[LINK] On the migration-driven change in the supermarkets of California

[rfmcdonald]

In Frank Shyong's Los Angeles Times article "In Alhambra, demographic shift reaches the grocery store", the change wrought in neighbourhood supermarkets by immigration is examined at length.

As classic diners and soda fountains gave way to double-decker strip malls packed with Chinese restaurants, Margie Myers, a resident of Alhambra for 64 years, didn't say much.

She weathered friends and neighbors moving away and endured the steady retreat of English from storefront signs.

But the change she couldn't accept came in June, when the Ralphs on Alhambra's Main Street closed and was replaced by 99 Ranch, an Asian supermarket.

"I know the city's changing," Myers said. "That's just inevitable. But does it have to change our supermarket?"

Few hallmarks of demographic change generate as much controversy as the death of the neighborhood grocery store.