I’ve been to the Gelson’s in Irvine a few times (relatives in that area) - it’s a pretty nice store. It’s probably direct competition for Bristol Farms, and to a lesser degree Whole Foods (at least in the deli / prepared food arena). Having one fairly close by in Clairemont Mesa will be cool, though maybe not a perfect match for that particular hood.
It sounds like many of the rest of the Haggen stores will be bought out by Smart & Final, which seems to want to expand quite a bit (hmmmmm).
Gelson’s would make a nice addition to the SD grocery market demographic. Sort of like a Jimbo’s.
To bad Baron’s is not in that mix. We have one in Alpine and they are fantastic. Kind of Trader Joe’s meets Whole Foods.
There used to be a Baron’s off of Del Mar Heights and it closed a while back. Probably the Ralph’s in the same mall didn’t want them or maybe it was due to the high rent, who knows, but it was nice and as described. I still hit the one in Temecula if I am up in the area wine tasting. I would like to see them have a stronger presence in San Diego, but I think they are expanding more into Riverside county.
I noticed the Haggen’s on Turquoise is still open.
Has anyone else?
I think I read that they were going to keep all of the Haggen stores open for two months after the announcement. They’re also planning to keep the Haggen employees who are currently at the stores that are being sold. Last I heard there are still seven Haggen stores without bidders (in SD county), though.
I don’t think Ralph’s had anything to do with it; there was little overlap there. Baron’s was very close to Jimbo’s, and there was a pretty large overlap there. I think that it was one of their least profitable stores, and combined with the high rent in that complex, it would seem to make little sense to keep it open.