Nugget Markets is a family-owned upscale

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...

chain operating within the greater Sacramento metropolitan area as well as in Marin and Sonoma counties in

Northern California Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...

. It is headquartered in

Davis, California Davis is the most populous city in Yolo County, California. Located in the Sacramento Valley region of Northern California, the city had a population of 66,850 in 2020, not including the on-campus population of the University of California, Da ...

. As of August 2022, the company operates 13 of its flagship Nugget Markets-brand stores, as well as Sonoma Market in Sonoma, Fork Lift by Nugget Markets in Cameron Park, and

Food 4 Less Food 4 Less is the name of several grocery store chains, the largest of which is currently owned by Kroger. It is a no-frills grocery store where the customers bag their own groceries at the checkout. Kroger operates Food 4 Less stores in the ...

in Woodland.

History

In 1926, Nugget Markets opened its first store in Woodland, California by the father-and-son team of William and Mack Stille. Mack Stille ran most of the day-to-day operations and introduced many unconventional policies to the store, such as incorporating meat departments, installing refrigerated produce cases, and employing checkout stands equipped with power belts. In the late 1970s, under the leadership of Mack's son, Gene, and grandson, Eric, the company began its expansion outside the local Woodland community by opening a Nugget Markets store in neighboring

Davis Davis may refer to: Places Antarctica * Mount Davis (Antarctica) * Davis Island (Palmer Archipelago) * Davis Valley, Queen Elizabeth Land Canada * Davis, Saskatchewan, an unincorporated community * Davis Strait, between Nunavut and Gre ...

. In 1984, Nugget Markets acquired a pair of

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

Alpha Beta Alpha Beta was a chain of supermarkets in the Southwestern United States. Stores under this brand existed between 1917 and 1995. Former Alpha Beta stores have all been purchased by other grocery chains and rebranded. History Before Alpha Beta ...

grocery stores and converted them into Nugget Markets, one in the Greenhaven-Pocket neighborhood, the other in Foothill Farms on Hillsdale Blvd. In the early 1990s, Nugget Markets opened its first Food 4 Less franchise in Vallejo, California. In the late 1990s, Nugget Markets developed their Fresh to Market concept, pairing European-style open-air marketing with higher-end products and specialty departments, such as their Cheese Specialists, Wine Stewards, Pastry Chefs in a full-range Bakery, Full-Service Kitchen, Healthy Living Department, dedicated Seafood butcher and a Juice & Espresso Bar. In 2006, Nugget Markets leased / bought 8 former

Ralphs Ralphs is an American supermarket chain in Southern California. The largest subsidiary of Cincinnati-based Kroger, it is the oldest such chain west of the Mississippi River. Kroger also operates stores under the Food 4 Less and Foods Co. nam ...

stores in and around Sacramento. In 2015, Nugget Markets acquired Paradise Foods with locations in Novato, Corte Madera and Tiburon. Also in 2015, Nugget Markets debuted its new “Fork Lift” market concept which was a hybrid of its Nugget and Food 4 Less brands within the same store. In 2016, Nugget Markets acquired Sonoma Market and Glen Ellen Village Market, both located in Sonoma County. In 2019, Nugget Markets patriarch Gene Stille died. In 2020, Nugget Markets moved its corporate headquarters from Woodland, California to Davis, California. In 2021, Nugget Markets was ranked #24 on '' Fortune's'' list of "100 Best Companies to Work For," its 16th year on the list.

Branding

Unique to Nugget Markets is their architectural feature at the entrance of new stores, which include a tower and/or a robed woman with a basket of food above her head. The robed woman, in particular, became the corporate logo and mascot of the company.

Locations

Active Nugget Markets stores

* Downtown Woodland – 157 Main St.,

Woodland, California Woodland is a city in and the county seat of Yolo County, California, located approximately northwest of Sacramento, California, Sacramento, and is a part of the Sacramento metropolitan area. The population was 61,032 at the 2020 United States ...

* El Macero – 409 Mace Blvd.,

* Lake Crest – 1040 Florin Rd.,

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

* Southport – 2000 Town Center Plaza,

West Sacramento, California West Sacramento (also known as West Sac) is a city in Yolo County, California, United States. The city is separated from Sacramento by the Sacramento River, which also separates Sacramento and Yolo counties. It is a fast-growing community; the p ...

* Park Plaza – 771 Pleasant Grove Blvd.,

Roseville, California Roseville is the most populous city in Placer County, California, located within the Sacramento metropolitan area. As of 2019, the US Census Bureau estimated the city's population to be 141,500. Interstate 80 runs through Roseville and State Rout ...

* Browns Valley – 130 Browns Valley Pkwy.,

Vacaville, California Vacaville is a city located in Solano County in Northern California. Sitting approximately from Sacramento and from San Francisco, it is within the Sacramento Valley. As of the 2020 census, Vacaville had a population of 102,386, making it ...

* Oak Tree – 1414 E. Covell Blvd., Davis, California * El Dorado Hills – 4500 Post St.,

El Dorado Hills, California El Dorado Hills (''El Dorado'', Spanish for "The Golden") is an unincorporated town and census-designated place in El Dorado County, California. Located in the Greater Sacramento region of Northern California, it had a population was 50,547 at ...

* Elk Grove – 7101 Elk Grove Blvd.,

Elk Grove, California Elk Grove is a city in Sacramento County, California, located just south of the state capital of Sacramento. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade– Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 Census, the population o ...

* Blue Oaks – 1509 Blue Oaks Blvd., Roseville, California * Tiburon – 1 Blackfield Drive,

Tiburon, California Tiburon (; es, Tiburón, ) is an incorporated town in Marin County, California. It is located on the Tiburon Peninsula, which reaches south into the San Francisco Bay. It shares a ZIP code with the smaller incorporated city of Belvedere (forme ...

* Corte Madera - 5627 Paradise Drive,

Corte Madera, California Corte Madera (; Spanish for "Chop Wood") is an incorporated town in Marin County, California. Corte Madera is located south of San Rafael, at an elevation of 39 feet (12 m). The population was 10,222 at the 2020 census. The town was named afte ...

* Novato - 470 Ignacio Blvd.,

Novato, California Novato (Spanish for "Novatus") is a city in Marin County, California, in the North Bay region of the Bay Area. At the 2020 census, Novato had a population of 53,225. History What is now Novato was originally the site of several Coast Miwok ...

Active Sonoma Market store

* 500 West Napa St.,

Sonoma, California Sonoma is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Sonoma is one of the principal cities of California's Wine Country and the center of the Sonoma Valley AVA. Sonoma's p ...

Active Fork Lift by Nugget Markets store

* 3333 Coach Ln.,

Cameron Park, California Cameron Park is a census-designated place (CDP) in El Dorado County, California, United States and is part of the Greater Sacramento Area. The population was 19,171 in the 2020 census, up from 18,228 in 2010. Cameron Park is a community located in ...

Active Food 4 Less store

* 451 Pioneer Rd., Woodland, California

Defunct stores

* Riverside – 6419 Riverside Blvd., Sacramento, California * Hillsdale – 5731 Hillsdale Blvd., Sacramento, California

Unfinished stores

* Vallejo – Was to have opened in the northeastern section of Vallejo, California.RASKIN-ZRIHEN, RACHEL. "Prospect of Wal-Mart nudges out Nugget." Times-Herald (Vallejo, CA), sec. Local, 9 Nov. 2006. NewsBank: Access World News, infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=AWNB&docref=news/11564012698735D8. Accessed 27 Mar. 2021. Plans cancelled in November 2006.

References

{{Supermarkets of the United States Supermarkets of the United States Food and drink companies based in California Retail companies based in California Companies based in Yolo County, California Woodland, California American companies established in 1926 Food and drink companies established in 1926 Retail companies established in 1926 1926 establishments in California Family-owned companies of the United States