Downtown Ralphs to Open

Photo from Flickr user fridayinla

In most neighborhoods, the opening of a new supermarket isn't a remarkable occurence. However, the arrival of Ralphs Fresh Fare at Ninth and Flower is a seminal event for Downtown Los Angeles.

As reported on the front page of today's Los Angeles Downtown News, the long-awaited Ralphs will open its doors this Friday. The occasion is something of a homecoming for Ralphs, the venerable Southern California grocer that began operations in Downtown in 1873 and pioneered the supermarket concept on the West Coast. More importantly, it is a signal that Downtown has finally arrived as a viable residential community, as the area previously lacked a traditional full-service supermarket.

A Downtown renaissance has been pursued by civic and business leaders for nearly half a century. Once the undisputed capital of Southern California, Downtown steadily lost its prominence as Los Angeles sprawled along its major boulevards and freeways, giving rise to shopping and employment centers with easier access and free parking. After World War II, attempts at redevelopment bolstered Downtown's status as a focal point of government, culture, and commerce, but it never became a desirable location for residents, emptying out on weeknights and weekends.

The City adopted an adaptive reuse ordinance in 1999, encouraging the conversion of vacant office buildings in Downtown's Historic Core into housing units. The ordinance sparked a residential boom that eventually spread from the Historic Core to the South Park district, home to the Staples Center arena and the L.A. Live Project, where developers eagerly snatched up parking lots as sites for new housing developments. In 2003, Ralphs chose South Park as the location for its store, anchoring the ground floor of a mixed-use building known as the Market Lofts.

In recognition of the affluent demographics of Downtown's fledgling residential population, the new Ralphs store will be one of its 25 Fresh Fare units, oriented towards the upscale customer with amenities such as a wine tasting station, a sushi chef, and a cheese and olive bar. While the grocer expects its store to begin making $500,000 in sales each week, it may not have the neighborhood to itself for very long, as the posh Whole Foods chain is rumored to be eyeing a site at the L.A. Central development only a few blocks away.

Ralphs may open a second Downtown store in order to defend its market position and serve more customers in the booming community. The Los Angeles Downtown News reports that the company is eyeing a site in the Grand Avenue Project at Second and Olive, closer to the Historic Core and new residential towers planned for Bunker Hill. As supermarkets join the growing ranks of new shops, restaurants, and bars in Downtown, the neighborhood will become more vibrant and liveable, perhaps regaining its former prominence as the definite urban core of the nation's second-largest metropolis.