Ralphs Opening Shows Off the Small Town Side of Downtown

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

Crowd Waiting Eric Richardson [Flickr]
Ribbon Cutting Eric Richardson [Flickr]


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.

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Topic:
Ralphs' Big Opening

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Comments

1
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
2

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

# on Jul.20.2007 AT 04:28 PM

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