Ralphs Opening Shows Off the Small Town Side of Downtown

By Eric Richardson
Published: Friday, July 20, 2007, at 12:25PM

Eric Richardson [Flickr]

Eric Richardson [Flickr]

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES —

Ralphs officially opened its 50,000 sq. ft. Fresh Fare at 9th and Flower streets today, with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa cutting the ribbon just after 11:30am. Before that, though, a half hour ceremony included speeches by Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard, Mayor Villaraigosa, Councilwoman Jan Perry, and CCA Director Carol Schatz. Turnout was heavy for the big opening, and even with a heavy media presence the crowd was still slanted in favor of shoppers eager to get inside.

I was talking with DLANC President Russ Brown before the events got started, and he pointed out how well the opening illustrates that Downtown is just a small town with big buildings. We were in the middle of Los Angeles, a city of roughly four million people, and seemingly the entire community – including City officials – had turned out for the ribbon cutting at a grocery store.

We’ll have more on the store itself later in the day.

This story belongs to the following topics:

Topic:
Ralphs' Big Opening

10 stories

Welcome to Ralphs
July 20, 2007
Ralphs Opening Shows Off the Small Town Side of Downtown
July 20, 2007
Fresh Fare to Be Fresh 19 Hours Each Day
July 18, 2007

Comments

LA Bus Girl writes:

That was intense. There were a lot of moms with baby strollers that I feared for–didn’t want to see anyone stomp a baby in the mad rush to get inside the store.

But there were coupons!

# on Jul.20.2007 AT 01:10 PM

Ginny-Marie Case writes:

AHHHHH IT’S NOT FAIR. I’M STUCK AT WORK.

# on Jul.20.2007 AT 04:28 PM