Ralphs Compton Closing 7 10 2015

[Tortuga One]

Ralphs Compton is closing its supermarket Compton Boulevard on 7/10/2015. This was the only Ralphs Supermarket in Compton. Further, this is a former Boys Market that converted to Ralphs after the Boys/Alpha Beta/Food4Less Merger in the late 1990s. It still has remnants of The Boys Market with its pinkish colored neon on the walls. Ralphs Company (Kroger) will only have its warehouse type supermarket, Food4Less Supermarket nearby on Rosecrans in the area as well as the Ralphs Food4Less corporate Offices. Congresswoman Janice Hahn sent a protest letter to Kroger as this was the last major big named traditional supermarket in Compton. Its interesting to note outside the window is an application for a liquor license from Smart & Final.

This is Ralphs' third known store closure in Southern California for 7/10/2015: Compton, Duarte, and Tustin. Also this is the second Smart & Final addition, as Tustin was already announced.

This is an interesting site, as there are two competing shopping centers side by side, across the street is a Superior Supermarket that used to be a VONS. (Late 80s/early 90s) VONS Compton opened a superstore with great fanfare, citing how they were going to expand in areas under served by the major chains, however they only stayed a short while, then abandoned the area. The Ralphs Shopping Center is a large traditional shopping center, that also includes CVS, Burger King as well as Payless Shoes, Fallas, etc.

[storewanderer]

I also read a Ralphs Fresh Fare in Mission Viejo is closing.

[CalItalian]

Compton has become majority Latino. Although almost all of Compton's leadership is still black that is only because the Latinos in the area are not citizens (in 2013, they got their first Latino city councilman). This area just can't support a traditional Ralphs anymore.