Grocery Outlet Bargain Market said Thursday it sees the possibility of opening between 100 and 150 of its extreme-value stores in the Southern California marketplace over the next few years.
The company, based in Emeryville in Northern California, plans to enter the Los Angeles market in December with two stores, expanding to 14 by the end of 2016 and another 14 or so by the end of 2017, co-CEO Eric Lindberg told SN.
Grocery Outlet currently operates 227 extreme-value stores, including this one in South San Francisco.
Grocery Outlet currently operates 227 extreme-value stores, including this one in South San Francisco.
“At this point we see no limit to our expansion in Southern California,” he said. “It’s a very densely populated area, with many neighborhoods that interlock, so we plan to push expansion till we achieve saturation.”
With Grocery Outlet stores coming in at the same time Aldi will be entering Southern California — and given the presence of 99 Cents Only Stores, Dollar Tree and Dollar General there and the pending exit of Haggen — “there’s going to be a shuffle of the market, with a shift to a lower-priced environment,” Lindberg said.

Grocery Outlet operates 227 stores in Northern California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Idaho and Pennsylvania. According to the company, it offers name-brand products at prices up to 60% below traditional supermarkets “thanks to [an] opportunistic buying model,” where buyers negotiate directly with manufacturers for overstock and surplus products.
All stores are independently owned and operated by residents in or near the communities they serve, the company said.
Grocery Outlet was acquired a year ago by affiliates of Hellman & Friedman, San Francisco, after five years being owned by Berkshire Partners, Boston.