MID-CITY : Alpha-Beta Opens in Riot-Damaged Mall

The recent opening of an Alpha-Beta supermarket in the Mid-Town Shopping Center marks the first step in the revival of the outdoor mall, which was severely damaged in the 1992 riots.

The supermarket occupies the site of the destroyed Boys’ Market, which was the center’s anchor and one of the Mid-City area’s few grocery stores.

The loss of the Boys’ Market “took the heart out of the center,” said Jim Young, who has owned the retail site at Pico and San Vicente boulevards since 1978. “A lot of people had to go far away, and that’s no fun.”

Since the 53,000-square-foot Alpha-Beta opened earlier this month, sales have been going well, Young said, without offering details. Owned by Food 4 Less Inc., the same company that owns Boys’, the new $5-million supermarket is significantly larger and includes a deli, a fresh-fish counter, a magazine stand and items not found in the old store, such as fresh-cut flowers and newly packaged herbs.

“We’ll see how the public accepts all this,” Young said. “They’ll speak with their pocketbooks, but we at least wanted to give them a choice.”

Young said the center was too large to qualify for government disaster assistance, so he and some of his major tenants had to resort to loans.

Some smaller tenants--including several of the vendors in the center’s swap meet, soon to be remodeled and renamed Mid-Town Shops--did qualify for disaster aid. But for others the assistance was not enough. Of about 20 shop owners, only six will return. A small building housing the smaller shops is expected to be completed within a month.

“A few merchants have survived by moving into the swap meet, but many never made it back,” Young said. “They just weren’t able to get back on their feet.”

One of the burned-out tenants is a Golden Bird chicken restaurant, which will move into a new food-court building that should open in about two months.

Construction will begin on a Sav-on Drugs next to the supermarket in about two weeks. The drugstore, expected to be completed in July, replaces a Thrifty Drugs that left the center after the riots.

The swap meet will be remodeled after the adjacent building containing the smaller shops opens. A facade is being added to connect the swap meet with the new building.