Ralphs Santa Barbara (De La Vina St.) Closing

[surfingdude]

Heard the De La Vina St. Ralphs will close 11/4/2016. Former Alpha Beta.

[klkla]

That's interesting. I always assumed that was a solid store.

But I've also been amazed at how much competition there is in that area of Santa Barbara. Ralphs, Trader Joe's, Gelson's (former Albertson's), Whole Foods (former Circuit City), Vons and Smart & Final Extra (former Lucky, Albertson's and Haggen) are all with a mile or so of each other.

[CalItalian]

Appears it hasn't had a remodel in a long time. I was there 10 years ago. Looks the same.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/ralphs-grocery ... ta-barbara

[CalItalian]

I can't confirm this as I find no article about it but on a grocery deals board I participate in, posters say the Buena Park Ralphs location is also closing. That would be 4 now including Riverside and East Ventura.

[storewanderer]

I'm surprised this store is closing as it seemed like a small store closer to houses that had good traffic and it was away from the pretty congested area where most of the competitors are clustered (in the case of Vons and the Smart & Final Extra, both in very busy and not so easy to access parking lots).

[klkla]

They also have another store two miles down the road towards Downtown Santa Barbara where there is a lot less competition. Maybe the lease is expiring and they just want to focus on that store.

[storewanderer]

Wasn't Goleta the spot where Ralphs bid on one of the Haggen locations (lost it to Sprouts as I recall)?

I've always wondered about Ralphs presence in Los Osos, San Luis Obispo, Goleta, and Santa Barbara. While all are early 2000's era stores, I do not believe the Los Osos, SLO, or Goleta stores have ever been remodeled or even had self checkout added in. Los Osos and SLO were divested Lucky Stores; Los Osos was divested mid-construction and opened as Ralphs but is laid out like a Lucky and has Lucky refrigeration. San Luis Obispo was basically a tear down and rebuild of a very old Lucky. I think Los Osos does fairly well due to lack of competition if nothing else (it is a nice enough store).

I also was surprised Ralphs did not take the Arroyo Grande Haggen which I think would have gone well for them; instead, PAQ Inc. of Stockton (F4L Franchise supplied by C&S) took that store. I suppose that is a fine fit but I think it is too bad to see that store go to that format.

[CalItalian]

Looks like it's going to become a Grocery Outlet. Closing today.
http://www.keyt.com/news/money-and-busi ... /142898950
Some pictures here
http://www.edhat.com/site/tidbit.cfm?nid=177322

[SamSpade]

Update:
Story on opened Grocery Outlet Bargain Market
http://www.keyt.com/news/money-and-busi ... /437914494
https://www.noozhawk.com/article/bizhaw ... ta_barbara

[rwsandiego]

The owner stated they sell no expired products. Either this owner has different practices than the ones down in San Diego or Grocery Outlet no longer allows its franchisees to sell expired product. The ones down in SD had tons of expired merchandise.