Lucky to Build Store in Minority Area of L.A.; Plan Praised

Lucky Stores Inc. said Tuesday that it would build a supermarket next to Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, drawing cheers from city officials and black leaders who have been trying to attract major grocery chains back to an area that they had largely abandoned after the 1965 Watts riot.

Lucky’s announcement ended months of speculation on whether the predominantly black middle- and upper-middle-class communities of Baldwin Hills, View Park, Crenshaw and Leimert Park surrounding the recently renovated mall would be able to draw a major supermarket chain. It provides a significant boost for the recently renovated Crenshaw mall, one of very few regional shopping malls in the nation in a minority neighborhood.

To residents, the Lucky supermarket also will bring some welcome competition into an area dominated by a smaller chain, Quality Foods International, formerly Boys Markets. In recent years, Quality Foods has drawn praise from minority communities for its willingness to do business where other chains would not, mixed with criticism for the higher prices it tends to charge.

Quality Foods had offered to build a store at the Crenshaw mall site, but its proposal was rejected by neighborhood residents because the company already owns four other supermarkets in a two-square-mile radius of the mall.

“It’s been a hot community issue,” said City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, whose district includes the Crenshaw area. “One of the difficulties is that no one wanted to be perceived as slapping Boys in the face, but the community deserves a choice of where to shop and Lucky will give them a choice.”

Lucky’s entry came only after much urging from Galanter, Mayor Tom Bradley’s office and community groups.

“We had a little encouragement (from the city),” said William E. Yingling, president of Lucky Stores’ Southern California division. “But much of our decision was based on the success of the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza. That is what really convinced us.”

Yingling, Galanter and Bradley were joined by about 20 community leaders, city and corporate officials Tuesday at the news conference announcing Lucky’s decision on the parking lot of the mall, near the intersection of Crenshaw and Martin Luther King Jr. boulevards.

“Residents will now have two different markets to choose from when purchasing their meats, fresh produce and baked goods,” Bradley said. “I believe this will only enhance the quality of the service consumers receive and ensure lower prices for all.”

The high cost of insurance, security and outmoded stores are frequently cited by supermarket chains as reasons for closing stores in inner-city areas and for not opening new stores there. Another common problem is the scarcity of sites that can accommodate the 40,000- to 50,000-square-foot stores that chains prefer to build.

The new Lucky market, tentatively scheduled to open in June, 1991, on the northeast corner of the mall property at 39th Street and Crenshaw Boulevard, will be a 43,000-square-foot store containing such specialty departments as a bakery, a pharmacy and a fresh seafood counter.

Lucky officials say the store would be the company’s first in many years built in an inner-city area.

Developer Alexander Haagen, whose company completed a renovation of the 800,000-square-foot shopping mall in 1988 in a joint venture with the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency, predicted that the supermarket will attract customers who have been traveling long distances to lower-priced markets outside their area.

“I’m excited,” he said. “This should bring in customers who have never shopped here before. Lucky is a welcomed addition.”

Additional customers, he said, will help the mall attract new tenants. Despite a profitable Christmas season and the presence of three anchor tenants--the Broadway, May Co. and Sears--the mall remains only about 60% leased.

Crenshaw-area residents welcomed the Lucky announcement. “It means that smaller businesses that locate near the market will benefit,” said Larry Irvin, who lives nearby. “It will send a message to the supermarket industry as a whole that urban markets don’t need to be abandoned, that they need to rethink their strategies.”

“It’s a sign of revitalization, new blood, a new player is in the community,” said Adrienne Mayberry, member of the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Network. “It’s a good sign.”