More than 10 years ago, hundreds of Imperial Beach residents petitioned the city to bring a full-service grocery store to their community. One by one, the rejections piled up — Whole Foods. Trader Joe’s. Sprouts. And all the familiar corporate chains.
On Saturday, the city’s decade-long quest, bolstered by hundreds of hours of volunteer efforts and $4 million in community donations and grants, finally paid off with the opening of the 6,200-square-foot SunCoast Market Co-Op located at 600 Palm Avenue.
Throngs of excited shoppers filed in, eager to explore store shelves and refrigerated and frozen food cases filled with organic pasta sauces, gourmet cheeses, locally roasted coffee and specialty items like dried mangos and dates. Piles of organic and locally sourced produce, from delicata squash to Japanese sweet potatoes, beckoned, as did prepared foods like sushi, fig turkey sandwiches, and cups of parfait cookies and cream.
Customers at SunCoast Market Co-op listen to speeches during the grand opening before the doors opened to the public for the first time. (Howard Lipin / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Hot and cold bars, not unlike what you’d find in Whole Foods, were fully stocked with marinara meatballs, pesto-roasted veggies, olives and mushrooms.
Saturday’s opening was also notable for marking the first new food co-op in San Diego County in more than 50 years. The only other is the Ocean Beach People’s Food Co-op, which launched in 1971.
“It took hundreds of meetings, outreach efforts, and nonstop fundraising form the beginning,” SunCoast board vice president Shannon Ratliff said at the grand opening Saturday morning. “We advocated at every single level. This store is physical evidence of community. What co-ops mean is coming together, shopping together, cart by cart, every single time you walk through these stores. We dreamed, we planned, and we literally built this store with each other, but with our neighbors at heart.
“Cooperatives are a path to a better future, where the profits are for all, not just people sitting in a distant board room.”
Over the years, the founding group of SunCoast owners cobbled together $4.1 million from a wide variety of sources, including government grants, foundations, private donations and equity from 1,505 owners.
Ratliff said help and technical assistance came from the National Co+op Grocers, whose members operate more than 240 stores in 39 states.
With only a Grocery Outlet in town, which is not considered a full-service grocery store, many residents typically travel to Chula Vista for their food shopping or a nearby Vons just outside of Imperial Beach.
“For a long time, we were told that Imperial Beach wasn’t worthy of a store that offered healthy foods, healthy produce,” said San Diego County Supervisor and former Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre, addressing a crowd of cheering residents.
Within four hours of opening, 700 customers had passed through the doors, an indicator of the level of anticipation for the long-awaited market.
Sharon Mewis, an Imperial Beach resident since 1972, was so excited about the Saturday opening, she arrived at 7 a.m.
“I live on the street next door so this is really convenient for me,” she said as she filled her basket with fresh fruit and vegetables. “I’m very into organic food and we’ve had an issue with not having that here in Imperial Beach. I was really worried that with the funding situation and getting everything in position, that it wouldn’t happen, but then I saw it advertised in the paper, and I was so excited. I’m going to check out the salad bar now.”
Visitor Coffee Roasters co-founder Will Holder said it made sense for his National City-based roasting company to have a presence in the new co-op.
“We have a lot of friends and family supporters in Imperial Beach and we thought being featured in the store would be a big plus for the community and for us,” said Holder, whose store offerings include a SunCoast blend that marries two South American coffees, with notes of citrus, berry and chocolate. “This is more about getting the word out than making a profit, and we think everyone in Imperial Beach should be able to enjoy good coffee.”
Kenny Mischel, left, of Imperial Beach ,looks on, as Carolyn Carswell, right, also of Imperial Beach, selects fruit at the SunCoast market. (Howard Lipin / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
SunCoast Market is something of a hybrid, marrying the diversity of staples found in a traditional grocery store with the specialty foods and organic produce found in local farmers markets.
That’s what drew Priscilla Villanueva, 23, and her friend to the opening. Upon exploring the store, they said there’s no question they will become regulars.
“We had the farmers market here before COVID, which was so fun, and I loved going there but now with this store, they have some of the same stuff from the farmers markets so I’m pretty happy they opened this,” Villanueva said. “And we like the food bar and getting to know the people, and you also know who you’re shopping from and what their ingredients are. There’s definitely a lot more variety.”