Worst grocery store in LA brutally roasted as locals torch high prices

Los Angeles is home to some of the most glamorous grocery stores — from celebrity-loved Erewhon outposts to upscale organic markets where smoothies are notorious for costing more than meals.

But Angelenos say some local grocery stores in the city feel more like an urban hell than retail heaven, according to a viral Reddit thread.

The discussion on the Los Angeles subreddit asked residents to name the city’s worst grocery store.

The thread quickly spiraled into a full on rotisserie roasting — with hundreds of comments targeting everything from dirty aisles, expired products, chaotic parking lots and disturbing customer encounters.

But the Downtown Los Angeles Ralphs location quickly emerged as the runaway winner for worst store in the city.

The original poster kicked things off by declaring the DTLA grocery store the worst in the city, saying it had become so notoriously bad that it was almost worth visiting as a spectacle.

Others piled on, describing the store as the “Scary Ralphs,” while others said that simply taking the elevator up to the store from the parking lot felt “like a real risk.”

The replies got even worse.

“You can walk in there in the best of moods but walk out covered in depression sauce,” one Redditor wrote. “And the underground car wash with three dudes staring off into space on lawn chairs.”

Another blasted nearly every aspect of the store.

“Everything about this Ralph’s is f’ed up. The parking, the escalators and elevators that are often broken, the locked up toiletries, the self-check, how everything is so cramped.”

Others compared the self checkout experience to “the commissary at men’s central jail.”

Several people said the store’s’ condition had deteriorated significantly in recent months, particularly the fresh produce.

“It’s gotten noticeably worse in the past year,” one user wrote. “I live close by and the produce situation has gotten so bad I just take the extra walk to Whole Foods or Smart and Final. Last week I just needed two yellow onions and Ralph’s didn’t have a single one that wasn’t mangled or visibly rotting.”

Several Redditors also cited Whole Foods Market, arguing that some stores have become too overcrowded, difficult to navigate, and plagued by parking headaches.

Other stores singled out online included the Silver Lake Trader Joe’s for having a parking situation akin to a “CIA torture technique,” the DTLA Food 4 Less for security issues, and Vons for meager offerings and in one case, “piss on the canned vegetables.”

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