Lazy Acres Opens with a Splash in Hermosa Beach

A shuttered Albertson’s grocery store used to occupy the corner of Artesia and Sepulveda in Hermosa Beach. I became curious when I learned that a new natural foods market, Lazy Acres took its place.

Lazy Acres is a small chain of natural food stores and is owned by Bristol Farms. They signed a multi-year lease with Hope Chapel and built a beautiful store. The inside of the store was completely gutted out and CEO Matt Turnbull stated: “You won’t even recognize it, but the basic bones of the store, the layout of the store is very conducive to the kind of store we want to put up.”

Due to the strong interest and curiosity of the local community, the parking lot fills up quickly. Some of the nearby businesses appear to be closed and their parking lots available, but I found nearby street parking on Prospect Ave. That helped add an additional 400 steps to my Fitbit total that day.

The place feels and looks spacious and the produce section resembles Whole Foods. Many bins with neatly arranged fruits and vegetables are in the middle of the floor which avoids aisles from becoming congested. I was surprised to observe that they carry some items that you seldom see at other markets. Hachiya persimmons is a fruit that you might expect to find, but far less prevalent are dragon fruit, cactus pears, and kiwano.  

Full Featured Juice Bar

A Juice Bar complete with a comprehensive menu sits near Lazy Acres’ entrance. They use healthy ingredients like fruit sorbets,  low-fat ice milk, nonfat frozen yogurt, and 100% pure fruit juices. Rice and soy milk are available for vegan smoothies and their vegetable Juices are made from 100% organic vegetables.

Self Service Poke Bar

Lazy Acres makes effective use of trends. For example, they offer a self-service fresh poke bar where customers can make their own custom poke bowls. Best of all, you don’t have to wait in line behind an indecisive customer.

Brioche is often the choice for gourmet hamburger and hotdog buns and Lazy Acres devotes a section just for brioche buns and bread. Artisan bread from LA Hearth is displayed on another stand. Multiple displays are devoted just to vegan baked goods. In fact, they even had some good looking vegan donuts for sale.

Their fresh-prepared foods section is impressive with lots of grab-and-go items pre-made (you have to check out the sandwiches and bowls), low calorie prepared meals and gourmet salads, house-made soups and a full selection of sushi. Meat doesn’t play a back seat as they have a wide variety of natural and organic meats and fresh seafood.

I went through each aisle and noticed that they don’t try to reproduce a specialty market. For example, they stock a nice variety of olive oil, but they don’t attempt to match Eataly.  The same is true for their beer and spirits. It appears that their strategy is to select quality affordable beverages and stock a few top-of-the-line items for the gourmet seeker.

While I only spot checked them on prices, everything seems to be competitively priced. What seems unusual is how much they discount their specials.  Rockfish was on sale for only $5.99 / lb., organic red grapes at $1.99 / lb and Illy Espresso for $10.99 (best price I’ve seen elsewhere is $12.99). Pico pica is one of my favorite taco sauces. It disappeared from the grocery store shelves and I smiled at my good fortune when I found it here.

I can see Lazy Acres taking business away from the nearby markets and even Trader Joe’s. They offer quality fruits and vegetables and much of it is organic. Their prepared food is made with both healthy ingredients with an apparent goal of matching restaurant quality food. For people with busy lives, I can see their prepared food being quite popular for both lunch and dinner.

Lazy Acres’ weekly specials are posted online.

Lazy Acres, 2510 Pacific Coast Hwy, Hermosa Beach, Ca 90254
lazyacres.com