A new Ralphs Fresh Fare has opened in Carlsbad, replacing a Gelson’s Markets store that closed several months ago.
The new Ralphs Fresh Fare, at 7660 El Camino Real, “places fresh food at the heart of the experience” of its 42,215-square-foot store, the company said in a news release.
In contrast to the conventional Ralphs brand, Ralphs Fresh Fare stores have a greater variety of fresh and prepared foods, specialty foods, flowers, wine and groceries.
With the opening of the Carlsbad store there are six Ralphs Fresh Fares in San Diego County, according to an internet map. That is a small segment of the chain’s mainstream Ralphs stores in the San Diego region and one of 183 Ralphs stores in Southern California.
To celebrate the occasion, the Kroger Zero Hunger | Zero Waste Foundation made a $50,000 donation to Feeding San Diego. Kroger is the parent company of Ralphs.
Gelson’s announced the location’s closure late last year. The store is in the La Costa neighborhood.
“This store has faced ongoing financial challenges for several years, and despite continued efforts to improve performance, it remains unprofitable. After careful consideration, we made the difficult decision to sell the store” to Ralphs, the company said at the time. “The sale only involves the La Costa location and Gelson’s will continue normal operations at its Del Mar and Pacific Beach stores in San Diego.”