What's Wrong With Shopping at Lassen's?

Whether out of convenience or insufficient information—or because of a failure to see anything wrong—many of us tend to continue shopping at stores caught in the glare of media criticism or the swirl of local politics.

Past examples include the hugely disruptive 2003-04 citywide strike (and subsequent lockout) at grocery chain stores—a time when everybody knew somebody who crossed the picket lines to do their shopping.

And now shoppers in Eagle Rock and its vicinity face another such moment—and a corresponding question: Would they shop at a local health food store known for helping fund the 2008 Proposition 8 ballot initiative calling for a ban on gay marriage?

The store in question is Lassen’s, part of the organic food chain by the same name, which recently opened shop on Hillhurst Avenue in nearby Los Feliz on the same property where a previous organic food store, Nature Mart, was based (but lost its lease).

A campaign to get people to sign an online petition to boycott Lassen’s new store is currently underway—as of 5 p.m. on Monday, the effort had garnered exactly 1,001 signatures.

We’d like to know how Eagle Rockers feel about this issue. Where do you stand on the question of whether to shop at Lassen’s or not, given the business’s open support for an issue that many Americans clearly don’t agree with?