Bristol Farms

Infobox_Company
company_name = Bristol Farms and Lazy Acres
company_
company_type = Subsidiary of Supervalu
foundation = 1982 Rolling Hills Estates, California
location = Carson, California
key_people = Jeff Noddle, Chairman and CEO, Supervalu, Inc.
Kevin Davis, President, Chairman & CEO, Bristol Farms
industry = Retail
products = Bakery, dairy, deli, frozen foods, grocery, meat, produce, seafood, snacks, liquor
parent = Supervalu, Inc.
homepage = http://www.bristolfarms.com and http://www.lazyacres.com/

Bristol Farms is an upscale grocery store chain, with sixteen stores, of which fourteen stores are located in the Southern California region. The fifteenth store is located in San Francisco, California, and the sixteenth store which operates as Lazy Acres is located in Santa Barbara, California. Formerly a subsidiary of Albertsons, Inc., Bristol Farms is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Eden Prairie, Minnesota-based Supervalu, Inc.

History

In 1982, Bristol Farms opened its first store in Rolling Hills Estates, California. The stores were started by Irv Gronsy and Mike Burbank who had worked together in the food industry for almost twenty years. Their vision was to combine the service and food quality of a corner grocer, butcher and baker with the Theatre of Harrods in London. The first store was an overwhelming success.

Chain expansion

Bristol Farms has been adding stores throughout California. In June 1999, they acquired a famous landmark, Chalet Gourmet in Hollywood, California.

In 2004, Bristol Farms was purchased by Albertsons, Inc.. While under the ownership of Albertsons, Bristol Farms added additional stores throughout Southern California, including the purchase of Santa Barbara-based Lazy Acres.

In October 2005, Santa Barbara, California-based Lazy Acres was purchased by Bristol Farms. Many believe that the independently-owned single store Lazy Acres sold to Bristol Farms as a defensive move against Whole Foods pending arrival into Santa Barbara. Ironically, Whole Foods has yet to open their store in Santa Barbara. While this is Bristol Farms first and only location in Santa Barbara, the 28,000 square foot Lazy Acres store itself continues operating under its original format. No mention of the name Bristol Farms and/or Supervalu is noted on any signage and/or advertisements at or within Lazy Acres. At the time Lazy Acres was acquired, Bristol Farms announced plans for more locations in the Santa Barbara area, but no additional locations have been built and/or opened.

Three former Albertsons locations have been converted into Bristol Farms, one in the La Jolla section of the city of San Diego, California, the second location in Palm Desert, California which originally opened as Lucky, and the third location in the Westchester section of the city of Los Angeles, California. All of the murals in these stores were completed by fine art muralist Kevin Stewart-Magee.

On June 2, 2006, Bristol Farms parent company, Albertsons, Inc., was purchased by investors led by Cerberus Capital Management and Eden Prairie, MN-based Supervalu, Inc, and upon closing of the transaction, Bristol Farms became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Supervalu, Inc.

By October 2008, Bristol Farms is scheduled to open its seventeenth location. This convert|35000|sqft|m2|sing=on location which unlike many of Bristol Farms current locations will be built new from the ground up. The store will will be located in the Bridgeport Marketplace mixed-use shopping center within the Bridgeport residential neighborhood of Valencia in the city of Santa Clarita, California. New features to be found at this location are individual "shops" with full facades and themed props, a fresh juice and smoothie counter, a fresh sushi department with sushi made onsite every day, a coffee bar and an eat-in cafe. The wine area, with its four walls, wine racks and roof trellis, will resemble a specialty wine boutique.