Alhambra Ralph's closed, to be 99 Ranch (San Diego, Oxnard: sale, 2013, to buy)

[annonymous0381]

In West Hills,CA in the fallbrook mall there is a ralphs,sprouts and a trader joes. The ralphs at fallbrook mall is very very busy and was just renovated. In woodland hills the ralphs fresh fare at topanga and ventura which is next to a sprouts a two blocks away from a whole foods is being gutted out and renovated.

In downtown LA there a a newish ralphs fresh fare that is always busy.

In Sherman Oaks at ventura and hazelteen ralphs tore down an old store and built a new store from the ground up.

I myself prefer Gelsons or Sprouts.

[CA4Now]

Ralphs seems to be closing many of their stores lately, some to become Smart and Final stores.
99 Ranch Market to replace Ralphs on East Main Street | Alhambra Source

[NOLA101]

Originally Posted by genjy

Traditional mainstream American supermarkets have been on the decline for a while.

Not true. Kroger, the largest national supermarket and Ralph's parent, is very profitable and growing quickly. In fact they have record profits. Whole Foods is growing even quicker. Traders Joes is doing well. Harris Teeter (in the South) is doing well. Wegmans (in the North) is doing even better. Gelsons does well.

The reason this supermarket is closing is probably tied to the ethnic changes. Mainstream supermarkets probably don't work very well in Chinese ethnoburbs.

[annonymous0381]

Originally Posted by NOLA101

Not true. Kroger, the largest national supermarket and Ralph's parent, is very profitable and growing quickly. In fact they have record profits. Whole Foods is growing even quicker. Traders Joes is doing well. Harris Teeter (in the South) is doing well. Wegmans (in the North) is doing even better. Gelsons does well.

The reason this supermarket is closing is probably tied to the ethnic changes. Mainstream supermarkets probably don't work very well in Chinese ethnoburbs.

It's very true. Traditional supermarkets struggle in ethnic areas for some reason.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by NOLA101

Not true. Kroger, the largest national supermarket and Ralph's parent, is very profitable and growing quickly. In fact they have record profits. Whole Foods is growing even quicker. Gelsons does well.

Not here, apparently. Gelsons' parent, Arden Group, Inc, was considering selling the chain in 2013. There have been multiple store closures of Albertsons, Vons, and Fresh & Easy. Apparently Seattle-based Haggen is going to try opening here, occupying some of the closed Fresh & Easy stores. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...325-story.html

[IM90046]

Prefer Pavilions or Ralph's myself, sprouts is okay too. I hate Trader Joes!

[jm1982]

Will be interesting to see what the Haggen stores will be like.

When I was in Florida I went to an Aldi, i was curious as we don't have them in L.A . It's owned by the same company as Trader Joes and there were some similarities to trader joes, but definately more a less expensive version. It was funny to see all of the generic store brands that they came up with. Chips ,granola bars, cereal ,etc. The brands were clearly knockoffs of the bigger brands. Prices were very cheap though.

I liked fresh and easy in a way , but there was always something kind of off with it. Prices weren't that great too. It was pretty easy to find things though versus ralphs.

I wasn't too impressed with too much of the 'grab and go' /prepared stuff versus trader joes though. The quality just didn't seem to be there.

I remember sometimes they would have some amazingly cheap stuff on clearance though later in the day..but that was hit or miss.

[LuvSouthOC]

Originally Posted by majoun

I wonder when 99 Ranch will be coming to the west side...

I used to love 99 Ranch and still go on rare occasion. Then I discovered H Mart in Irvine. My love for 99 Ranch died a little that day.

When I go to LA, I always stop at Jon's Market. It has great Armenian/near East/Eastern European and Russian foods. The Persian markets here are starting to seriously wean me off of Jon's market though.

I agree with Jim though, Sprouts and Costco form the bulk of my shopping. What is left is "extras" that likely an ethnic market can serve...or a Gelsons/Ralphs/Vons type of store with the occasional Whole Foods or TJ visit.

[DinsdalePirahna]

Kind of POed that our 99 ranch closed. best place for cheap and fresh seafood

[LuvSouthOC]

Originally Posted by DinsdalePirahna

Kind of POed that our 99 ranch closed. best place for cheap and fresh seafood

Yeah the Fountain Valley one closed, but there are two in Irvine (only one is worth going to).