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.