Delivered At Last

By Eric Richardson
Published: Monday, April 16, 2007, at 05:59PM

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Almost three years ago – just a few weeks after I had moved Downtown – I wrote that Von’s grocery delivery service intrigued me. The broader context of the post was my ambivalence over the forthcoming Ralphs:

From my apartment the walk to Ralphs will be about .85 miles. That’s worlds better than the distances present now, but the question you have to ask is what’s the magic distance at which people will make the frequent trips required to do their grocery shopping on foot. Once you’re in the car it doesn’t really matter whether you’re going one mile or ten.

So three years later we’re still waiting for the Ralphs, but finally I’ve tried out delivery. Short review: worked exactly as it should.

Read on for more…

Kathy and I were going to head to the store last night, but when the time came I really didn't feel like making the effort of getting in the car and wandering the aisles. Our list didn't include anything we needed for this morning, so I decided to finally give delivery a shot.

Around 7pm I placed the order on the Von's web site. One small feature I really liked: you can lock in your delivery window before you've done your shopping. No worrying about getting your cart together only to find that there aren't delivery options for a time you're available.

I was working from the apartment today, so I selected a 1 - 3pm delivery window. There were plenty of evening times available as well, should I not have been on an odd schedule. The driver showed up at 1:30pm, rang the doorbell and there were my groceries. He placed them in the kitchen and then was off.

My total time commitment for this "trip"? About twenty minutes. Fifteen were putting a cart together, five were putting groceries away here in the apartment.

I approve. I'm not going to say that getting the new Ralphs won't be nice, but I doubt I'll use it any more than I use the store these days. And given how well this one went, delivery might just work its way up my list.

Comments

Fred Camino writes:

.85 miles is a bit long for a walk, especially for groceries. I usually consider the "max" for an ideal walkable area to be .5 miles, about a 10 minute walk for most people. I check the DASH routes, there doesn't seem to be any route from the 5th/Spring area directly to the new Ralphs, the closet stop seems to be Olympic/Hill on the Weekday Route D. Not ideal. Glad delivery worked out.

# on Apr.16.2007 AT 09:32 PM

Shawn writes:

Even a half mile each way is almost too far. Definitely not ideal for me. But then again I live 300 yards from a grocery store and nearly always drive.

I would think that Eric could pick up groceries during or after work. That's what..2 blocks? Just need to have a personal shopping cart for the haul home.

But this does illustrate that one large grocery store is not really suited to serve all of downtown. I've always thought that downtown would be better served by several smaller stores than one big one - like a D'Agostino's or similar.

# on Apr.16.2007 AT 09:54 PM

Eric Richardson writes:

Shawn: Yeah, the Ralphs is quite near the office. It's still a long walk to get the stuff home, though. I walk to the office so it isn't like I have a car there.

You're exactly right on the distributed markets concept. It just needs to be something you can stop by to pick up fresh stuff.

# on Apr.16.2007 AT 10:01 PM

Ed Fuentes writes:

Been a Vons.com user for a year now. Very handy when you want to do those larger orders. Do enough, and you get a coupons for free delivery as a promo. Only downside is once in a while an item is not in stock and you don't know until it's delivered.

And, once in your que, you can take your last order and duplicate it. Saves time from selecting the items all one by one.

When you are doing the urban thing, it's more common to just pick up a few things as you need them. The massive food haul in one shot is a suburban thang.

# on Apr.16.2007 AT 10:53 PM

Whitman Lam writes:

Uh.. 0.85 miles ?

Time to get a bicycle with a big grocery rack.

# on Apr.16.2007 AT 11:08 PM

Fred Camino writes:

"But then again I live 300 yards from a grocery store and nearly always drive."

You know I can't get behind that!

# on Apr.16.2007 AT 11:12 PM

obeck writes:

say it with me now... bodega.

# on Apr.17.2007 AT 08:48 AM

Richard Andreoli writes:

I've been interested in using Vons.com when I'm on deadline and just can't get out. The one time I tried it, the website said there was no delivery in my area (ironic considering I'm not far from Ghetto Vons in Echo Park). I didn't look into it after that-- too busy-- but if they're hitting downtown they must have changed that.

And does one tip the delivery guy? What's the protocol on that?

# on Apr.17.2007 AT 04:59 PM

Dennis writes:

I live at Spring and 7th and they deliver to my building. I have used them infrequently when I am slammed with work and just can't get it together to go to a grocery store to stock up. I normally do produce and meat shopping at the Central Market.

I understand that the delivery guy is not supposed to take tips. I have had relative success - the produce is fresh and even the meat they select has been good. I figure that if they didn't do a good job, it would kill their delivery business.

The only gripe I have is that if something is not in stock, you don't find out until the delivery is made.

# on Apr.17.2007 AT 05:05 PM

Ted writes:

I've been bringing the daily groceries home from work and ordering the big items (paper towels, dog food) weekly or so from Von's. Great service, good website, and they don't take tips.

When Ralph's opens I'll pick up the daily things there, but still get the big stuff delivered from Von's to save the two elevators and long walk from car to apartment.

# on Apr.17.2007 AT 05:26 PM

Barkleydoom writes:

The little market below the Helman Building (on the 400 block of Main) is expanding into some of the space in the adjacent building (east). From the look of it, they are taking a nice bit of additional room. Ray, the owner, mentioned he was going to turn it into a 'real market'. Sounds promising. Right now I drive to Silverlake to get produce and such.

# on Apr.18.2007 AT 12:44 AM

deborah zaricor writes:

I have lived downtown for a year now and I use Albertsons.com. I will soon be moving just 2 blocks from Ralphs and I still plan to use Albertsons.com. I will be going to ralphs when I run out of laundry detergent or the cat needs some food but the big stuff it is going to be delievered.

# on Apr.19.2007 AT 06:20 PM

Delivered At Last

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