(updated 2/3)
Bristol Farms officials confirmed Thursday afternoon that the chain plans to shutter one of its two Orange County gourmet markets.
The Bristol Farms at the Kaleidoscope Courtyards in Mission Viejo will close by late February, 2009, said Haley Meyer, a spokeswoman for Supervalu, the parent company of Bristol Farms. Meyer said the store is underperforming.
“Bristol Farms continuously evaluates its stores to identify opportunities to strengthen its overall business and, when necessary, closes stores that are not meeting its goals. While these decisions are always difficult, given the impact on associates and customers, they ultimately allow us to operate more efficiently and effectively within a highly competitive retail environment.”
Bristol Farms will remain open in Newport Beach at MacArthur Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway, she said. Supervalu also owns Albertsons.
The closure will mark the second big retail loss at the South County mall. El Torito Grill recently closed at that same center.
2/3 update: Bristol Farms says it will try and relocate to another South County retail center.
I never liked the idea of paying $5 for an apple, so good riddance to this high-end ridiculously priced grocery store.
I never liked trying to park at the Kaleidosope or risking my life on the always-broken escalators. With El Torito Grill leaving as well this center will be having even more issues than it already did.
Great, I can’t find a decent butcher in S. OC anymore.
CS, have you tried Crown Valley Market Place off Marguerite and Crown Valley? It’s a Middle Eastern market (they also have a store in Irvine called Super Irvine that’s really popular) but they have a great meat counter (they carry Harris Ranch beef) and the prices are very good! They have really inexpensive produce there too. I save a ton of money going there instead of Albertson’s or Pavilions for produce and meat.
I loved the Mission Viejo location! Anything, and I mean anything, I needed they could order. A great place to get things for entertaining, perfect fruits and veggies. Never used their butcher services, El Toro Meats is my choice for great meat.
You get $25 shoes at target and $250 at Nordstrom. This is the Nordstrom of grocery stores. Bristol Farms has one of the best meat and seafood counters, great bakery (oh that baguette), beautiful exotic flowers, nice wine selection, and more. It is a treat to shop there and so sad to see the location go. This is a bad sign of economic times…bad bad bad.
I don’t buy my fruits and veggies there. Every once in a while a trip to the deli is nice. And their breakfasts are good. At least the one in NB will still be hanging around….for now. We will be able to hear crickets in that Kaleidscope mall soon. And part of the problem with that malls location is that there is so much traffic on Crown Valley. It’s frustrating. And El Torito food is bland. No real bite or spice. I would rather go to Taco Mesa, Javiers, Rodreigo’s.
Gotta agree with Bad Sign. Sure, some things were expensive, but their deli and deli were outstanding. Too bad…
Im so sorry that those people are not going to have a job! Everything is relative in life ,yes it was more expensive,but let me tell you they did have the best of everthing seafood the lobster tails were the best and the steak couldnt beat it. I went there every special occasion. so sorry your leaving now there will no more be a decatent place close to get that kind of food . These times are very bad.Too people who put them down and others god bless you cause you really probally wish you could have shopped there and couldnt afford to. I hope you get to try one someday your really missing great food.
Please..no tears here. Having grown up in Mission Viejo, before it was overbuilt, good riddance to Kaleidoscope. It is and always will be an eyesore.
This totally sucks… sure they were expensive… but they have the best meat in Southern Orange County! So sad…
Bristol Farms, along with other “specialty” aka expensive stores are all fundraiser campaigns for Israeli terrorism. I hope it’s mother SuperExpensiv and Albertsons shut down too!
Most high-end stores and restaurants will be history by year’s end. The job market will be depressed for years to come. OC will be in big trouble in the coming years. California could become a vast land of nothingness.
I think you can now officially say that the Kaleidscope Center was a huge failure.
The moderator deletes my comment which is just a statement of fact., that Bristol Farms, Albertsons donate their revenues to Israel. I guess there is a good side to this economic depression.
Hey great. Time to open a Tamale shop and maybe a shelter for day laborers. Maybe even a homeless camp!
There goes their Great Tasty Cupcakes!
Darn. Wish they’d close the Newport store and replace it with a Whole Foods or Mother’s. Bristol Farms is a joke.
Kaleidscope needs to be bulldozed, bad idea just like its twin Triangle Square in Costa Mesa. These types of shopping centers might work in L.A. but not in OC. Parking and traffic in the area is terrible. Too bad for Bristol farms though.
The Kaleidoscope is in deep doo doo. Have you seen this place? It’s like a ghost town. The second floor is empty. The only thing left there is Islands, a pizza place, and that’s about it.
Kaleidescope is just plain scary when it is dark…heck, it is scary in the day! Depressing place. I hate going there and would be thrilled to see it gone. It is a terrible eyesore for sure! We need a Whole Foods in South OC!!!
I’m with Mike inre Triangle Square. As a habitué of Harry & Henry’s Goat Hill Tavern for around a quarter of century, Triangle Square thrusts up like an obscenity in a town that is no way as lame as that mall.
I really enjoyed the freshly baked bread that was sold as an uncut loaf. It stayed moist (even in the fridge) until the last end piece was gone. Can anyone recommend a store that also sells fresh and uncut loaves of standard white and wheat bread? Thanks in advance.
Bristol Farms could always get a Kiosk at Mission Viejo Mall and sell cupcakes and $3 apples. Just an idea that I thought might help this store out.
deshard, there is a Whole Foods just up Jamboree a couple miles at Jamboree & Barrana at the District, been there a while, go there if you can tolerate the parking (which is bad) and shopping in Irvine (which if hyou live in NB is hard, lol, but you gotta get over it)
Bad sign, Nordies will eventually close up too, so then you’ll have no choice but to shop for $25 shoes at Target (or PayLess) or go to the Swap Meet. Happy shopping!
When ever I go back up to the San Francisco area where I grew up (San Mateo) I am always reminded just how bad the markets are down here. There are at least 5 small market chains up there that are equal, actually better, than Bristol Farms and they all are doing well. People up there just expect more and will pay for it, maybe not everyday, but often enough. Bristol Farms in MV in my opinion was a victim of a horrible location. The same was true when Whole Foods was in the basement of Triangle Square in Costa Mesa (I think the same moron developed that place as well). I was at Bristol Farms a few weeks ago and got some great deli meat. Pound for pound, and quality wise, there deli was about the same as Trader Joe’s in price.
Sorry to see it gone!!!
They should have left that place as Old MacDonald’s Farm, cool little place in the early 70’s when I was a little kid- Kaleidescope was always an eyesore, glad I don’t live right around the corner from there these days…
I’m with those who wish OC had better grocery stores and supermarkets. I was up in Portland last week, and that city has FABULOUS markets and grocery stores beyond the usual Whole Foods, TJ’s, or Pavilions type places. Portland has a chain called New Seasons that is hip, and stylish with some of the best produce and meats you can buy, but also stocks the national brands you can’t live without. Portland also has some amazing “boutique” type food emporiums unlike anything in OC.
OC just seems to be stuck with aging 1970’s Vons and Ralphs, overpriced Whole Foods, or cornball Pavilions or Albertsons that just don’t put much care or thought into anything. We need hip and slick and high quality grocery stores like other big cities have!
Troy,
My sis-in-law lived in Portland for awhile and had to chance to go to New Seasons! And I agree! I loved it! Great store, great employees too!
Hey people, for 8 years I’ve been asking myself how a great concept like Bristol Farms could survive in a retail space like the one at Kaleidoscope. The design and construction of that complex is so wrong, in so many ways. Sewer pipes exposed overhead, probably based on some arcane building code, dripping and venting sewer gas into the parking garage and onto the entering customers. Great for business, when you’re trying to sell food. What’s totally outrageous is that fact that the building owner and leasing company attempt to rationalize the whole concept of doing business in that parking garage. Desperate and sad, they should be fired, the owner should go BK and the bull dozers and wrecking crew should be hired asap.
Hiromi, thank you for the tip, I will check it out this weekend.
Gelson’s will be next, overpriced for the average family, and the the ” I don’t care what it cost crowd” are starting to care. Another joke is Ralphs at Ocean Ranch that is more expensive than the Ralphs just down the street on PCH. I was told by their butcher that they were carring higher end stuff and pricing for more exclusive customers.
I always shopped at the Bristol Farms’ Lake Mission Viejo location. Yes, it was pricey, but you could not beat the quality.
When that location closed, I never went to Bristol Farms at the Kaleidoscope. I detest the Kaleidoscope mall. I avoid it at all costs. My suggestion: Relocate Bristol Farms to a safer, shopper friendly location and bulldoze that eyesore Kaleidoscope mall.
Huntington had a similar problem shopping spot. Bella Terra finally got its due and now its in great shape. Perhaps the same people could lend their smarts to the Kaleidoscope (oh, and rename it too)
Oh, my gosh El Torito closed? I’ve never shopped at Bristol Farms so I guess I will not be to disappointed.
Bristol Farms used to be a great store. Ever since Supervalu/Albertsons took over the quality went down and the prices went up. I used to shop there although with Whole Foods who needs Bristol Farms.
Bristol Farms had the BEST Matzah Ball Soup. So sad!!!!!!!!
I am a Bristol employee and it just didnt work out at the kaleidoscope mall. the store did great but the site just couldnt support us. We do have the best meat and if you were a customer and were entertaining you knew that you had to have bristol meat.nothing compares NOTHING COMPARES.We were expensive but that has all changed. we are now cheaper than whole foods and gelsons and even el toro meats..With our prices so low now and our cost so high were all praying that we still have jobs in the near future.Keep shopping america we have kids to feed
It is super sad, I shopped there ever so often for meats and deli. Their cheese selection was great. I was reading they are looking for a better location. I hope it’s Ladera Ranch!
Have you tried Marbella’s Farmer’s Market in San Juan Capistrano?
Have you tried Marbella’s Farmer’s Market in San Juan Capistrano? Off Rancho Viejo Road? Not to be confused with Farm to Market.
It is so sad to see Bristol farms go. I especially enjoyed their selections of cheeses & their great baguettes. But unfortunately due to their prices on everyday stuff like vegetables, fruit, milk etc.. I do my “regular” shopping at Vons & Trader Joe’s. I only went to Bristol Farms on special occasions or to treat myself & my family. Sorry but New Port beach is too far for Groceries. I really feel bad for the employees, more jobs lost & its getting to be a little crazy with all these companies closing & laying offs. Trying to stay positive in these down times is difficult.
Does anyone know of similar places to the south (not north) of Bristol Farms? Very difficult to find (a) raw oysters; (b) soft shelled crab; (c) fresh not frozen chicken; (d) English peas; (e) steamer clams.
Whole Foods is WAY more expensive than Bristol Farms. Too bad the location didn’t work out for them but trying to operate a grocery store with skateboarders riding through your parking lot, etc. has got to be tough. I hope they find something that works well for them, and soon.
I am having a REALLY bad day……I just realized you closed MV Bristol Farms…..where or where will I get the best cuts of meat and unique ingredients for my recipes!!…………Please re-open in Laguna Niguel soon!!
Beef Palace in HB, not way far to the south, but a very fine butcher shop. Plowboys Market is the best for produce.