Locals shopping around for groceries

Alicia Robinson

The grocery workers strike and lockout, now in its sixth week, has

been a blessing or a curse, depending on whom you ask.

Some local shoppers said they’ve been victims of price gouging,

while others said their shopping habits haven’t changed at all since

picket lines formed at stores in October.

United Food and Commercial Workers union members last month

rejected a new contract offer that would cut workers’ health

benefits. After they went on strike at Vons and Pavilions on Oct. 11,

workers at Albertsons and Ralphs stores, which have been bargaining

jointly, were locked out.

“I’m just shopping here because I can’t shop at my regular

stores,” said Shirley Davidson, of Corona del Mar, after shopping at

the Stater Bros. on Newport Boulevard on Friday. “I’m a coupon

shopper.”

Davidson said she misses the double coupons savings she gets at

other stores and she thinks prices at Stater Bros. have gone up since

the strike.

Stacy Cohen of Costa Mesa, shopping at the Baker Street Stater

Bros. on Friday, said she shops the store regularly and hasn’t

noticed any price changes.

Since the strike, some stores are more crowded, she said, but “I

think Stater Bros. is a lot less expensive than Vons or Ralphs. ...

I’ve been really happy with Stater Bros.”

After a trip to Mother’s Market and Kitchen on Friday, Diane

Colvin of Corona del Mar said her shopping habits haven’t been

affected by the strike.

“I’ve always been a Mother’s shopper,” she said, but added, “I do

avoid the stores with the picketers.”

Colvin hasn’t noticed any price changes, but she said sometimes

store stock runs out and most stores she goes to have been more

crowded.

Local stores not involved in the strike have seen a boost in

business, but store officials were guarded in their optimism.

Mother’s has extended its store hours, a move chief marketing

officer Sharon Macgurn said the store was already considering.

Increased business because of the strike was just “the added

incentive,” she said.

The store has been selling more dairy products, bread and frozen

food, but it may not be drawing as many new customers because it

doesn’t sell alcohol or meat, Macgurn said.

She expects most new shoppers to go back to their regular stores

whenever the strike ends.

“If you’re used to shopping at a store, it’s like a second home to

you,” she said.

The Trader Joe’s on West 17th Street has increased its employee

hours, store manager Marie Janssen said, but that was partly in

anticipation of added holiday business.

Susan Atkinson, Stater Bros. vice president of corporate affairs,

said about a third of the chain’s stores saw business pick up after

the strike started, but it has died down since union members pulled

their pickets from Ralphs stores Oct. 31.

She sought to allay customers’ suspicions that Stater Bros. is

taking advantage of the strike by raising prices.

“We have not increased any prices because of the strike,” Atkinson

said.

While a resolution to the strike has yet to be reached, there has

been at least one happy ending.

Lucille Forde of Irvine found shopping bliss at Trader Joe’s in

Costa Mesa.

Her first time shopping there was Thursday, and she pronounced it

“excellent.”

“Actually, I’m quite surprised,” she said. “I didn’t think it

would have this much variety, but it has everything, and the prices

are good.”

While she thinks she saves more money using coupons at Ralphs, “if

you are selective and you have a good list, you probably can do just

as well,” she said.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She can be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

alicia.robinson@latimes.com.