The Abridged version:
- In many Sacramento neighborhoods, the local corner store is also a community gathering spot.
- Some mini markets have been around for decades, today serving the grown-up children of customers from the past.
- Many market owners cite their commitment to the neighborhood and its residents as one reason for their longevity.
This story was reported by a member of the Abridged by PBS KVIE Community Reporters program. The Community Reporters program empowers local residents to report stories with guidance and support from the Abridged editorial staff.
Mom and pop corner stores are a defining feature of Sacramento. Whether you need a loaf of bread, a six pack or a quick bite, you can’t miss Sacramento’s mini markets.
These tiny stores are a defining feature of Sacramento, a relic of the town’s pre-automobile, walkable past. For many customers and neighbors, they’ve become a place of social connection. There are nearly 200 of them in the city, says Enigma Business Directory, a company that tracks business data nationally.
Calvin’s Market, 2331 I St., Midtown
There were tears and candlelight on that cold Midtown night in February 2021. Loyal customers and friends piled flowers, framed photos and memories around the storefront for Calvin Yang, a local shop owner. Yang died of a heart attack on the job at his 24th and I Street market that month.
Yang wasn’t just a shopkeeper, his Boulevard Park neighbors said. Michael Picker, a neighbor and customer, remembers the 1980s, when a couple across the street asked Yang to babysit their child in his store.
“You know, this is definitely my community store, it has a community vibe,” Picker said, adding that the shop has remained a vital part of neighborhood life Yang cultivated.
The store, formerly DJs Market, was renamed “Calvin’s Market” in the Laos native’s honor. His son-in-law Thomas Vang now runs the store.
Longtime neighbor Jack Smith just comes in to shoot the breeze.
“We all have conversations about life,” he said. “We can talk about anything from electricians to our jobs.”
Smith says that Calvin’s is one of the few places left where neighbors can meet “just to socialize.” He remembers Yang sitting in front of the store playing the Qeej, a Hmong bamboo wind instrument.
Nicole Honeyeater, Calvin’s Market’s next-door neighbor, owns and runs The Last Great, a small fabric shop that also acts as an impromptu meeting spot for fabric swaps and classes.
Corner stores are an important part of city living and remind her of other walkable urban centers like Berkeley and San Francisco, Honeyeater said. They add to the Sacramento “feel.”
Superette, 3216 Riverside Blvd., Land Park
Superette is a small shop off of Riverside Boulevard in Land Park. There’s a classroom table in this mini-store among the bright yellow and green hand-dipped beeswax candles, local pickled beans, California-made Zab’s hot sauce, and imported and local Sacramento specialty housewares and foods.
“We host classes,” said owner Sophie Mosgrove, who opened the small, 500-square-foot store in June last year, bringing neighbors curated gourmet foods, household items, and building community in the meantime.
Mosgrove and a few local educators have food tastings, vendor pop-ups, hands-on cake decorating and cooking classes in the space and “we even host special gourmet dinners,” she said.
“I think most, if not all cultures, gather around some form of table to eat and enjoy food together,” she said, making the workshop table a perfect fixture for building local connections.
Her shop is an admitted hodgepodge tied together only by Mosgrove’s heart and love for her town.
“It’s a love letter of things that I enjoy. Both food and housewares that I just wanted to share with Sacramento,” she said.
There’s a small red tomato sticker next to some canned goods. “That shows they’re locally crafted,” Sophie said. A gold star next to others means that they are made in California.
Mosgrove said she enjoys watching her customers bond over her wares. “They’re talking about things and then they’re finding things that they love in the store. It warms my heart.”
Peace Market, 1801 O St., Midtown
Sacramento loves beer, and Jim Duncan has been buying his beer from Peace Market since it opened in 1984. He lives nearby the 18th and N Street store and now stops by to see his buddy Raj Patel at the cash register. On this visit, Duncan bought nothing. He just needed a hello.
“The store got here in ’84,” he said, looking over his shoulder at the neatly painted pink Victorian across 18th Street. “They take care of the neighborhood. If somebody needs something they’ll have it for you the next morning.”
“I’ve known a lot of good people here,” Duncan said. “Everybody’s friends here. We all look out for each other.”
Known for its extensive microbrew collection, Peace Market sells so much beer that it celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2012 with t-shirts that read “Keeping the Neighborhood Drunk for 30 years.”
Patel poked his head from the rows of chips, wine, gummy worms and cases full of hot dogs and milk. “We like to stock what the neighbors need,” he said. “If they want something special, we’ll get it for them.”
“Everyone comes here to say hi, even the kids who grow up come back and visit,” Patel said. “I guess I’m just treating people the right way. I treat everybody the same,” he said, “like people.”
Cottage Mart, 2130 51st St., Elmhurst
A steamy plume of curry and garam masala fills the air, telling us we’re not in just any convenience store. We’re at Cottage Mart on 51st Street in Sacramento’s Elmhurst section, which has been serving up friendship, Indian food and groceries for 42 years. Even Google calls it a “beloved local shop.”
It’s a small, tile-roofed “English village”-looking store with a ping pong table and a bar. The Elmhurst Neighborhood Association meets at its attached, wood-paneled taproom monthly. It also serves as a hub for nearby UC Davis Medical Center workers.
“We keep people coming back by getting special things they want,” owner Eugene Dass said. His most recent requests from customers were blackberry-flavored White Claw and sugar-free Red Bull.
Dass’ son-in-law Giovanni Velo agreed that the store has a bigger role in the neighborhood.
“It’s like a community center. Everyone kind of comes in and helps each other.” Velo said Dass knows all of his regular customers by name.
Neighbor Jamie Barbosa has been coming to the store most of his life. “I buy small items, see familiar faces, and make connections,” he said. Today he has three words: “Chicken tikka masala.”
Nicky’s Market, 3225 W. Capitol Ave., West Sacramento
Along a gritty section of highway in West Sacramento, between tractor trailers and chain-link fences, Nicky’s Market has stood for a quarter of a century as an oasis of community. There is a heart and soul to even the most rugged looking places here in Sacramento.
Nicky Kahna, owner of the market, has been here for 28 years. He said that high rents often force immigrants to the low-income neighborhood, which has become a multicultural hub. Originally from South Africa, he speaks Afrikaans, Gujarati, Hindi and Spanish to his diverse group of customers.
“There are no supermarkets nearby,” he said, noting that immigrants often have to live in areas that lack amenities because rent is low. He keeps a variety of ethnic foods on hand from tamarind candy to Mexican Lida Biscuits.
Sierra Powers lives in nearby apartments and said she gets to see her neighbors here and wouldn’t know what to do without the store. “Nicky’s a good person,” Powers said, “He’s very friendly.”
Kahna’s customers are family. “People bring in pictures of their children to show me. I know them for generations,” Kahna said. “If they’re short money or hungry, I’ll sometimes let them take a sandwich and just go.”
James Smith is a member of the Abridged Community Reporters program.