Shopper's Corner - Santa Cruz, CA
Posted by: 
DougK
N 36° 58.602 W 122° 00.968
10S E 587568 N 4092739
Shopper's Corner is Santa Cruz, California's oldest and friendliest family-run market.
Waymark Code: WM8DK8
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 03/17/2010
Views: 2
Shopper's Corner is Santa Cruz's oldest and friendliest family-run market. Since 1938, Shopper's Corner has been a Santa Cruz landmark known for the very best in service, meat, wine, bread and produce.
622 Soquel Avenue
Santa Cruz, CA 95062
Open Daily from 6AM - 9PM
The market has a most beautiful trompe l'oeil mural by John Pugh painted on the side.
From the History of a Landmark on their website:
Shopper's Corner began in 1937 with the sale of one of many Espindola chain markets to two of its store managers Ed Calwell and Carl Schwartz. After a year of accumulated debt and hard times with the post-Depression era, the two couldn't break even. In 1939 they sold the market to two other Espindola employees Emmett "Bud" Beauregard and Vincent Williams, from the Pacific Avenue store.
As the story goes, they bought the market for a dollar - 50 cents apiece, and about a $6,000 debt. They borrowed a dollar, signed their contract on butcher paper and shook hands over a pickle barrel. From there they went on to build a competitive one-store grocery empire and dominate the Santa Cruz Eastside.
Jim Beauregard has since changed the store inventory, updating the mix of international foods, increasing organic produce and natural food selection to meet customer demand. More changes are still to come, he plans to double the deli size, triple the frozen food capacity, double the amount of organic products and increase dairy and meat sections each by 25 percent, all in the same 6,000 square feet.
Keeping the nostalgic look and feel, along with the commitment of providing excellent customer service, Shopper's Corner has always been and will be a place where locals can meet and shop for generations.