Help Bring a Grocery Store to the Historic Core

Every time I walk by the Douglas Building, I can’t help but think of how perfect the ground floor space would be for a medium sized grocery store like a Trader Joe’s or Bristol Farms. They would have a serious parking problem there, but I would hope that most of the people who would frequent it (at least the local residents) would walk or use a delivery service.

i heard that there would eventually be a trader joe’s in little tokyo…

That’s funny, every time I walk by the Douglas Building, I think of Kristin.

There WILL be a “gourmet grocery” coming to the Pacific Electric Lofts. The only question is how long is it going to take. They’ve done all the demolition work on our first floor and now they need to start rebuilding the facade so it should look similar to its original 1905 appearance. They’re saying 6 months to 12 months before stuff starts opening, but I’ll believe that when I see it. If you folks can be patient, you’ll have your historic core grocery before you know it. Tough stuff, I’m very impatient about it myself. It might be open before the Ralphs, but maybe not.

There are three grocery stores downtown that I frequent on a weekly basis:

(1) Bunker Hill Market, tiny, and mostly a liquour store but they have a surprisingly wide selection of frozen foods, fresh items, magazines, and other essentials. somewhat pricey. I live in BHTC so I’m a regular.

(2) Mitsuwa, at 333 S. Alameda, full service Japanese supermarket about the size of an average Vons. 1 hr free parking in adjacent structure. Excellent fresh meats, fish and veg., amidst the Japanese items are all the American staple goods and foods you’d probably need. Clientele is 10-20 not asian so don’t be put off by it being a Japanese market. Some English spoken. Has a reputation, I think undeserved, for being pricey. I shop there twice a week, and have for 13 years. (3) Marukai, at Weller Court on 2nd. Smaller Japanese market with high quality veg, but very limited meat or fish that’s not frozen. Free parking underground off 2nd by validation with 10$ purchase. Unlike bigger Marukai outlets you don’t need to buy annual memberships. Mixed crowd, some English spoken. More bargain conscious than Mitsuwa. Excellent, a weekly excursion but only on weekdays as it gets crowded on Wkends.

Everything sold in Downtown tends to be high end or high pricetag. How about some more affordable, down to earth grocery shopping, like a Wal-mart (Hate to use that word but they have something going on with that cheap prescription drug program.)

Something you would find in many other neighborhoods, you can make a quick stop to buy some generic bread, generic laundry detergent, Heinz barbecue sauce, Oscar Meyer ham, Whiskas for the cat, and then leave knowing you saved some cash by avoiding the high end stuff.

Alot of Downtowners need more affordable ammenities with convenience.

If you want reasonably priced groceries downtown, head over to Numero Uno on the block bound by Pico, Hoover & Alvarado. Just head west on Pico from downtown. There’s also Liborio at Pico & Alvarado, if you prefer. Good basic groceries and friendly service at both at very reasonable prices.

Not sure why this is not more widely known. Don’t let the fact everyone speaks Spanish put you off. Great places for basic groceries.

Just moved into 4th and Spring, and after hearing everyone I have spoken to about downtown living complain about grocery shopping, I decided to see what other options I had. Dispite what someone had told me, Vons.com does deliver, so I’m just going to order from them from now on.