Location makes a difference in appearance and items found in grocery stores



By: Daniel Estevao

Ralphs

image There are two entrances at Ralphs that are very close to each other. One faces Vermont Avenue while the other faces Adams Boulevard. Both entrances have automatic sliding doors that open into the large, colorful, and brightly lit produce section. This picture shows the produce section with its carefully organized retail displays. But the smell of flowers and fruits also pervades this space. Here, you can see a Tulip stand with bouquet bags so that you can arrange flowers yourself. It seems a little strange to do this type of job yourself, but looking around the store and seeing consumers shopping for everything themselves with not so much as a greeting (except sometimes by the security guard who guards the two entrances/exits), a self-service floral kiosk fits right in. The presence of a floral shop and do-it-yourself bouquets adds to the “naturalness” of this section; it almost seems magical. Although there are junk foods dispersed throughout this section, Ralph’s does a pretty good job at separating junk foods from healthy foods. The produce section is Ralph’s most colorful, open, and attractive space in the store…no wonder they force shoppers to enter into this area.

image Ralphs had Radicchios for sale at $3.99 per pound. I took a picture because I thought they might be part of the Brassicaceae family; radishes belong in that same family. However, Radicchios are part of the chicory family, which are a slightly bitter-tasting leafy vegetable. Radishes and Radicchios have a similar color, though. Radicchios, at $3.99 per pound, were only found at Ralphs. The radishes there were located right next to the Radicchios. They were looking quite good. There were plastic bags hanging above the vegetables and scales for you to weigh them. At 99 cents a pound, they are a bargain.

Superior

image As you can see, the produce section is right next to the chips and soda; the chips are advertised $2 per big bag and the soda is 79 cents. There was a small little stand of flowers, but Superior obviously has less concern for their merchandise image than Ralphs. Never mind maintaining a “natural” atmosphere in their produce section. Superior’s floors were dirty, the fruits and vegetables were mostly kept in their original boxes/crates and the overall quality of the food seemed below average. The residents that go to Superior for their groceries are coerced into buying highly processed junk food for their families, rather than healthy fruits and vegetables. Superior has much better prices for highly saturated foods than Ralphs, but they had similar or worse prices in their produce section. In the case of radishes, Superior did not advertise price by the pound but by the quantity. As we can see below, you can get two radishes for $1–slightly more money than you would spend at Ralphs, because two radishes weigh slightly less than one pound.

image The radishes at Superior looked much dryer and beaten than the ones at Ralphs. I assume that, at Ralphs, there are spritzer machines that give its produce a shiny, almost waxy glow to them. At Superior, however, the fruits/vegetables seemed quite dirty…perhaps the dirt from the fruits/vegetables is what makes the floor so dirty. Although Ralphs pays very careful attention to its smell, lighting and spritzer machines to maintain a “natural” atmosphere, what could be more natural than dirt? It is very strange to see how our sense of “natural” has turned into its exact opposite: artificial. Maybe its the contrived atmosphere of the grocery store spawned from the artificiality of the tastes and smells in our food, or is it the other way around?

At Ralphs, there were no boxes except for the ones that were currently being unpacked. At Superior, empty boxes were lying around; one was labeled “Radish King.” I assume that King Radish provides Superior grocery stores with their radishes. I did not do any background check on that company.

I also noticed the discrepancy in prices (in relation to calories) between junk foods and healthy foods. Sugary cereals, salty chips and cheap soda tempt shoppers away from fruits and closer to the highly processed foods that blanket the store. Superior caters to a lower socio-economic population, hence the difference in their produce sections. The differences are quite revealing. And, from what I’ve been told, Ralphs used to be very similar to Superior before a University of Southern California student’s father spent a lot of money on fixing it up so he could feel his daughter was safe and eating healthy while at the school. I don’t know if that’s true, but I would not be surprised. Although you do see some USC students shopping in Superior, I saw mostly Hispanic mothers with their children. But at Ralph’s, I saw mostly USC students. For those looking for a price comparison, though, Superior definitely beats Ralphs at most things, especially the highly processed junk food, like soda and chips.

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One student observed two grocery stores on another side of town…

By: Arman Hamamah

I visited two stores, roughly four miles away from each other. They are in opposite directions of where I live: Glendale. I intended to acquire some chard, which is a type of leafy vegetable.image

First stop: Jons. After a careful search, there was no chard. I made sure to look through all of the products listed to see if they carried chard and perhaps just didn’t have any for the day. There was no chard listed. When I asked “the produce guy,” he told me he didn’t know what chard was and that it sounded “pretty exotic to me.” That seemed odd because they had a decent assortment of greens: broccoli, spinach, different types of lettuce. Andrew*, “the produce guy,” asked his coworker if she knew anything about chard, and she said they didn’t carry it there.

Next stop: Ralphs on Central and Stocker avenues. Though the distance between Ralphs and Jons is only four miles, the neighborhoods are quite different. Around Ralphs, which is up near the hilly parts of the city, there are nice homes and not many apartments. The streets are clean, and there is a bank across the block. Jons, on the other hand, is on the busy street of Glenoaks Boulevard next to a Starbucks where people come in and out quickly while on their way to work. Across the street and continuing down the block from Jons (toward Glendale) are an array of fast-food joints including Burger King, Carls Jr., Popeyes, and KFC. There’s even a fast-paced Kabob restaurant. A block the in the other direction (toward Burbank) are McDonalds and Taco Bell. The Jons is lower down, near the freeway. The immediate surroundings include a pharmacy, many apartment buildings and train tracks.

Ralphs is located in a mellow area, with an older, retired crowd, while Jons is situated in a more fast-paced, pick-up-some-food-on-the-way-to-work (or home) area. Naturally, grocery stores would adapt to its customers.

At Ralphs, the chards had front row seats. Red and green swiss chards were right next to each other, in between the mustard and collard greens. With vibrant reds and greens, I didn’t want to leave. Everything was fresh. I asked the Ralphs produce manager to give me a rough estimate for how often the greens are replenished. He told me it depended on the season, but he said at least five times a week and often every day. The chard was at $1.99 each.

Some additional notes:

The produce section at Ralphs was much more comfortable. There is a large area to walk through and a large area of products to choose from. Colors were more vibrant and looked new. The walls were painted the same off-white color as Jons, where the produce section was the dullest. In terms of how much space the produce section got in relation to the whole store, Ralps gave the strong impression that produce was closer to the top of their priority list. On the other hand, at Jons, many more boxes and cans lined the shelves.

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*Names have been changed to protect sources.