now it is in town, next to a gym with a water slide.

The Business Journal describes this part of the property as an open-air streetscape with shops and restaurants, including Din Tai Fung, North Italia and the Rivian dealership. In its July coverage, WhatNow listed The Melt, Pacific Catch, Williams-Sonoma, EVEREVE, Shibuyala and Dick's Sporting Goods as recent additions to the mall.

Inside, the Fall Phase Is Showing Up One Storefront at a Time

On July 10, WhatNow reported 11 new retail and dining concepts for the mall's next phase. Pop Mart was expected inside during the "Fall 2026 interior redevelopment," along with Onigilly, Palmetto Superfoods, Caitlyn Minimalist, SOLES ART, Fat Daddy Chicken, Mr. Inkwells, N.CAT and Sanlejur.

It is now early October, and that list has only partly arrived. Here is where each name stands on the mall's own website. Simon's pages don't give opening dates, so the table shows each store's label as of early October 2026, not the day it opened.

Pop Mart drew the most attention in the July announcement. WhatNow called it a global designer toy retailer known for collectible blind boxes. It is still listed as coming soon. The two smaller food names, Onigilly and Palmetto Superfoods, were announced the same week, and the mall directory still lists both as coming soon. Of the nine interior names from July, three now carry a "Now Open" label on the mall's site, Caitlyn Minimalist is promoted as new, and the other five are still listed as coming soon.

Kalbi Social Club Is the One Still on the Way

The exterior has one big piece left. WhatNow's July report listed Din Tai Fung and Kalbi Social Club together as the two major restaurants coming to the outside of the property "later this summer." Din Tai Fung opened in August. Kalbi Social Club got a "Coming Soon" post on the mall's news page on September 16, and that label is still up in October.

Other dates have moved too, in both directions. In early March, the Register reported that Dick's Sporting Goods, Williams-Sonoma, Pacific Catch and North Italia were expected by spring. By July, all four were being reported as recent openings. On a project this size, an announced season is the earliest a store might open. The mall's own directory is the best way to know whether a door is actually open before you drive over.

The Apartments Are Still Years Away

The third part of the plan is housing, and it is the slowest. The Business Journal reported a 377-unit apartment building under construction near the Life Time club. AMLI is developing it as AMLI Brea at 1650 Brea Mall. AMLI's project page sets pre-leasing for fall 2028 and first move-ins for spring 2029. The most recent construction updates on that page are from this spring and summer. Garage columns started April 6, 2026, and second-level concrete was poured June 10.

So there will be more construction on this side of the mall for a while, even after the last fall tenant opens. WhatNow describes a finished project with landscaped gathering spaces, fountains, public art and pedestrian-friendly walkways around the shops and homes. For now, the streetscape is the finished part, and the garage going up next door shows how far the rest has to go.

Downtown Brea Has Its Own Fall Dates

If the mall corridor still looks half-finished, Birch Street has a clear calendar for the rest of the year. Three dates are posted:

• Brea Downtown Costume Contest, September 30 through October 30, 2026.
• Treats on the Street, Saturday, October 31, 5 to 7 p.m., at Birch and Brea Boulevard.
• Brea Holiday Car Show, Sunday, December 6, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., also at Birch and Brea Boulevard, with cars ranging from late-model muscle cars to early tin.

It's a short drive from the mall's new restaurants to downtown, so you can easily do both in one evening.

Rance Cooper has watched North Orange County shopping centers change for more than two decades. If you'd like to talk about how the changes at Brea Mall might affect your own plans in Brea, Rance Cooper is glad to share what he's seeing on the ground. Let's Connect.