Santa Barbara Public Market Sold to Local Families
By edhat staff
The Santa Barbara Public Market and an adjacent building have sold to two local families.
The sale is estimated to be about $10 million and was purchased by Winn and Twining families. The market at 38 W. Victoria St. sold for $7.65 million and the vacant commercial condo at 28 W. Victoria St. sold for $2.25 million., according to the Pacific Coast Business Times.
The market on the corner of Chapala and Victoria Streets used to be the home of a Vons grocery store and parking lot. The market opened in 2014 with a grocery store, butcher, and cheese shop fashioned after the Ferry Building in San Francisco where visitors shop daily for fresh groceries.
The concept didn't exactly catch on with Santa Barbara residents and the market pivoted to a "premier food hall" featuring beer and wine service with merchants selling ice cream, sushi, pizza, noodles, and tacos.
The new owners plan to fill the vacant spots with new ideas so the space can be more of a community meeting place, and the empty condo might turn into a private club with an event center, reports the Pacific Coast Business Times.
10 Comments
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Jan 14, 2022 06:44 PMThe spot was too small from the start to become a successful public market. It never made it as such. The current "food court" approach is much more promising !
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Jan 14, 2022 08:19 PMAgree. Also the grocery market was far too expensive for the residents within walking distance. I once ran out of coffee creamer and ran down there to pick some up. A very small carton was over $10, I never shopped there again.
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Jan 14, 2022 09:05 PMlol, I hear you. Sounds like my relationship with Gelsons, but Gelsons is cheaper than that! And I will spend $10 on a roast turkey thigh and leg, good for 3-4 meals. I haven't even been to Bristol Farms. I sure miss a regular old grocery store on upper State.
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Jan 15, 2022 01:01 PMWent once to Bristol Farms, the upper scale Whole Paycheck. There is a Smart and Final in La Cumbre Plaza shopping center or maybe it has closed and gone away.
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Jan 15, 2022 02:16 PMIt's in 5 Points, across La Cumbre Rd from La Cumbre Plaza.
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Jan 15, 2022 08:50 PMSmart and Final is still there, and unfortunately the long lines still suck, they are always long...
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Jan 15, 2022 06:27 AMCongrats to new owners. I love the building and the concept. Initial idea was great. Rents were high and most of the high end groceries for sale were too expensive. Sheets of pasta for a lasagna for eight was more than $70!!! Kid behind the butcher counter was clueless as to how to cut up a whole chicken. Biggest lesson is that the quality places like Empty Bowl and Corazon still thrive and are among the best restaurant food in town. I hope new owners have a nose for talent and hard work and will be willing to give a foot up to new businesses and even some managerial advice in order to create a consistent standard and help new businesses flourish. (That goes for all of State Street I guess)
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Jan 15, 2022 09:00 AMIt's way too loud in there for the kind of pricey experience you get. I'm hoping the new owneres will do the smart thing and allow diners to eat on the roof deck that is only available to the few tenants that live there now. We love to dine "outside" in this town. .... Many years ago The Teahouse Restaurant on Garden had a wonderful roof deck for dining. I still miss that place.
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Jan 15, 2022 10:40 AMSO HAPPY that it's LOCAL families who bought it and not another transplant!!! SHOP LOCAL!!!
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Jan 15, 2022 11:09 AMI agree about the Inside Noise. It kept me Out! Inside noise was the main reason, somewhat in addition to prices, that kept us out of that place which initially we'd been really looking forward to.