Well, there are some, you will find Ralph's all over Los Angeles. But why aren't
there more? (This query is posed here, here, and here, among other places.)
Factor #1 in my view is lack of cars. Living in an inner city has its downsides,
to say the least, but at least you don't have to buy a car. Yet the modern
grocery store is designed for car transport, both how you get there and how you
get the groceries away and of course the radius of advertising. With fewer cars
per capita the tendency is for smaller, more local stores, which is precisely
what we see in poor neighborhoods. Not surprisingly poor people are most likely
to have cars in LA, and thus most likely to have grocery stores there as well.
For that matter real grocery stores are not all that common in wealthy but
relatively carless parts of major cities, such as Manhattan.
This is actually a reasonable explanation for what has been a question for a long time. I have no car myself, and the way I shop is buying small amounts, in many trips.
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