Berkeley Bowl is an independent

grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, a ...

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

. Founded by Glenn and Diane Yasuda, it sells organic and natural products and is known for its extensive

produce Produce is a generalized term for many farm-produced crops, including fruits and vegetables (grains, oats, etc. are also sometimes considered ''produce''). More specifically, the term ''produce'' often implies that the products are fresh and g ...

section. In 2008, the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' wrote that it was " erkeleys most popular grocery store" and "one of the nation's most renowned retailers of exotic fruits and vegetables." It has two locations in the city. The business name is a reference to the former

bowling alley A bowling alley (also known as a bowling center, bowling lounge, bowling arena, or historically bowling club) is a facility where the sport of bowling is played. It can be a dedicated facility or part of another, such as a clubhouse or dwelling ...

that became the store's first location.

History

In 1977, Glenn and Diane Yasuda opened a small neighborhood market in a converted building that formerly housed a bowling alley at 2777

Shattuck Avenue Shattuck Avenue is a major city street running north–south through Berkeley, California, and Oakland, California. At its southern end, the street branches from Telegraph Avenue in Oakland's Temescal district, then ends at Indian Rock Park ...

. By the late 1990s, it had outgrown the building, and in 1999 moved to a renovated

Safeway Safeway is an American supermarket chain founded by Marion Barton Skaggs in April 1915 in American Falls, Idaho. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and features a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, d ...

at 2020 Oregon Street. Labor organizers pushed to unionize the store's 250 employees in 2003, but after a series of disputes, the

National Labor Relations Board The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an independent agency of the federal government of the United States with responsibilities for enforcing U.S. labor law in relation to collective bargaining and unfair labor practices. Under the Na ...

accused the company of "pervasive and serious" labor issues that prevented a fair election. The company reached a settlement recognizing the

United Food and Commercial Workers The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) is a labor union representing approximately 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada in industries including retail; meatpacking, food processing and manufacturing; hosp ...

as representatives of Berkeley Bowl workers, and paying but not reinstating two employees who claimed that they were unfairly fired. A second location, Berkeley Bowl West, opened in 2009. The union was decertified after an employee vote in 2010.

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.berkeleybowl.com Retail companies established in 1977 1977 establishments in California Food and drink in the San Francisco Bay Area Companies based in Berkeley, California Food retailers of the United States Supermarkets based in California