By Doug Curlee | Editor at Large
Owners of the Albertsons store at Waring and Zion streets will close its doors by Feb. 27. Citing “failure to meet expectations,” Albertsons LLC notified its union workers on Jan. 27 that the market will shutter as soon as everything inside is sold, including whatever store fixtures they can sell off.
This leaves many Allied Gardens in walking distance of the store with no nearby alternative for food and life’s other necessities.
It’s already looking half deserted inside, with most shelves empty of any products, since virtually nothing is being reordered.
“This must be like shopping in Russia,” said shopper Lisa Abolmaali as she scanned a shelf of baked goods in what used to be the bread aisle. Asked where she might shop in the future, Abolmaali said she didn’t know, but was pretty sure where she would not be going.
“I hate that Vons store down on Mission Gorge Road,” she said.
Russell Christianson said he’d probably find the nearest Food 4 Less store, saying “that Vons is just too expensive for me.”
The culmination of the store’s closing provoked more than a few among Allied Gardens stakeholders and residents. Initial reports were that the store would be closing because Albertsons LLC could not reach agreement with the owner of the property on lease payments.
That apparently came as a surprise to Mark Kelton, the property owner and son of one of the people who pretty much built the Allied Gardens we know today. Kelton said he had no clue about the store’s closing until he was contacted by members of the Grantville-Allied Gardens Community Council.
At a Jan. 27 community meeting, Councilmember Scott Sherman was asked by community residents if there was anything the city could do to stave this off.
“Unfortunately, there’s not much if anything the city can do,” Sherman responded. “This is a business decision totally between private parties on privately owned land. The city has no legal role to play here.”
City Attorney Jan Goldsmith, who was also at the community meeting, echoed Sherman’s stance that there’s really nothing there for the city to get involved with.
Arlene Blood and Linda Peterson, who were at the meeting, said there aren’t a lot of choices immediately available.
‘We’ll be going down to Costco in the valley, I guess,” Blood said.
Sherman did say the city stands ready to help with efforts to place another grocer in the soon-to-be-vacated space, and there are apparently some efforts already underway.
But all involved acknowledged the elephant in the room: that if the store was no longer viable for Albertsons, what other major grocery retailer is likely to see things differently?
Potential options could be smaller, niche stores, such as Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, or Sprouts Farmers Market.
There are other grocery retailers who might be persuaded to offer a full-service grocery, such as Keil’s or Stater Brothers. There is also a chance that Walmart could be convinced that one of their neighborhood centers, essentially small versions of their typical store, might work there. Such stores have opened successfully in El Cajon and La Mesa, and Target is exploring the same idea in a nearby San Diego neighborhood. If there is one small beacon of light here, it is that the Albertson’s employees who will be displaced will have other jobs within the company or with other stores with union contracts.
But as it stands now, Allied Gardens will have no grocery store for the first time in 60 years.
–Contact Doug Curlee at doug@sdcnn.com.
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This is quite a low blow for the folks who have lived here since the fifties.. There was always a market or the chain store in the shopping lot..
I truly hope they will bring in some kind of grocer asap..
From what I’ve heard it doesn’t look good for us here in this local.
I heard the owners of the lot doubled the lease amt.
That is why we no longer have a grocery store..
What was it before it was an Albertson’s? Lucky? Food Basket? What was it when it first opened in the ’50s? It would be interesting to know some history of the store.
It used to be Lucky. I’m sorry to not have a grocery store there, but not sorry to see that dump shuttered. It had gone downhill. It was dirty, outdated, unsightly, and I’d already started shopping elsewhere years earlier. I think others did the same. They sealed their own fate by letting it get in that deplorable condition. Albertsons is to blame.
Grocery Outlet would be a perfect store to go in there, NOT the high priced Trader Joe’s.
The old Albertson’s market on Waring was not super nice, but it was convenient. Now the whole shopping area looks terrible. It really is crazy that we have no good super markets in our neighborhood. Compared to other cities, San Diego in general is really lacking in this area. I don’t know why we cannot attract more and better shopping and restaurants. It is a shame to see the neighborhood deteriorate like it seems to be (at least in regards to stores and restaurants).
We need an all-purpose not really high-priced smaller store fro the convenience of residents who live up the hill. The Walmart Grocery had good prices, but any equivalent would be great.