Slew of new stores opens in Westwood
By Daily Bruin Staff
Sept. 26, 2001 9:00 p.m.
COURTNEY STEWART/Daily Bruin Fifth-year political science
student Duke Cooke selects apples at the
Ralph’s Fresh Fare in Westwood on Sept. 19.
By Marjorie Hernandez
Daily Bruin Reporter
Brightly colored “grand opening” banners are quickly
becoming familiar fixtures in Westwood Village, signaling new
stores and development deals designed to revitalize the residential
and college hub.
Adding to the list of growing commercial activity in the
village, a Ralph’s Fresh Fare opened its doors Sept. 19 in
the former Macy’s site on Weyburn Avenue.
Other tenants in the complex include technology retail store
Best Buy and EXPO Design Center, a high-end home decor and
remodeling store.
Both will make their debut at the end of October, while a fourth
tenant, Longs Drugs, plans to open by Jan. 1.
Madison Marquette Retail Services, owners of the property,
believe the diverse body of stores will help bring an eclectic
crowd back to the village.
“This is one of the best and most underdeveloped pieces of
property in West Los Angeles,” said Joel Mayer, senior vice
president of Madison Marquette.
“The opportunity to create an outstanding project with new
merchants that add a lot of vibrancy to the area was an important
thing,” he said.
With Macy’s amassing approximately $25 million sales per
year, its closure in March 1999 brought a huge loss to the Westwood
economy, Mayer said. He predicts the new tenants will surpass that
amount with a total $125 million per year in sales.
Ralph’s Grocery Company spokesperson Terry O’Neil
said the influx of new businesses hope to reclaim the luster lost
by the Village to other popular hot spots such as the Third Street
Promenade and Old Town Pasadena. Property owners and tenants plan
to revitalize the quaint college community into the trendy escape
it once was.
“We want to be part of the redevelopment and rebirth of
Westwood Village,” O’Neil said. “We hope other
businesses will see us making an investment into the village and
that they will follow and see that it is a viable economic
area.”
Homeowners and students alike have long awaited the opening of a
nationally recognized establishment such as Ralph’s, said
Holly Barnhill, director of marketing and special events for the
Westwood Village Business Improvement District. BID is a local
group of Westwood property and business owners responsible for
assessing local developments.
According to O’Neil, the last grocery store in the village
was a Ralph’s built in 1929 that closed in 1962.
The 55,000 square foot Ralph’s Fresh Fare not only
provides services to local residents, but it was designed with the
student community in mind. The supermarket provides six
self-service USCAN terminals for shoppers purchasing fewer
items.
The Fresh Fare also features a coffee bar along with six
computer terminals complete with internet connection.
What remains to be seen is the possible challenges stores such
as Best Buy or Ralph’s will pose to the Associated Students
of UCLA businesses.
ASUCLA Executive Director Patricia Eastman said it is too early
to assess whether the new Westwood stores will pose a problem to
university store sales.
She said that ASUCLA has launched a strategic analysis of the
computer store, but would not comment further.
O’Neil said the supermarket is not competing with
ASUCLA.
“The store on campus is a convenience for students while
they are on campus,” he said. “Obviously students are
buying some of the same items at the student store that we sell,
but we’re a supermarket and it’s more for people who
are buying much larger orders.”
Competition or not, Mayer said growing development activities
will improve business in Westwood.
“The instantaneous amount of traffic, sales and business
in Westwood will be incredible,” Mayer said. “It will
be a place for students, residents and employees.”
