Gelson’s arrives, hoping to win over neighborhood
Gelson’s manager Dennis Sullivan. Photo by JP Cordero
It was a store opening five years in the making, one that included overcoming an organized campaign against a grocery store being located at the former site of a Chevy dealership. But on Wednesday morning, Gelson’s Market officially arrived in Manhattan Beach.
“It took us too long, but it was well worth the wait,” said Gelson’s CEO Rob McDougall.
The new store is the 26th of the California-based chain and its first in the South Bay. Gelson’s is known as a grocery store that does things a little bit differently. They are the only grocery market in California, for example, that employs a full-time dietician and food educator — but because this new store was built from the ground up, McDougall believes it might just be the best-designed store the company operates.
“It’s just beautiful,” he said. “I think it’s the prettiest one we have so far, and it sets us apart from everyone else. People like walking in this community, they like health, and we have so much original and good food.”
The store sent employees out walking in the neighborhood to introduce themselves and field any questions or concerns from nearby residents, some who feared the store would bring more traffic and noise. But McDougal said the most most telling thing occurred on Sunday, when the store opened its doors for a neighborhood reception. He said they had anticipated 400 people and had encouraged walking and biking — they had a bike valet — and were shocked when more than 1,200 people arrived.
But MacDougall said he was not the least bit surprised that people seemed to be welcoming the store, because one of the reasons the company decided to open in Manhattan Beach was because they had so many requests from residents here for a Gelson’s.
“We get requests from residents across the United States, but we’ve disproportionately had more customers from Manhattan Beach ask for a Gelson’s store here,” he said. “They wanted one here.”
Among the store’s features are wine and craft beer bars, a tapas bar, and a sushi/raw bar, outdoor seating, a Wolfgang Puck “build your own pizza” station, a charcuterie station, a carvery, a European-style cheesemonger, a fruit and vegetable chop station, cold-pressed juices and smoothies designed by dietician Jessica Siegel at The Dunes bar, a Viktor Benês Bakery, and “Sip ‘n’ Shop” service in which customers can have drinks at the bar and have their shopping done for them.
Siegel, a protege of famed well-being author Andrew Weil, promotes a Mediterranean diet, sends out a monthly newsletter with recipes and healthy eating advice, and has her own line of prepared foods (including a kale salad she boasts is better than her mentor’s). Her goal is to help customers design a diet that is healthy but flexible and therefore doable.
“I get it. In the morning you get your kids ready for school and then take them to school and you feel like you’ve already lived a whole day and then you spend your whole day at work then have to come home and feed your family,” Siegel said. “I feel like I have a unique understanding of how challenging things can be so I really try to consider this in everything I recommend. Flexibility helps you be successful. As long as you are using olive oil as a main fat and eating two meatless meals a day and eating plenty of produce, that’s really it…People have been traumatized by overcooked brussel sprouts and canned green beans. I say it tongue and cheek, but my job is to make vegetables taste good.”
Manager Dennis Sullivan is a South Bay native. He grew up in Gardena, Torrance, and Redondo, and attended Torrance North High School. He has been in the grocery store business nearly 40 years and joined Gelson’s three years ago.
“When I heard about this store, I just anticipated — three years, I just waited, waited, waited, hoping for an opportunity,” Sullivan said. “And then it came out…This store is just awe-inspiring.”
Sullivan recalled early in his career, 32 years ago, when he saw his first Gelson’s.
“I worked for another store, and I was in training. Our supervisor said, ‘You guys want to see a real grocery store?’ And he took us to a Gelson’s store in Encino. And that was my first experience at Gelson’s. Any day of the week the look of the store was just clean and fresh. Everything was just perfect…just the presentation as of a different style and type than anything I’d ever seen before.”
Sullivan’s sister went to work for Gelson’s 20 years ago and kept urging him to quit his other jobs and join the company. When he finally did, three years ago, he had an experience on one of his first Sundays at the store that made him realize just how different Gelson’s was from other stores.
“I was just blown away by the service and the familiarity with the people there and people who worked there,” Sullivan said. “A simple Sunday, a girl comes up the aisle and I ask her if she needed any help and she goes, ‘What’s wrong?’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’ She goes, ‘Why does everyone want to help me?’ I said, ‘Because we just do that.’ She says, ‘Every single person I come to says, ‘Do you need help finding something? Do you need anything? This is weird.’ I said, ‘Okay, good. I’m glad it’s weird.’”
Manhattan Beach Chamber of Commerce CEO Mark Lipps said that he didn’t believe Gelson’s would hurt other businesses in town.
“It’s an oft-used phrase so I hate to say it but a rising tide lifts all boats,” Lipps said. “And what they bring is just more quality to Manhattan Beach. It’s what we stand for. It’s not going to hurt anyone else in the community. I think if anything else, people will find certain things they like at certain places and they will continue to shop for it…If you have a good product, people will find it.”