The Greater Los Angeles area, which is comprised of five Southern California counties and only trails the New York City metropolitan area in size, is probably the most diverse region in the country.

It stretches from Ventura County to the north, to Orange County in the south, and encompasses Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Los Angeles is by far the largest city with close to four million people, followed by Long Beach, which has close to 500,000 inhabitants. There are a handful of other cities that top the 300,000 figure, and dozens that have more than 100,000. In total, the region has about 18.5 million people, about half of California’s population. Those figures do not include the four million that live in the San Diego metropolitan area.  The numbers also do not include other Southern California areas such as Santa Barbara and Kern County. However, when it comes to fresh produce, these communities are largely served by the Los Angeles area retailers and wholesalers. About two-thirds of the state’s population lives in the bottom half of the state, within 200-250 miles of Los Angeles.

The diversity of Southern California has been well documented. In the city of Los Angeles, the Hispanic community is now the largest block with close to 49 percent of the population. Hispanics of Mexican descent are the largest group within that demographic at more than 60 percent of the Hispanics and about 31 percent of L.A.’s total population, according to a recent estimate extrapolating from the official 2010 census. Non-Hispanic Caucasians represent about 29 percent of the population, while Asians are in the 11 percent range and African-Americans account for almost 10 percent. There are dozens of other ethnicities represented within some of these broader classifications or separately. Los Angeles is truly a melting pot.

The numbers for the Greater Los Angeles area are a bit different as the non-Hispanic Caucasian population represents a larger percentage than Hispanics in most of the suburban towns. However, the population of “minorities” continues to grow and it is a foregone conclusion that the minority population in Southern California is the majority when taken in aggregate.

As such, the retail scene has changed tremendously in the past two decades with ethnic supermarkets and independents garnering a larger market share than ever before.

The major retailers in the area encompasses a very long list. Though numbers are difficult to ascertain, two chains with several banners are fighting for top position. The Kroger group, which includes Ralph’s Grocery Co. and Food 4 Less, has about 350 stores in Southern California and represents in the neighborhood of 20 percent of the retail market. The new Albertsons/Safeway/Pavilion group has a similar number of stores and market share. These numbers are in a state of flux as the Albertsons/Safeway merger did result in the divestiture of many stores and updated market share numbers are difficult to ascertain.  

The next largest retailer is Stater Bros., which is privately owned and operated and has most of its stores in the Inland Empiure, which includes Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Stater Bros. now has about 168 stores and an estimated market share in the 10-15 percent range.

If these numbers are all accurate, it means that somewhere around 45 percent of the huge Southern California retail grocery market is in the hands of other chains, alternative stores, ethnic markets, independents and farmers’ markets. In this group are many different venues such as Walmart, Target, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, the new Haggen stores, Fresh & Easy outlets, dollar stores and many ethnic chains such as Superior Foods and Northgate Markets.  In addition, the discount Aldi chain has announced plans to open more than three dozen stores in Southern California next year. California’s non-national chains have been rapidly gaining market share over the last 20 years.  Forty years ago, there were many well-known Southern California chains that made up more than 80 percent of the market share. Even at the turn of this century, there were more than a handful of banners that had more than two-thirds of the market.  The industry is definitely trending in the other directions.

The “new” Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market was built almost 30 years ago and designed to replace the much older markets that were commonly referred to as the “Seventh Street” and “Ninth Street” markets.  The Seventh Street Market, which is adjacent to the newer market, still survives today but it primarily operates as a wholesale mercado servicing many of the smaller ethnic chains. The Ninth Street Market has been taken over by non-produce companies.

Many produce wholesalers in the L.A. market area no longer have a physical presence on the market and do quite well in surrounding communities, mostly in Los Angeles and Orange counties. However, the Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market is still a vital operation to the movement of fresh produce in and out of the area.