Final Curtain Draws Shut at Diamond Bar Ralphs

The final curtain descended over the deli displays at the Diamond Bar Friday evening.

With the cold food and produce sections barren, customers roamed the empty aisles seeking deals as store manager David Gidden called out the final minutes over the intercom.

"It's been crazy for the cashiers," Front End Manager Anita Smith said. "One woman came in each of the last five days or so and left each time with three carts full of stuff."

Some employees were putting in overtime hours Friday to make sure all of the final tasks were completed before the automatic doors were turned off and pushed together by hand.

Smith said that all of the store's employees were placed in other positions, but seeing the customers was a tough process.

"It's been kind of fun, but also sad at times," Smith said. "I've had customers come in and hug me and ask what they can do about it — you can only hang in there."

Some customers bemoaned the loss.

"I will miss this store as will everyone else," shopper Gina Bacon said.

Over the three days before the closure, Bacon said she had made sure to stock up on non-perishable items — lotion, soap, hair dye, canned goods — using coupons for special discounts on top of the store's clearance prices.

Brooke Jagerson, a shopper at Ralphs for the last five years, said the store had been cleaned out from just two days prior.

In the store's last few minutes, shopper Larry De La Rosa scooped up a deal on frozen pesto pasta meals.

"It's sad to see them go," De La Rosa said. "The only competition is Albertsons."

De La Rosa said he would not mind if a 99 Ranch market take the space next to compete with what he said was the higher-priced Green Hills market across the street.

The property owner, BARCO Management, has not yet announced a business to move into the space.

In May, city officials that the store would be closing after its lease expired in August. 

City Manager Jim DeStefano said then that could take months  that housed the Diamond Bar Ralphs for over two decades.

As the doors closed around 5:40 p.m., Securitas Security guard Adriana Duran started her shift monitoring the building. Duran said security staff would be on hand through the next week to keep an eye out for any vandalism or problems at the empty store.

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