Los Altos Shopping Center

I’m so old I remember when The Broadway was an anchor store here. It’s changed a great deal over the years, but Sears remains. Go figure.
There is an eclectic mix of stores, pharmacies, gyms, restaurants and yes, a medical office within the confines of this center. It’s convenient when you’re exiting the 405 at Bellflower to run in for something you need. I appreciate its longevity and local flavor to Long Beach. It’s a little sketchy once the sun goes down, however.

Kind of a funky combination of strip mall pieces thrown together with a sometimes odd parking lot, but this center is kind of a one stop shop (ping center).
Close to CSULB and just a few minutes from the 405, it’s quite convenient.
Trader Joe’s, Post Office, Target, Starbucks, Chronic Tacos, Rite Aid, Golden Spoon, and so much more. A couple of banks, fast food, dine in restaurants… a little bit of everything!
Pro tip for Trader Joe’s– park on the other side of the store. There are two entrances!

Fine little shopping area: has a Target, McDonald’s, Chase Bank, Trader Joe’s, Big Lots, Chronic Tacos, comic book store, dry cleaners, the Deli News Italian type low cost eatery and down other businesses that I haven’t yet patronize. Pretty good variety of places to do down shopping for food, household items and quick bites to eat.
Worst think about this place is the parking. Near Target and McDonalds, and near Trader Joe’s – surprise – and the comic shop, it gets a little dicey. These are the areas most likely to get backed up and you have to be extra careful to look out for the lesser skilled drivers (better than calling them stupid, right?). Trader Joes and Target also have more pedestrian traffic near them, including many who aren’t very attentive to the outer world around them (see previous comment). I would recommend not driving down pedestrian row to save time and headaches.

This is definitely the place to go to fulfill all of your shopping needs! This is especially true if your home is nearby or you are a CSULB student in the dorms!
Ranges from Target, Trader Joe’s, Big Lots, Rite Aid, dry cleaners, and a USPS! A huge parking lot so there shouldn’t be problems with parking!
Some easy food/​dessert places like McDonald’s, Deli News, Golden Spoon, Chronic Tacos, and Starbucks are all conveniently located here!
There’s 3 banks (major banks too): Chase, Bank of America, and CitiBank!

You got a Target, Big Lots, the useless overrated Trader Joes and a few small shops. Living close by allows me to use their Post Office and dry cleaners.

Nice, clean, and quaint local city strip center. No traffic, easy in and out with a lot of available parking.

If you’re in the Los Altos/​CSULB area, this shopping center can fulfill most of your shopping needs. With the addition of the new Trader Joe’s, it finally has a grocery store, which it had been missing ever since the demise of the Safeway nearly 20 years ago (unless you count the semi-​new Bristol Farms, which is not really a place most people can afford for their regular everyday groceries). I was going to say it doesn’t have a coffee shop, but there is the SBC in the Borders. It is severely lacking in good restaurants. But as far as shopping, most things are covered here. This side of town was built up mostly in the 1950s and is thus more suburban than the downtown and shore areas. In the older parts of town we have local small businesses and markets within the neighborhoods themselves, but in Los Altos and the surrounding areas you have to depend more on shopping centers and mini-​malls; thus the convenience of Los Altos Center. Although I haven’t lived here for a good 12 years, I still do most of my business here out of habit.
If you wish to continue reading, I’ll take you on a little tour.
NE corner: The main stretch consists of a Target, Big Lots, post office, Trader Joe’s, $ 1 cleaners, a fast food Chinese place, the Deli News, Amazing Comics, and PC Club. The other stretch has a Rite Aid and a bunch of small places including several nail places, a haircut place, Whittaker’s music, a photo place, a pet place, etc.etc. In the parking lot there are 2 major banks (BofA and Citibank) as well as a Payless, McDonald’s, Blockbuster Video, and a Mobil station on the corner. I guess I’ll also include the Petco and F&M bank though they are sort of off on their own.
SE corner: Sigh. This used to be Los Altos Center proper. I’m going to save the bulk of my nostalgia for the end, but I’ll always miss the old cement-​floored outdoor mall of the 70s, even if it’s better now. The entire place was torn down in the mid-​90s, and the only remaining structure is now Sears, but used to be the Broadway. Up until this year it even had the same old narrow, rickety escalator. The only original businesses from the original center are Sav-​On (now CVS) and the Hallmark, though they have moved to the new buildings. Now this side has big chain stores like Borders, CompUSA, and Circuit City, plus the aforementioned Sears and Bristol Farms, and a few other small stores and a salon in between. Also a Wells Fargo and some fast food joints. In the very back, hidden behind Bristol Farms, don’t miss the Los Altos Branch of the Long Beach Public Library.
SW corner: Not too bad, you’ve got Mountain View Good Year, Hof’s Hut, See’s, and Ecco’s pizza, plus a nail place and some other shops. Also an old school Tastee Freeze and good old Los Altos Carwash.
NW corner: pretty boring, but you’ve got a $ 1 cleaner that is an alternative to the one across the street and has no long lines, plus Wendy’s, and a building that used to be a bank but currently houses a paint store.
So, like I said, lots of places to do business. I can’t link to everything here, but here are some places that have already been reviewed:
Target (
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Trader Joe’s (
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Los Altos Cleaners (
?)
Big Lots (
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Deli News (
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Amazing Comics (
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Hof’s Hut (
)
Los Altos Carwash (
)
Ecco’s Pizza (
)
See’s Candies (
)
Wags to Whiskers (
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Underground Salon (
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1970s/​1980s Nostalgia section: Donuts at Bob’s Big Boy (where the Blockbuster is now), ice cream at Thrifty’s (now Rite Aid) and at the old Sav-​On, banana splits at Woolworth, annual school shopping at Penny’s, Broadway, Stride Rite and Kenny’s, picking out pens at the stationery store, summer reading program at the library, Ms. PacMan wars at Hof’s Hut, getting photos developed at Fedmart (where Target is now), Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, and hanging out here after school…