Ralphs' Big Opening

Welcome to Ralphs

By Ed Fuentes — July 20, 2007 — 9 Comments

Ed Fuentes

A hungry crowd lined up around the corner with coupons in hand to experience the opening day of Downtown's new Ralphs store at 9th & Flower. Thirty minutes after being told it would take only ten more, shoppers entered the new store and I had the same thought that Eric and Russell shared earlier in the day. It's fun to see Downtown LA turn into the town of Mayberry RFD, ooohing at the sight of the new Fresh Fare.

Big Cheese Section Ralphs President Dave Hirz noted that both Downtown and store employees might take a little bit to work out the kinks. "There may be a learning curve," he says. Ralphs PR man Terry O' Neil says the long delay in opening the store ended up allowing the chain to better understand what kind of market Downtown should have, resulting in the Fresh Fare upgrade. DCBID's Carol Schatz says the new grocery store will make a Downtown a community.

Special item for future downtown trivia The first spill was on aisle 17 and Ralphs employee Carrie Robbins did the clean-up honors.

Enough of that. I can hear the crowd getting impatient. Let's cut the ribbon so you can take a look at your new Ralphs. Make sure to note the picture of a Downtown resident weeping next to the stack of produce.

Update (4pm): The Times, which has really upped its game lately with mid-day updates, has posted a short piece on the opening.

See photos from Ed Fuentes and Eric Richardson in this blogdowntown photo essay on Ralphs' Grand Opening.

Ralphs Opening Shows Off the Small Town Side of Downtown

By Eric Richardson — July 20, 2007 — 2 Comments

Eric Richardson

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.

Fresh Fare to Be Fresh 19 Hours Each Day

By Eric Richardson — July 18, 2007 — 8 Comments

Eric Richardson

In the comments on Monday's post about Fresh Fare's opening invite several of you asked what the store's hours were going to be. The answer is now posted on the doors: 5am to Midnight

While certainly we would have loved to see the store open 24-hours straight out of the gate, midnight is a world better than, say, 10pm would be.

Fresh Fare Loves to Talk About Fresh Fare Opening

By Eric Richardson — July 16, 2007 — 15 Comments

I just got emailed the invite for Friday's opening of the new Ralphs. The chain's definitely putting some energy into the opening, with a two day schedule featuring food and wine tastings.

I'll certainly be glad when the store opens, in part because we might finally get past this crazy ad copy:

The time is here. Ralphs is proud to be opening a brand new Fresh Fare in the dynamic neighborhood of Downtown Los Angeles. When Fresh Fare opens this week, it will provide downtown customers a unique environment and an unmatched commitment to quality. At Fresh Fare, the ordinary will become extraordinary. Come see all Fresh Fare has to offer and join in the Grand Opening celebration on July 20th and 11 a.m. Fresh has arrived in downtown Los Angeles.

They used the "Fresh Fare" name in there four and half times in six sentences.

Check out the invite for full copy and the wine flight schedule.

Fresh Fare Ad Gets Downtown a Little Backwards

By Eric Richardson — July 09, 2007 — 5 Comments

Eric Richardson

The soon to be opened Ralphs Fresh Fare at 9th & Flower has been doing some heavy advertising of late, sending two glossy postcards to Downtown residents. The ad pictured here ran in yesterday's LA Times, and reader Michael scanned it and sent it in.

Originally I was going to post how I found it odd that the advertising has been completely dropping the Ralphs brand in favor of the Fresh Fare moniker. The mailers only use the Ralphs name in the return address. The store signage, though, prominently features the Ralphs name.

Sitting here looking at the ad (left, above), though, I couldn't help but feel that something was just a little bit off. It seems the ad designers thought Downtown didn't quite suit the vision they had for how the ad would lay out. If you pay attention you'll note that the image has been flipped horizontally. The version at right above shows how the view should actually look.

Tsk, tsk, Ralphs. We like our Downtown as it sits, not as best fits your ad copy.

Update (2pm): Turns out Michael's email actually mentioned the mirrored view, and I just didn't catch that part. So it isn't just me that it struck oddly.

Sign of Progress

By Eric Richardson — June 27, 2007 — 8 Comments

Eric Richardson

The sign on Downtown's new Ralph's Fresh Fare store went up yesterday. In an even more exciting step, the fencing blocking off the sidewalks on 9th and Hope has been removed and pedestrian passage around the store is unimpeded for the first time.

I can't say that the Ralphs is going to get me to give up my love of grocery delivery, but it'll certainly be a nice thing to have open in the neighborhood. Everything I've heard points to an opening date around July 6th, but I haven't heard of any official ceremonies set yet.

It was early 2005 when construction got started, and just this January that Ralph's got the keys to the store.

Fires in Construction: No Big Deal

By Eric Richardson — April 09, 2007 — 1 Comment

Curbed posts about a fire at Ralphs this morning. A welding job set a small blaze, put out before fire trucks arrived.

It turns out small fires during construction are pretty much par for the course. Our office is above the Roosevelt, a structure that's had two fires during its conversion. The first last February and the second in October, when a diesel generator produced flames. Neither case delayed the conversion process in the least.

Exactly one year before that first Roosevelt fire the Barry Shy structure at 548 S. Spring caught fire during renovation.

In less relevant news, I'm sitting at Logan right now waiting to fly back to LA. Expect regular posting to pick back up tomorrow.

Ralphs Gets the Keys to the Store

By Eric Richardson — January 11, 2007

Eric Richardson

So today at noon Ralphs did indeed get the key to their new store at 9th and Flower, as previously mentioned. The Mayor couldn't make it, but Jan Perry and Deputy Mayor Bud Ovrom were there to make the civic presentations.

The store looks huge when you're standing inside. Obviously it will be less so once built out, but it's still going to be a large grocery store. Ralphs seems to be really on-board with making this a standout location, one of their showpiece stores.

I'm put some other photos from the event in a flickr set, including a shot of our Town Crier refusing to be cowed by the large television cameras.

Pictured are Councilwoman Jan Perry (CD9) and the VP of Ralphs, Charles Barfield. — Continued Inside...

Ralphs Saying June for Downtown Opening

By Eric Richardson — January 08, 2007 — 19 Comments

Just saw this press release on Business Wire.

Downtown Los Angeles residents, community and business leaders will be on hand when Mayor Villaraigosa presents Ralphs executives with the "key to the store" on Thursday, January 11, at 12:00 p.m. In the past seven years more than 7,000 residential units have been developed in downtown bringing more than 10,000 new residents. In response to this tremendous population surge that is reshaping downtown and creating a vibrant urban lifestyle, Ralphs has decided to make the 50,000-square-foot downtown store on 9th Street one of its upscale Fresh Fare concepts. With the shell completed, Ralphs will immediately begin work on completing the interior in preparation for a June opening.

This is the first I've heard of Ralphs "Fresh Fare concept." I would have liked to think that all Ralphs carried fresh food. It seems logical that Ralphs would go upscale given the market, though.

Supermarket Ball Finally Rolling

By Eric Richardson — January 21, 2005 — 1 Comment

A story on the LA Business Journal site tells us that construction work on the Downtown Ralphs is set to begin in February.

After a series of long delays and expensive cost overruns, CIM Group Inc. is ready to start construction on what will be downtown L.A.’s only supermarket.

John Given, the company’s senior vice president of development, said preparations at the site, dubbed The Market at 9th & Flower, could begin by the beginning of February.

“We’ve closed all the loops now,” Given said. “Everything is set to go.”

That's good to hear. I'm still not sure how often I'll use the store, though... — Continued Inside...