Gelson's CEO has high hopes for San Diego

[CalItalian]

And possibly more stores
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/new ... art-final/

[SamSpade]

Gelson's just sounds lovely. No wonder people shop there. Reminds me of what Haggen Harmons has transitioned into for the Utah market especially after being forced into re-joining Associated after Fleming went into bankruptcy.
Harmon's stores are remodeled, clean, fair priced and carry a lot of ready to eat alongside everyday products. The most notable Harmon's is attached to the LDS-Church owned "City Creek Center" in downtown Salt Lake City.
10 Things to Know About Harmons

[storewanderer]

Part of why Harmons is successful is because they are supplied by Associated who gets strong center store promos so they are able to be competitive on those items. There seems to be good, ongoing growth with Associated's independents. Raleys, back in the 1990's, was always talking about expanding into Salt Lake City by buying someone and I suspect it was Harmons they had their eyes on. It is a good thing that buyout never happened.

I've had pretty mixed results with fresh items purchased from Harmons over the years and multiple times I've thought I did not get my money's worth. My most recent dealings with Harmons, in St. George last year, were all very positive regarding fresh product quality. So much so that I even stopped there for lunch the morning I left.

[J-Man]

Gelson's didn't last long in Pasadena, which would seem like an ideal location for them. But to be fair, their location (in the Paseo Colorado mall) was probably doomed from the start.

[klkla]

Gelson's didn't last long in Pasadena, which would seem like an ideal location for them. But to be fair, their location (in the Paseo Colorado mall) was probably doomed from the start.

That was a little more complicated. The store opened on September 12th, 2001. Literally the day after 9/11 and got off to a horrible start. They were going to close it in that first year but the property owner offered them five years free rent to stay and they did. The store actually lasted 12 years.

The biggest problem was that they were on a one-way street in an enclosed mall with the parking entrance on the other side. There are just too many grocery stores in Pasadena with convenient parking and this was a huge handicap.

Since 1952 they have only closed four stores. Burbank (the first store) closed after 30 years, a store in Palos Verdes Estates only lasted one year, and then in preparation for their sale to TPG a couple years ago they closed the stores in Pasadena and Northridge.