Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://specialtyfoodmagazine.epubxp.com/i/102355
PROFILE Oxbow Public Market Inspired by San Francisco's Ferry Building Marketplace, this market is playing a key part in revitalizing downtown Napa while serving as a showcase for local producers. BY DENISE PURCELL C alifornia's Napa Valley may be celebrated, but downtown Napa itself used to be a place that tourists drove past on their way north to the wineries, resorts and scenery of more popular destinations such as St. Helena and Calistoga. But all of that is changing with a resurgence of a food, dining and hospitality scene. Key to the new downtown is Oxbow Public Market, a five-year-old retail space that houses specialty purveyors of meat, seafood, spices, oils, wine, cheese, tea, coffee and sweets, as well as seven eateries. The market's path to success hasn't been drama-free, but the developers have had one thing going for them: proximity to the area's outstanding food and beverage producers. PHOTOS: OXBOW MARKET Drawn to the Local Food Community The success of San Francisco's Ferry Building Marketplace inspired its developers to attempt to create similar retail experiences in other destinations. Napa surfaced as a location with possibilities. "There was a need for this. It was a platform missing from the community," says St. Helena resident Steve Carlin, founder and CEO of Oxbow Public Market. "[The Market] is an extension of the artisan food community in Napa Valley." Carlin had worked as project manager for the Ferry Building Marketplace in San Francisco and had more than 20 years of experience in specialty food retailing as the former owner of successful area store Oakville Grocery Company. He created Oxbow Management LLC in 2004 and soon began construction plans in the Oxbow District of downtown Napa, named for the shape the Napa River 58 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE ❘ specialtyfood.com