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BUSINESS

Ventura County Star

Customers of Lassens Natural Foods & Vitamins in Thousand Oaks will have until the end of the month to get their organic fruits and specialty supplements.

The Ventura-based organic grocery chain posted signs announcing the store's last day as April 30. Raymond Martherus, regional marketing director for Lassens, said by email Monday the company is closing the store at 2150 Thousand Oaks Blvd. because its lease was not extended.

"It’s not the outcome we had hoped for, but we’re grateful for the time we’ve spent in the community and excited for what’s ahead," he said.

Martherus said workers who wished to stay on with Lassens have been offered new roles in the company. Lassens opened its first Thousand Oaks location in 1985 and has spent seven years at its current spot, he said.

"This particular closure was completely unforeseen," he said in the email. "As we’ve shared, it was unintentional, unplanned, and certainly not something we wanted."

Two messages left with the management offices at The Lakes at Thousand Oaks' offices were not returned.

Thousand Oaks resident Lauri Kamiel said she was so devastated to learn of Lassens' closure, she started a Facebook group. She goes to the market at least once a week for groceries, supplements and prepared foods from the hot bar.

"It's just a friendly environment," Kamiel said. "It's a community."

Kamiel, who has dietary restrictions, said Lassens' supplies of specialty items simplifies her shopping.

"It provides in one place everything I need," she said.

She heard that another market chain is planning to open in Lassens' place and emailed their customer service department, which sent a response indicating it was opening at The Lakes. The Star contacted the company by email, which was not returned.

Lassens has 10 other stores under the name, including the three remaining in Ventura County in Oxnard, Simi Valley and Ventura. Other locations dot the region between San Luis Obispo, Bakersfield and Los Angeles. The company's website says the first store was opened in 1971 by matriarch Oda Lassen as Lassen’s Health Food Store, initially out of a leased shop in Camarillo.

Martherus said the store's closure is not part of any downsizing. Instead, the company is growing. He did not say where.

But a story in The News Tribune in Tacoma, Washington, in November reported that Lassens acquired a two-store chain called Marlene's Market & Deli, which has stores in Tacoma and Federal Way. The stores are not listed on Lassens' site but representatives of Marlene's have Lassens emails.

Martherus noted Lassens' loss can be customers' gain because the store is offering deals while supplies last. Lassens is offering 20% markdowns of nearly all items except produce and deli, according to store signs.

Lassens is the second grocery store closure Thousand Oaks in recent weeks. The Amazon Fresh at 140 Promenade Way is slated to close April 27 after two years in the spot. An Amazon spokesman said certain locations work better than others.

Stacie N. Galang is news director of the Ventura County Star. She can be reached at [email protected] and 805-437-0222.

Amazon Fresh is still finding its footing as a brick-and-mortar grocery retailer as the company shutters two more locations.

The retailer confirmed the closure plans for a store in Thousand Oaks, California, as well as one in Manassas, Virginia, after an “assessment of our offering,” a spokesperson said in an emailed statement Wednesday evening.

The Manassas location officially closed its doors on March 16 while the Thousand Oaks store won’t officially cease operations until April 27, the spokesperson confirmed. Separate WARN notices for each store state that 88 employees were affected by the Manassas store closure and 76 were impacted by the Thousand Oaks store closure.

Both Amazon Fresh locations were short-lived, with the Manassas store debuting in June 2022 and the Thousand Oaks location opening in August 2022. At the time of its opening, the Thousand Oaks store was one of Amazon’s locations featuring its coveted Just Walk Out frictionless checkout technology, local news outlets reported. However, Amazon pulled the technology from all of its brick-and-mortar grocery retail spaces, including Whole Foods Market, in April 2024.

“We remain committed to Amazon Fresh and our broader grocery strategy, and will continue to refine our portfolio of stores as we learn which locations and features resonate most with customers,” the spokesperson said.

Despite these changes, Amazon is still planning openings under its revamped Amazon Fresh store format. A new Amazon Fresh store is coming to Silver Spring, Maryland, on March 27, the company confirmed. The location will reside at 12345 Columbia Pike in the White Oak Town Center, which also houses a Jersey Mike’s Subs, Starbucks, Oak Barrel & Vine liquor store and First Watch restaurant, Bethesda Magazine reported.

The Silver Spring opening is long overdue, as the storefront’s opening was delayed when Amazon paused its national expansion of its Amazon Fresh fleet in early 2023, the magazine noted.

Amazon Fresh currently operates 62 stores across nine states.

Just 3 minutes ago, a 4.5-magnitude earthquake struck near Thousand Oaks, Ventura County, California, USA. The tremor was recorded around noon on Sunday, March 9th, 2025, at 1:03 pm local time, at a very shallow depth of 5.6 miles below the surface.The event was filed by the United States Geological Survey, the first seismological agency to report it.A second report was later issued by the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), which listed it as a magnitude 4.2 earthquake.Based on the preliminary seismic data, the quake was probably felt by many people in the area of the epicenter. It should not have caused significant damage, other than objects falling from shelves, broken windows, etc. In Westlake Village (pop. 8,500) located 7 miles from the epicenter, Thousand Oaks (pop. 129,300) 7 miles away, Agoura Hills (pop. 20,900) 8 miles away, and Agoura Hills (pop. 20,900) 8 miles away, the quake should have been felt as light shaking.Weak shaking might have been felt in Camarillo (pop. 67,600) located 13 miles from the epicenter, Simi Valley (pop. 126,800) 15 miles away, Oxnard (pop. 207,300) 18 miles away, Santa Monica (pop. 93,200) 23 miles away, and Los Angeles (pop. 3,898,700) 37 miles away.VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update magnitude and depth if these change and follow up if other significant news about the quake become available. If you're in the area, please send us your experience through our reporting mechanism, either online or via our mobile app. This will help us provide more first-hand updates to anyone around the globe who wants to know more about this quake.

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Earthquake data:

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Date & time: Mar 9, 2025 01:03 pm (GMT -7) local time (9 Mar 2025 20:03 GMT)Magnitude: 4.1Depth: 11.73 kmEpicenter latitude / longitude: 34.08°N / 118.9°W (Los Angeles, California, United States)Primary data source: USGS