Lakewood Square, Lakewood Center, and now Lakewood Galleria? Shopping centers are a plenty in the…read moreCity of Lakewood, and in this case, all within or around the same city block. While Lakewood Center is vast and spacious, it can be confusing to tourists which business belongs to what shopping center. Let's see if I can help. Lakewood Galleria is the smallest of the three, perched on the northeast corner of Clark and Candlewood. Just on the other side of Clark is Outback Steakhouse, which is part of Lakewood Center. Lakewood Center is entirely east of Lakewood Blvd whereas Lakewood Square is entirely west of Lakewood Blvd. Got it? Good! Let's move on. Since Lakewood Galleria is significantly smaller than the other two, it wouldn't be fair for me to compare the two shopping centers; if I were to do that, I'd be comparing apples to avocados, both fruits, but certainly not of the same type! I also personally find it difficult to review a plaza like Lakewood Galleria as it'd be more expository compared to a business located within, but my Yelp friend, Lilah J, continues to encourage me to take on this FTR endeavor with an additional prod from another Yelp friend, Te-see B. If you're familiar with Lakewood Center, you should know about Restaurant Row, which spans as far west as IHOP/Chipotle to as far east as Outback Steakhouse. Since they're on the north side of Candlewood, I would argue that you can extend the row past Clark and add a few more eateries from Lakewood Galleria: Ohana Hawaiian BBQ, Corner Bakery Cafe, Pick Up Stix, Cold Stone Creamery, Rubio's Coastal Grill, and the most recently added Mlem Mlem Crab Cajun Seafood. For eats, my go tos are Corner Bakery Cafe and Rubio's Coastal Grill, sometimes on the same trip when I want to eat a nice, delicious meal from Rubio's, and then treat myself to a nice beverage afterwards from Corner Bakery. I personally think Corner Bakery Cafe is on the decline and do not see a bright future ahead for this cafe that has already closed its doors in nearby Long Beach and Whittier. Rubio's is a better choice, offering a wider variety of eats on their menu, though they're not open all three meals of the day. I reviewed three other Rubio's nearby, awarding each of them two stars. This one, however, is superior, and I always appreciate being welcomed by the recently promoted manager whenever he's there. My visits to this Rubio's have been consistently good, though with a few one-offs here and there. The spot occupied by Mlem Mlem Crab seems to be cursed. In a span of 15 years, it went from It's A Grind Coffee House to The Dog House, then to Dickey's Barbecue Pit, and now Mlem Mlem Crab Cajun Seafood. Besides Locks & Lather Hair Salon, which used to be a Fantastic Sam's, I don't recall any other spot in Lakewood Galleria having a changeover like that. I suppose that's why CityTV decided to do a feature on Mlem Mlem to encourage denizens of this city to try something different. They also have a location in nearby Hawaiian Gardens, so hopefully, they are here to stay. I have witnessed the same person in the parking lot of Lakewood Galleria multiple times offering to wash customers' car windows. I usually get wary of stuff like that, so I stay far from him, though I've seen him come inside, and he's never posed a threat to anyone. I generally feel safer here than at Carwood West Shopping Center, and I haven't heard any stories of the likes of what I mentioned in that review, which Lilah also encouraged me to write. While there's not really a doctor here, you can find The Joint, which can cater to your chiropractic needs. There is also Serene Dental Care that can cater to your dental needs. But like I said, no doctor, although I saw that MemorialCare is opening a location on Restaurant Row very soon where Men's Wearhouse used to be! No grocery stores here, but there is an Albertsons just one block south of Lakewood Galleria. The post office is about halfway in between, and there's not a whole lot of parking in front, so if you really can't find a spot to park, I'd suggest parking here instead. The parking lot is large enough that I've never had an issue finding an open spot. Similar to Lakewood Square, Lakewood Galleria serves as a good respite from the hustle and bustle of Lakewood Center. You won't find the best eats here, but there's a good variety for the size of this plaza that it shouldn't be difficult to agree upon a gathering place here. Corner Bakery comes to mind first only because of how empty the cafe has been on my recent visits, though do bear in mind the decline I mentioned earlier in this review. Also, Mayfair Park is a few hundred feet north, just south of South lol. It'd make for a good place to walk off your calories after your meal here.

This place used to be way better! There used to be lots of businesses in here that you'd actually…read morewant to go to. Unfortunately, life has become very busy and chaotic for me, so I haven't been frequenting this area as I used to. I was recently in the area, and saw where a lot of the old businesses that were here are now gone. I really don't see how this tiny strip mall will continue to stay open.

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.

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.

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

tl,dr: decent plaza for dining, dessert, and groceries…read more Likes: + Large shopping plaza. Mixed variety of restaurants and desserts. My friend and I had our fill at Heybings Desserts. + I bought good, well-priced snow chains at the O'Reilly Auto Parts here. + I also enjoyed dinner at Eat's Sushi, along with their Yelp check-in for a free drink. + Huge parking lot. + Numerous entrances/exits. Makes for smooth traffic flow. Non-likes: - As my friend and I walked around this plaza at night, we crossed a couple homeless people just sleeping on the ground near store entrances. - This plaza doesn't have outdoor seating areas. Not a great hangout place for a group of friends to just chill outside.

After a nice lunch at Islands, we walked around. We checked out dog beds at Petco. Then we brought…read moresome donuts, chocolate candy bars , frozen ice cream sandwiches, and other supplies.

The service everywhere was soo nice, they made sure everything was nice. The selections, omg some…read moregreat Asian food, the Niko Niko Sushi, bro I felt like skittles at that point. The values, it's worth. Good stuff for the type of value it holds. There are a lot of different stuff and foods, like a sushi place, Niko Niko Sushi, I like that place. Here are the different foods and places they got that I totally recommend: Niko Niko Sushi, some great traditional food, it was very yummy. Starbucks, the sweetness is crazy good. The boba place, idk the name but, ITS ALSO VERY GOOD. Regals cinema theatre, some good old times movies. Regular shopping places, like target or kohls, the OGS. Lots of variety, like a house of Pokemon cards. Worth it with spending time and enjoying memories.

This shopping plaza has everything! From shops and restaurants, to a Kaiser Permanente. The parking…read morearea is huge too, but on a weekend night, it's gonna get packed. Be prepared to drive around for a while for a spot.

The Promenade at Downey is a retail, dining, & entertainment destination. It's very nice and a lot…read moreof thought was put into this community space. There are multiple seating areas, a section for dogs, and reading stations throughout that tell the store of the city of Downey's contributions to space exploration and movie history. I also came across the Time Capsule, that will be opened in 2056, which is the year of its 100th anniversary. It would be cool to see what was put inside on October 17, 2016. I've been here several times to eat at some of the restaurants. Parking is plentiful. You can spend an entire day here browsing the stores, watching a movie, and grabbing a bite to eat.

First off, why is this shopping center called Lincoln *Station*?! It sounds more like a train or…read moresubway station in a metropolitan part of town, and there isn't anything that reminds me of the 16th President of the United States unlike the namesake park in DTLB (Downtown Long Beach). Not that I'm factoring this into my rating, but I thought I'd point those out as a preface to my review. So I wasn't really planning to pen this review honestly, but my Yelp friend, Lilah J, continues to encourage me to add another FTR (First to Review) to my collection, so here goes! Lincoln Station is not a station, but rather, a shopping center. They're on the south side of South between Pioneer and Norwalk, right by the Artesia/Cerritos city border. Artesia Park is just on the other side of that border from this shopping center. Sprouts Farmers Market in the anchor store here, located where Sports Authority used to be on the eastern end of Lincoln Station. From there, you can circumnavigate the shopping center in a clockwise direction on foot, but don't forget to visit Smoking Tiger Bread Factory where Chase Bank used to be! Every time I stop at this plaza, I usually swing by Smoking Tiger to see the selection of pastries they have in the patisserie. Most of the time, I'll see customers sitting at the tables with their laptops, indicative of a great place to get some work or studying done. Businesses seem to come and go in this plaza quite a bit. The donut shop is just one example. Shortly after Smoking Tiger opened, Chubby Seoul Donuts followed suit, and from what I recall, Chubby Seoul would source their donuts from Smoking Tiger. Unfortunately, Chubby Seoul didn't find much success here, but Old Ferry Donut, who took over that spot, seems to be doing better to the point where one of my Yelp friends went there several times shortly after opening. Between the donuts and the farmers market, there's one eatery named Vita Cane, which specializes in sugarcane juices and acai bowls. All the other eateries in this plaza are west of the donut shop, and I've unfortunately not tried any of those, so I can't make any further comment other than the decent variety of eats available here. And drinks too, as in the case of Sharetea, a boba shop recommended by some Yelp friends of mine. Actually, I did have a Honey Milk Tea from Pot on Fire, a hot pot spot that also served cold drinks, though the one I got was somewhere along the lines of meh and whatever. The hot pots looked pretty good, but Pot on Fire unfortunately closed late last year. Today, it's still a hot pot spot, but it's now called Jomaru Korean Hot Pot. You can find them next to Meet Fresh. To the west of Sharetea are some other businesses that are also worth checking out, especially 8th Symphony Coffee, another good study spot of the likes of Smoking Tiger. However, please note these businesses are *not* a part of Lincoln Station. Parking is plentiful in this plaza, but it's also a crapshoot that I can never predict how far I'd have to walk to Sprouts from my car at any given time. You're more likely to find open spots in the middle of the lot, which would be ideal if you're visiting businesses on opposite ends of the plaza. And if for some reason, the lot is entirely full, there's actually a parking garage between East West Bank and Sharetea! I was surprised to hear of this parking garage when one of my Yelp friends mentioned it in a review of hers, and when I asked her, I thought to myself, "How did I not realize this was there the whole time?!" Probably because I'm usually on the east end of the plaza, but this parking garage is more westerly. A few years ago, a Yelp OCA (Online Community Ambassador) from our chapter, Orange County at the time believe it or not, once called this part of town "Foodie Lane". On South St heading east from the 605 freeway, you'll find a plethora of eateries that cater to a wide variety of different cuisines. You name it, they'll have it, or at least something reasonably within ballpark range! Lincoln Station is essentially the east end of this "Foodie Lane", though that's not to say there aren't any good restaurants east of Lincoln Station. There still are, but more scattered about and not as concentrated as the businesses on "Foodie Lane". Whenever I'm here, it's usually a stop at Sprouts Farmers Market, which may have some samples at the self-checkout lane from time to time! Overall, it's a decent shopping center worth visiting. Can you do all of your one-stop shopping here? Possibly, unless it involves electronics or furniture; otherwise, your next closest option would be Cerritos Towne Center. You also won't necessarily get the best food here, but there is a wide variety of businesses that you can certainly hit up more than one on a single stop here. You can definitely get a lot of steps in just by walking around this plaza, and did I mention how you could walk to Artesia Park from there?