You can never have too many Sprouts!…read more
Said no one ever, except maybe little kids who hate brussels sprouts lol
Just when it seems like Sprouts has been opening location after location after location after location in and around the LBC, we now have another one that just opened in Paramount on Paramount. If you recall where the ACE Hardware used to be, that's where Sprouts is now, though the ACE Hardware building was demolished to make way for the Farmers Market store, located further away from the main road.
I came for the grand opening, and it was a great experience! Their grand opening weekend started on Friday morning with a ribbon cutting. The first 200 shoppers would receive a free usable tote bag with some goodies inside as well as a long stem rose from Falcon Farms Floral. The next 200 shoppers would just get said stem rose.
I wasn't able to go on Friday, so I made it a point to go on Saturday morning where they gave out tote bags, but not stem roses. Doors opened at 7 AM. I came at about 6:30 AM, thinking there'd be a line throughout the parking lot, but upon my arrival, the line wrapped around one corner of the building.
As we were waiting in line, some employees came out to greet us, either by advertising Sprouts' new rewards program or bringing a photo frame for customers to take photos with. They were all pretty welcoming. The only one I remember by name was Dallas, who was advertising the rewards program and even let me take a photo that I could share with all of Yelp; the photo contains a QR code, so you can use my photo to scan and join!
Two minutes before 7 AM, we were all let inside the store, where they were giving out tote bags. Dallas and another employee were handing out tote bags to customers. As soon as I came in, my first thought was that the setup of the location was very much like the Long Beach location, size included. Smaller than the Lakewood location, but they still carry the same variety of merchandise and other groceries.
Produce looked to be in great quality, but as always, pretty pricey, though you may find some BOGO deals. I do recall the small cartons of blackberries were BOGO free, and a certain bag of 5 avocados was BOGO half off.
During the weekend, they were offering 20% off on everything in the store to celebrate the grand opening. There was also a scavenger hunt, which wasn't really much of a scavenger hunt as one half was answering some produce riddles, and the other half was naming certain produce that satisfied a certain trait or two. The prize I got was a basil plant kit.
When I left, I was given a farewell by a couple of employees, one at self-checkout, and the other at the entrance. I noticed there were still tote bags left to hand out, so I guess I did not have to wake up that early just to get a tote bag.
Before I went back to my car, I noticed they were giving out samples of cotton candy grapes. They didn't have that many samples left on the table when I came, but I'm sure they'd have more waiting in the wings, or maybe even other samples later throughout the day!
I came back the following day around lunchtime, but couldn't find a parking spot. Several other cars were engaged in this parking battle, so I took an L and went back home before returning during the last hour of their Grand Opening festivities.
Again, I couldn't find a parking spot, so I tried to park on the street, but as I was heading north on Colorado, I noticed some angled parking spots kind of like the ones on McGowen at Long Beach Exchange (LBX). There was luckily a spot open, so I parked there and went inside to see if the festivities were still going on.
Unfortunately, the Tractor brandmobile was no longer offering samples of their drinks, and the scavenger hunt had ended. However, they were giving out samples of watermelon slices, so I happily took a bowl of two large wedges, which I happily ate inside the store.
I was carrying some coupons from my Sprouts tote bag, and I was looking for the products to see how much I'd have to spend after the discount. Mihaela and Eduardo each noticed (at separate times) I was looking for an item, and both went above and beyond to find the product for me, though in MIhaela's case, the product was right next to her lol. She even went a step further and explained the essential oils, which I had initially mistaken as cooking oils LOL.
A few minutes later, Eduardo helped me find a particular beverage when we were in the beverage section. He had to cross the store twice, but finally found it in the vitamin section. And then another minute later, Mihaela offered her help again even though I didn't need it lol.
I've been to probably a dozen Sprouts stores in my lifetime, but none of the employees were as customer-centric as Mihaela and Eduardo. I'm sure the other employees would have been just as helpful, though!
Lakewood, Cerritos, Norwalk, Long Beach, Downey, and now Paramount. Who's next? Bellflower? Hope so!