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Grocer Sees Threat In Trader Joe's, Vons

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  • Grocer Sees Threat In Trader Joe's, Vons

    GROCER SEES THREAT IN TRADER JOE'S, VONS
    Zain Shauk

    Glendale News Press

    The favored chains, poised to divert customers, may be more than
    indie shop can handle.

    Cordon's Ranch Market, known for its low-priced conventional goods
    and wide selection of imported items, will inevitably lose some of
    its lean customer base if Trader Joe's decides to follow through on
    plans to move into a lot less than a mile away, owner Gus Malouf said.

    The market relies on loyal customers who buy from its distinctive stock
    of items like Polish pastas, Russian sodas and Armenian pastries,
    but has seen business drop by about 40% since the recession kicked
    in and may not be able to sustain another decline in activity brought
    on by a nearby competitor, Malouf said.

    "There is no way we can absorb two supermarkets in the same area,"
    he said.

    The store was once the area's lone grocery outpost and has existed
    at 2931 Honolulu Ave. since 1950, although under various names and
    owners, Malouf said.

    It regularly fills its shelves with items like Lebanese olive oil and
    Middle Eastern biscuits that customers special order, something that
    an independent store can do much more quickly and spontaneously than
    a corporate market, Malouf said.

    But with Vons renovating to position itself as a more attractive
    Montrose grocery option, and as Trader Joe's negotiates with Glendale
    officials for a ground lease agreement at Orangedale and Honolulu
    avenues, some of the business that Cordon's Ranch now relies on could
    soon be moving down the street, Malouf said.

    "Any business that comes in selling the same products is going to
    take some business away," he said.

    Malouf complained that the lone independent grocer in town was not
    notified of talks with Trader Joe's and argued that the proposed
    store would only produce revenue for the city through a ses.

    Dale Dawson, president of the Montrose Shopping Park Assn., disagreed.

    "It's going to be a tremendous draw," Dawson said. "I don't see
    any downside."

    While a Trader Joe's would create competition for Cordon's Ranch, it
    already competes with other nearby corporate grocery stores, he said.

    Ralphs and Vons are both within a two-mile radius of the store,
    he said.

    Customers who frequent the store have likely made the decision to go
    there because they like it, he said.

    "I think Cordon's, being a neighborhood market, probably has its own
    clientele that it's had for many years," he said

    Improved grocery offerings nearby could also force surrounding stores
    to improve their approaches, he said.

    "We are in a free-market system and competition makes you sharper,"
    he said.

    Councilman John Drayman, who also serves as chairman of the
    Redevelopment Agency, argued that the market would continue to have
    its own draw, regardless of a nearby Trader Joe's, which would bring
    more grocery shoppers to the area, he Cordon's Ranch shoppers agreed
    that the market's selection of items and its low prices were often
    the main reason they came to the store.

    "Sometimes I find things over here that I don't find in other stores,"
    said La Crescenta shopper W. Sagedi, referring to the ethnic breads
    and sweets that she frequently adds to her shopping cart.
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