Wal-Mart making big push into Southern California grocery market

[steve2470]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-wal-mart-markets-20120303,0,2653663.story

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has launched a big push into the highly competitive Southern California grocery business, which could spell further trouble for the region's major supermarket chains.

The nation's largest retailer, which announced plans last week for a grocery store in downtown Los Angeles, has two more of its smaller-format grocery-focused stores called Neighborhood Markets in the works in Orange County, one more in Ventura County and another in San Diego.

So far, the Bentonville, Ark., company has announced plans for 13 Neighborhood Markets in California, said Steven Restivo, Wal-Mart's senior director of community affairs. All will have pharmacies, he said. More Neighborhood Markets in California could be announced in the future, Restivo added.

The Orange County stores will be at Beach Boulevard and Atlanta Avenue in Huntington Beach and Avenida de las Flores and Antonio Parkway in Rancho Santa Margarita. The Ventura store will be in Camarillo.

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. target added lots of groceries also. I still prefer a regular grocery store.

stuff at target is premeasured. applies in bags and such. Not loose like in regular grocery store. No baking supplies.

[dhill926]

2. Gelson's for me..........

and TJ's of course......

[beyurslf]

3. I don't like those Walmart grocery stores.

I think they are laid out weird or something. It just doesn't flow right when I walk through it.

[Zalatix]

4. COMPETITIVE?!

I was om Los Angeles a few weeks ago... their prices were just as high as prices up north where the market is less competitive. At least, they were at Vons.

[no_hypocrisy]

5. There's a serious proposal to have them come to a nearby local town

(Hawthorne, NJ). There are already two major supermarkets within two miles radius of the proposed site, four within 3 miles.

As far as demographics, the area is suburban with each town consisting of 12 to 15,000 with Paterson (a city) nearby.

Why is another supermarket "competitive"? It isn't. It's just that the land was available to build it.

[DLC_equals_GOP]

6. This is a great opportunity to fight back

And UNIONIZE all the Mao-Marts
Either Unionize them or shut them down.

Go old school on businesses like Mao Mart.

if workers are not willing to stand and fight then they deserve any and all abuse from the company they get.

[obamanut2012]

7. Why do you call them "Mao Marts?

The Waltons aren't exactly Communists.

[DLC_equals_GOP]

8. Why mao mart

Because almost everything they sell is junk made in China or made by non-union salve labor.

Those who shop at Mao Mart are directly support slave labor.

[obamanut2012]

9. uh huh

[SoCalDem]

10. Gotta kill off the few union grocery stores left out here.

The merger-mania of the 90's pretty much did in most of them, but Walmart/Target/etc won't rest until ALL food-commercial workers are non-union $9.00 hr workers..with no pension/benefits..

It's the "new" way

When we moved out here in 1982, our little town had about 30K people in it and we had:

Safeway
Food 4 Less
Ralphs (2 of them)
Stater Brothers (2 of them)
Lucky
Smith's
Alpha Beta
Von's Pavillion

and we had 3 pretty good sized independent grocery stores too..

Now we have

3 Stater Bros
1 Ralphs (on its last legs)
2 run down Food 4 Less(es)
We now have a Fiesta, 2 Cardenas, a Superior..(all catering mostly to a hispanic clientele)
These independent ones have taken over some of the empty buildings left behind in the chaotic take-over frenzy.

And we now have over 150K population..

The same happened with banks

"back in the day" we had:

First Interstate
Security Pacific
Wells Fargo
Household bank
B of A
Great Western
Home Savings
California Bank
Cal Fed
Crocker Bank

and 3 or 4 smaller "hometown" style banks (like the one we still have and is MY bank ..Provident Bank)

Now we have Wells Fargo..Chase & B of A