A new store opening in Marin City will bring a neighborhood supermarket to a community that has long lacked one.
Grocery Outlet will fill the space formerly occupied by CVS, which closed in 2021. The site used to be a Longs Drugs store.
The store at 150 Donahue St. will open at 7 a.m. Thursday, said Chantha Vath, one of the local owners. She said she hopes for 1,000 customers on opening day.
“Customers are already coming up to the door every single day thinking we’re open,” she said.
Employees have been stocking the store with non-perishable dry goods, health items and pet food. Beginning Monday, perishable produce, meat and deli items will arrive.
Vath and her husband Bruce Uy have been married 16 years. They are originally from San Jose and are second-generation residents. Their parents were born in Cambodia.
Vath said she worked at Save Mart for about 15 years, rising to assistant store manager. Uy has a mechanic background and worked at Jiffy Lube for about 15 years.
“We are so thrilled to be a part of the Marin City community and provide some relief with big savings on quality groceries,” Uy said. “This partnership with Grocery Outlet gives us the ability to grow our business, create new jobs and, more importantly, give back to the local community.”
The couple used to own a Grocery Outlet in Fairfield but sold it when they moved to Marin City in May.
“We came for views but we are staying for the community,” Vath said.
The store is in the Marin Gateway Shopping Center, which has 182,000 square feet of retail space and 900 parking spots. It opened in 1997 as part of the Marin City USA economic redevelopment project in the spot of a flea market. The center is owned by the Gerrity Group, a real estate management company in San Diego County.
The community has long needed a full-service grocery store at the shopping center, said the Rev. Floyd Thompkins of St. Andrew Presbyterian Church. While the nearby Target store offers some groceries, a full-service site, especially with discount prices, will benefit the community, he said.
Thompkins organized a hiring fair to staff the Grocery Outlet. Sixty-five people applied for 35 positions, and the event resulted in a “high percentage” of local hires and some who are able to walk to work, Thompkins said.
“I think the whole community is excited about having good food and produce that are affordable in the city,” he said. “This reduces the stigma of Marin City. We have a wonderful, diverse, amazing community that has incredible opportunities. It extraordinarily changes the dialogue about here.”
Felecia Gaston, a community advocate and organizer, said she is grateful for the opportunities the store will provide.
“I love shopping there for many reasons, their wholesale prices are the best when feeding hundreds of children in the Performing Stars program and it’s always fresh,” she said, referring to the nonprofit organization she leads. “What I spend at large grocery stores, it’s always half the price. Most significantly, the store is close in proximity for many of the residents.”
Katie Haga, a spokesperson for the store, said community partnerships were crucial to introducing the market into the area. She said the company will make a $1,000 donation to a church backpack program for homeless people.
The store is Grocery Outlet’s 471st location and the first to open in Marin County since the San Rafael market in 2020, Haga said. Grocery Outlet is based in Emeryville and, aside from California, has stores in Idaho, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington.
The Marin City store will offer gift cards for the first 100 customers at the opening event, and all new customers will receive a reusable shopping bag.
