If you read my review of Lakewood Square, another outdoor shopping center in the city where times…read morechange, but values don't, you'll know that I find such businesses as challenging to pen compared to a single store within. However, the same situation has arose with my Yelp friend, Lilah J, prodding me to score FTR, an honor that I'm not too keen on getting, but when the opportunity arises, why not? Of all the times (a lot lol) I've been to this shopping center on the northwest corner of Woodruff and Carson, I don't recall ever knowing it even had a name! The only reason why I know this as Carwood Shopping Center is because of Google and the City of Lakewood website. Otherwise, I've not seen the word "Carwood" anywhere in this plaza, but if you see stores like Sprouts, Harbor Freight Tools, and Smart & Final, this is the Carwood West Shopping Center for which this page is dedicated to. The "West" in the name denotes the west side of Woodruff. This plaza is pretty much a strip mall that runs almost entirely from Harvey to Carson. On the northern end, you'll find a Sprouts, and on the southern end, you'll find a nail spa nestled in between a Wienerschnitzel and an Air Force career center. One building over is another building that houses a Legend Hot Chicken as well as career centers for three other branches of the military: Army, Navy, and Marines. No signs of Coast Guard or Space Force here. Prior to the pandemic, Legend Hot Chicken was previously a BurgerIM, which also had a location in Artesia until both closed for good after a short while. Wienerschnitzel has been there for even longer. Those are unfortunately the only two restaurants in the plaza; the east side has more options if you're looking for something more exotic. All the other stores in this shopping center share the same building as Sprouts, and it runs in a long straight line. From north to south: Sprouts HomeGoods Centinela Feed & Pet Supplies Smart & Final Harbor Freight Tools Marshalls Alin Party Superstore There is a YMCA and an Allen Tire Company adjacent to Carson, but that's not part of Carwood. Even so, while not a bad selection of stores overall, there's not a wide variety that can allow you to do your one-stop shopping here. If you want to get your banking done here after doing your grocery shopping at Sprouts and/or Smart & Final, your only option is Chase, which is located in a building aloof from the actual strip mall itself. In conjunction with the east side, it would make for one nice shopping center, but it can get annoying that you can only cross by way of Harvey or Carson with no designated pedestrian walkway in the middle. I do this quite a lot whenever I need to shop for more at one store and only need a couple items from another store on the other side of Woodruff. It's most definitely not my favorite shopping center, however, for two reasons. First, the parking. Yes, there's plenty of parking, which can be deduced by anyone looking at Google Maps, but that doesn't tell you how much of a mess it can be during peak hours. I have no idea why, but I feel that customers are worse at parking here than at other shopping centers. Is it the narrow aisles between parking stalls? Or some drivers who don't know who has the right of way? Or perhaps the shoppers themselves who walk like they own the place and don't even bother to look for vehicular traffic in either direction? Who knows? Maybe if there was parking in the rear, I'd be less nervous about finding an open spot on a busy day. Secondly, some of the people there are just weird, let's put it that way. They'll loiter on the premises, and I haven't seen any security around to deter this. I once read a story about how a mother with her baby was being followed around in one of the stores, and she had to ask a store employee to escort her out to her car to act as a buffer. Hello?? Where's security when you need them?! That story alone is worrisome enough to cause me to have to watch my back whenever I'm there. To piggyback off the second drawback, I once had a time when I was trying to find something at the Vons on the other side of Woodruff, and a suspicious family stopped their car asking me if I had any money for gas. I said I didn't. I couldn't find something at that Vons, so I went to the Vons just a mile and a half north. Guess what I saw? That same suspicious family! They approached me again! I simply asked if they got the help they needed to indirectly tell them they had already asked me. That was years ago, and even though it was part of the east side of Carwood, it's always made me leery of being in the general vicinity. Seriously though, don't be surprised to see some random peeps trying to get your attention. Shortly after moving here, I got yelled at by another driver for no good reason at all. That's one way to welcome me to this city lol. But with a fair selection of stores here, it's not a bad choice to do most of your shopping.

Today we went to Pollo Loco for lunch. It was a great experience. First of all. It was super easy…read moreto park next to the restaurant second they weren't busy and they took our order right away and her food came out a few minutes later. There are other restaurants at the corner where we were.

With additional encouragement from my Yelp friend, Lilah J, to score another FTR for a shopping…read moreplaza in the City of Lakewood, here goes my go at Lakewood Marketplace. Lakewood Marketplace is located at the intersection of South and Woodruff. Here's a question for you: Which corner of that intersection is Lakewood Marketplace? It's a trick question because the answer is all four corners! lol It's true, there's something going on at every corner, and depending on your needs, you may be able to fulfill all of them at this one intersection. Just like parks, I don't find shopping centers easy to review, not knowing exactly how to approach it, but since I've stopped by all four corners at some point in time, I'll split this review into four sections, one dedicated to each intermediate direction. Southeast Corner: Vons is the anchor store here, but you'll also find a Daiso Japan, Starbucks, Granny's Donuts, Banfield Pet Hospital, Arby's, and an Ace Hardware store that just recently replaced Tuesday Morning, oddly enough, opening their doors to the general public on a Tuesday morning. The Vons here is more spacious than the *other* Vons on Woodruff, so if that *other* Vons is your usual Vons, and you can't find any of those seemingly scarce eggs, you may want to consider making the 1.7 mile trek north to this Vons instead. If you read my review of Carwood West Shopping Center, also in Lakewood, I mentioned a story where I tried to find something at the Vons on the other side of Woodruff and encountered a suspicious family asking for gas money. I told them I didn't have any, but wished them luck anyways. I drove up to this Vons, and when I was about to leave, that same suspicious family came up to me again! Luckily, that was the only such encounter I've had at Lakewood Marketplace. Northeast Corner: I've only been to El Pollo Loco and Pizza Hut. Also the Seven Eleven on 7/11, but they had run out of free slushies. UFC Gym was the anchor business there, but they have since closed. However, Tesla owners will be thrilled to hear that there's now a Tesla Supercharger here! I don't own such a vehicle, so I can't really comment on how effective the charging station is there. For eats, there is also a Church's Chicken and Thai Villa here. They're probably better than what I had at El Pollo Loco and Pizza Hut. I don't find this corner particularly interesting compared to the Northwest and Southeast corners; I find it about as boring as the Southwest corner. Northwest Corner: Alongside the Southeast corner, there's just as much or maybe even more going on at this corner with the recent addition of a Cassidy's Corner Cafe, though I personally think it's overkill to have 5 locations within 6 miles of one another! The other grocery store, Grocery Outlet, is at this corner, and shopping there lately has been more of a game of maximizing your savings while minimizing your spendings. Don't expect the quality of the merch to be better than that of Vons, but you can definitely save a ton of money if you shop here often. The expiry dates are much earlier than at Vons, so keep that in mind in deciding whether to patronize Grocery Outlet or Vons. There are more options for eats here: Yoshinoya, Mamma's, Adobo Taco Grill, Subway, and Carl's Jr. There's also Cafe Monster that took over Ding Tea, and I'm not sure if it's a rebranding of the bubble tea shop with the same employees? If it is, I'd be hesitant to visit as my one visit to the then-Ding Tea was a complete and utter failure. See my review of that one to see why. Southwest Corner: The only businesses I've patronized on this corner are ARCO and Boba Bee, the last of which is a pretty nice boba shop. Much better than the *other* bee-themed boba shop in Lakewood, which happens to be next to the *other* Cassidy's Corner Cafe, both of which I'm avoiding like the plague. Some gas stations are set up so that if you want to park your car in the parking lot directly in front of a business in the same corner, you'd have to get back on the main road for a few feet. Not here. There was a time when I needed to pump fuel at ARCO, and then immediately after, I parked in the lot without having to get back on Woodruff, which was pretty convenient, but with such a smaller space to traverse your vehicles through, you'll have to keep a keen eye on other drivers finding their way about. Compared to the other three corners, I believe fender benders are likeliest to happen at this corner. Did I mention the parking lot here? Since it's a strip mall, there's a long strip of parking spots with minimal room for two vehicles to pass by one another in opposite directions. If you're really having difficulty finding an open spot or maneuvering your vehicle with such a short turn radius, I recommend parking closer to Tokyo Hibachi. Overall: It wouldn't be easy for me to give a rating to each individual corner of this intersection. Luckily, deciding on a holistic rating was. 4 solid stars!

Went to the Lowe's store here. This shopping center has many businesses and restaurants. I'd…read morerecommend coming here early, as the parking lot can get filled up later in the day and on the weekends. It is located next to the 405 and right on Bellflower.

The Long Beach town center has a lot of businesses and eateries. They have a Sam's Club, Walmart,…read moreBarnes & Noble, PetSmart, Bath & body Works, Tillys, Carter's, and even a Total Wine and More. They even have a Lowe's hardware store. It is conveniently located off the 605 on Carson Street. If you are a Sam's Club member, you can get gas at a very reasonable price here.

Clean, plenty of parking. Even tho a lot of the businesses are in the same complex, you gotta drive…read moreto them. The way that the business are in a line and all the parking is in the outside makes it that way

It's convenient. There is no parking problem. I live nearby and use the nail salon, eateries and…read morethe liquor store has many things if you don't have time to go to the market. A great auto parts store for many years! There's nothing to complain about. It's just an older shopping center!

This is a terrible shopping center! The parking is horrible. All compact size parking spaces with…read morezero room to move around the lot. There's definitely not enough room or parking spaces for the amount of people coming in and out of this lot. I'd avoid if you care about your car in any way.

Though First to Reviews (FTRs) are quite an honor to have on this review platform, I honestly…read morewasn't planning on having said honor bestowed upon me until a Yelp friend, Lilah J, prodded me to go for it. I thought it would have been quite the challenge to be reviewing a shopping plaza, one especially across the street from the 4th largest shopping center in California, in spite of my frequent visits to both. However, I figured if Lakewood Square could serve as a good respite from the hustle and bustle of Lakewood Center, it surely deserves at least one review, am I right?! So ironically speaking, Lakewood Square isn't even square in shape, but Lakewood Center, at least sans Restaurant Row, fully occupies the square block encompassed by Lakewood, Del Amo, Candlewood, and Clark. Hardwick divides Lakewood Square into two sides. Either side has plenty of parking, but the north side will be more abundant, especially on Sundays when the anchor tenant, Hobby Lobby, is closed. That Hobby Lobby used to be a Vons, which closed some years ago in spite of its seemingly prime location from a birds eye view. The south side is anchored by World Market, which offers a wide variety of international goods as well as some neat furniture that could go well in your backyard or your front porch. In the immediate vicinity, you can also have your teeth done at Ocean Dental before finally rewarding yourself with some food from one of Subway, Pieology, Cafe Rio Mexican Grill, or Yogurtland. I've been to all four, but none of them have the best food in Lakewood. However, they will certainly do in a pinch if you're too lazy to go across the street, either Lakewood or Hardwick. Eateries on the north side include Crazy Delights, Wasabi Roll & Ramen Bar, and Chuck E Cheese. In addition to a dentist, there's an eye doctor as well as an urgent care to care for your eye and medical needs, respectively. Plus, Metro Infusion Center will be opening very soon. As I mentioned before, there is plenty of parking on both sides of Hardwick, but if you really can't find a spot on a busy day, try to look for parking in the rear of the buildings. You might be able to snag a spot there :) There's also a security guard roaming about the plaza, so you can feel safe while shopping there. Tenants come and go pretty frequently here, so if you were to come back in 5 years, it would look quite different. One thing that has befuddled me is having two Phenix Salon Suites just a mere hundred feet from one another. There was already a standalone location on the north side hugging Hardwick, and now there's another location on the south side, also hugging Hardwick, that recently replaced Catherine's. I don't think it's clear where the bounds are for Lakewood Square, but after consulting their website www.shoplakewoodsquare.com, it seems that First Bank is at the northeastern corner whereas Yogurtland is at the southeastern corner. However, there's more excitement in either direction! To the north, there is JOANN, Big 5, Petco, and Savers, the last of which recently replaced Big Lots. To the south, there is an Optum, Farmers & Merchants Bank, and the old OfficeMax building, which will be a Sender One very soon! I can see that last one getting a ton of foot traffic, indicating that Lakewood Square may be seeing more activity in the near future! In addition to F&M and First Bank, there's also a Chase at Lakewood Square to fulfill your banking needs. Need a haircut? Great Clips has you covered! Or uncovered? lol Need a place to work out? Check out 6 Degree Fitness! There used to be a Crossfit BPM on the northwest corner, but that unfortunately closed recently. Between Hobby Lobby and Crazy Delights, you can also find a laundromat, beauty supply store, and a tobacco store. I mentioned JOANN previously, but there's also Michael's if neither JOANN nor Hobby Lobby has the arts and crafts material that you seek. Artists can try their luck at Painting with a Twist, and if they'd like a manicure or a pedicure, Beam Nail Bar next door can provide those services! What about the kiddos? They can meet some new friends at The Little Gym of Lakewood, or they can have their own birthday parties at Chuck E Cheese! If you're wondering why there's no longer a Men's Wearhouse on Restaurant Row, it's because they recently moved into the spot that was recently occupied by The Avenue. It seems clothing stores have not had the best of luck here, unfortunately. Hopefully, Men's Wearhouse doesn't succumb to the same fate! Though it pales in comparison to Lakewood Center Mall, Lakewood Square is a nice plaza to visit if you want to experience a different kind of shopping. There's just about something for everyone here, but you can't really do all your one-stop shopping here due to lack of a grocery store. However, there's a CVS Pharmacy where you can also pick up your prescriptions and get your COVID/flu shots. Plus, Albertsons is just one block east.

I didn't realize that there was only one review for lakewood Sq. I frequent this area for a few…read morebusiness. My most used is the CVS. I use the drive thru for all of my prescriptions. Theplace I visit most often other than CVS is the UPS store. I do all of my mail returns here. It can get pretty busy. In terms of holiday or party decor you can't go wrong with Micheals or Hobby Lobby! I use Michael's for all of my art framing also. World Market has been the staple store in this center. We used to call it Cost Plus! I love their cards and Xmas ornaments. I bought my turquoise night tables here too. Savers is now my go to to drop off donations! There is a drive thru drop off thru the alley.

I first came to 2nd & PCH for a friend's birthday celebration at Barry's Boot Camp, but the area…read morehas become a favorite weekday getaway of mine. I love that they broadcast jazz classics like Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald over the speakers. I love the smell of the Pacific Ocean wafting through the nearby marina. And I especially love the view of sunsets over palm trees in the evenings - pure magic! Getting there: there's two parking lots, one on the Whole Foods side and one on the Urban Plates side; parking is free for the first 90 minutes. The landscaping and restroom areas are always well maintained and there is plentiful seating throughout the plaza. They post the schedule for various local events - pop up markets, line dancing, etc. - on the bulletins. Best of all, most are dog-friendly (my rescue dog Darby has several go-to spots he likes to sniff every time we come!) Paper Source, Lather, and Urban (both the clothing and the restaurant) are where you'll find me during most visits.

Stopped by this place for the first time after hearing about it from friends and family. I remember…read moreway back when, the spot used to house a hotel/motel where I didn't even know if it was even functioning. Now it's a cute little retail and restaurant center. You have Whole Foods on the corner and right inside the strip mall which is an open air somewhat small mall. There's parking structures on either end but when we stopped by the gate wasn't working so we ended up parking across the street. There's plenty of parking everywhere so you'll find something. It's not a big area but does offer some cute shops. You'll have some of the retail chain stores with Atletha, Warby Parker, Urban Outfitters, Brixton, Nike, Anthropologie to name a few. Some cute fun jewelry stores, stationary stores and so on. There's even a cute little brewery right in the middle of the strip. It's a cute place for family to bring the kids and pets. People are out enjoying the outdoor. As Easter is coming, there's going to be an Easter bunny on site. It's somewhat a very little outdoor mall. A few dining options surrounding the area. You could walk around the whole place in half an hour or so.

- Contains the slowest service In-N-Out I've ever seen. +…read moreAmple free parking. + Various types of stores here. Eat and shop to your heart's content. + Conveniently located right by the 405.

Although it's a small mall it has what I need…read more With Aldi, Target, JC Penney, Ross, Burlington, Old Navy and IKEA I get the majority of my weekly/monthly shopping done. I can always find a bargain at one of the stores to fit my budget. I love that they added JD Sports in the place of Big 5. I get all my hubby's Vapormax shoes from JD. Great choice mall management. I appreciate that the mall grounds inside and out are kept clean. It's so convenient when you need an item asap and can't wait for delivery. The lots are pretty well lit and mall security is visible. I even saw mall security give a citation to someone who was double parked. I didn't know that could happen. Overall I give our little mall an A+! In a time when malls are closing I'm glad we still have ours! #southbaypavillion aka Carson Mall