The company was started by Irv Gronsky and Mike Burbank, who had worked together for almost twenty years in the food industry.

Their vision was to combine the service and food quality of a corner grocer, butcher, and baker with the theatre of Harrods in London.

[6] Independently owned, the Lazy Acres store was sold to Bristol Farms allegedly as a defensive move against Whole Foods' pending arrival in Santa Barbara.

[8] Four former Albertsons locations have been converted into Bristol Farms: one in San Diego's La Jolla neighborhood, the second in Palm Desert (which originally opened as Lucky), a third location in Los Angeles' Westchester neighborhood (which had also been a Lucky), and a fourth in Santa Monica.

[9] In 2020, Bristol Farms replaced a Vons in La Cumbre Plaza in Santa Barbara and opened its first store in the area.

[10] On June 2, 2006, Bristol Farms' parent company, Albertsons, Inc., was purchased by investors led by Cerberus Capital Management and Supervalu, Inc.

[15] In December 2019, owner Endeavour Capital announced that it would be selling the grocery chain New Seasons Market to E-mart, specifically to its subsidiary, Good Food Holdings, in a sale transaction that was finalized in early 2020.

The original Santa Barbara store was founded in 1991 by Jimmy Searcy, Hugo van Seenus, and Irwin Carasso.