On the evening drive home from working the more Eastern parts of the OC about a week ago, I was trying to get a cake to celebrate Mr. Boy's 9 months of life.
My mind was trying to imagine where I could get a super-market cake could be had. I wasn't necessarily thinking cake from specialty shop ala 85 Degrees as the price could be a bit much, I was just thinking something from one of the more "middle-class" supermarkets that tend to have a wider selection of baked goods: Ralphs, Vons, Albertsons.
The meaning of those supermarkets to us as a family is: "fresh", ready-to-eat food.
When I think of any of these, I think of donuts in the morning and chicken and potato wedges, or even salad. I also think of their endless selections of baked goods.
Taking Artesia all the way from La Habra, I passed up a bunch of Stater Brothers. Honestly, I didn't know enough about Stater Brothers to stop. They are actually around Long Beach-ish areas, and their commercial jingle has been permanently branded into my cortex (from a childhood of being subject to their commercials), but I've only gone once inside their stores.
I was trying to imagine where in/around Compton I could get this cake.
I know Food4Less, the lower-class subsidiary of Ralphs, might have some, but I've always been skeptical of the freshness of its baked goods and deli, which might be completely unfounded.
Then a thought sprung, the Ralphs on Compton Blvd, near City Hall! (El Super briefly crossed my mind, but typically I'd only go there for fruits or "paisa" baked goods)
Yes!
Only when I turned left, going North on Santa Fe, I didn't see anything.
It appeared that where Ralphs was, a Smart N Final had taken its place.
I'd only heard about the Smart N Final taking the place of the Fresh N Easy on Rosecrans and Central, but not a word about this Ralphs silently closing down, which according to Yelp comments closed down sometime in the summer.
What does it mean to have a Smart N Final instead of a Ralphs?
Immediately, at that time and place of celebrating my son's 9 months with my wife on a weekday night, I couldn't really get a cake at the Smart N Final in Compton.
There is no bakery or deli at the Smart N Final. They have baked goods, but not seeing any baked goods baking area, I kinda wondered where they got the limited selection of goods made. I think the bachelorized, younger, more cost-conscious version of me would've picked something, anything from the store. The married, still cost-conscious, but kind-of-aware-of-my-wife's-tastes led me out of the store.
Smart N Final isn't a bad store at all. They have the fresh veggies and fruits, which is a heck of a lot more important long-term than whether or not they have cakes or food at a deli. They're reasonably cheap on most things, though I haven't sat down to calculate exactly how much cheaper/expensive they are.
Ultimately, what it meant for me was a trip to another store, 4.5 Miles Westward into Gardena along Redondo Beach Blvd to Vons. There I was able to pick up not only a cake but also a pound of crab salad and potato wedges for our bellies. It also meant paying $3.99 for a kale salad kit that we could get much bigger at Costco for around $6-$7. For us as a family, having that Smart N Final instead of Ralphs meant that there wasn't immediate
physical access to as much fresh, ready-to-eat things from a supermarket. Or at least catering to our middle-class-ish perceptions of what fresh, ready-to-eat is.
It's not that I'm making a demand, it's just, that's the way it is.
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