Groceries are popping up all over downtown

Smart & Final's new store will be on the ground floor of a South Park office building, the Downtown News reports. Opening is set for the first quarter of 2013. The Smart & Final store will be just a block from Target's new location at Seventh and Figueroa. Across the freeway in Chinatown, Walmart is planning its 33,000-square-foot Neighborhood Market. Also, let's not forget the Ralphs at Ninth and Flower, which opened in 2007. Still missing from the mix is a Trader Joe's or Whole Foods. From the Downtown News:

In its 2011 Downtown Demographic Survey, which polled 4,347 Downtown residents, the Downtown Center Business Improvement District founds that 73.8% of respondents now shop at a Trader Joe's (the company has long resisted entreaties to come Downtown). Seventy-six-percent shop at a Ralphs and 44.5% patronize Whole Foods. Eighteen percent of respondents said they shopped at traditional grocery chains other than Ralphs, among them Vons or Pavilions.

Smart & Final's downtown store will be somewhat larger than a typical location, while Target and Walmart are opening smaller offshoots of their standard store. Much of this activity is the result of the large retailers running out of desirable space in the suburbs. Urban areas like downtown are looking a lot more attractive.