SPROUTS FARMERS MARKET will be coming to Garden Grove, to be built on the site of the old Vons Pavilion building on Chapman Avenue, near Brookhurst Street. It will feature “farm-fresh” organic and natural produce and other items (Orange County Tribune photos).

The long wait on the fate of the old Vons Pavilion building on Chapman Avenue just west of Brookhurst Street may soon be over.

According to Lisa Kim, Garden Grove assistant city manager and community and economic development director, that building will be torn down and a new shopping center – to be called Pavilion Plaza West – anchored by a 24,608-square foot Sprout’s Farmers Market supermarket will appear in its place.

In addition to the Sprouts, well-known for its offering of natural and organic produce and other foodstuffs, the center will be leased to “national brands.”

THE SPROUTS store in Seal Beach.

Additionally, two pad buildings at the front of the property on Chapman will include space for seven smaller businesses facing toward The Promenade shopping center to the north.

The 76,000-square foot building was constructed in the early Sixties as a Zody’s discount department store, and was reborn in the Eighties as a Pavilions supermarket, an upscale brand of the Vons chain.

It was, at one time, the largest supermarket in Orange County. As shopping and dining habits changed, the store was downgraded to a more traditional Vons Food and Drug, and closed in the mid-Nineties.

The store remained idle and empty for decades until purchased in 2017 by the Sterling Organization of Palm Beach, Florida for $11 million.

When completed, the addition of Sprouts will mean there will be four supermarkets in the shopping area of Brookhurst and Chapman, including the Best Choice store (aimed at a Vietnamese clientele), Aldi’s and WalMart.

Sprouts can trace its origins to a fruit stand in San Diego founded in 1943 by Henry Boney. The first Sprouts Farmers Market was opened in 2002 in Chandler, Arizona by the Boney family with the slogan “Healthy Living For Less.”

The company now has 340 stores and over 35,000 employees. Unlike traditional grocery stores, Sprouts focuses on “farm-fresh produce and other healthy, affordable items.”