Nugget Markets

In 1926, Nugget Market 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 store in neighboring Davis. In 1984, Nugget acquired a pair of Sacramento Alpha Beta grocery stores and converted them into Nuggets, one in the Greenhaven-Pocket neighborhood, the other in Foothill Farms on hillsdale blvd. All Alpha Beta associates were invited to join the company, and many continue to work with Nugget today. In the early 90s, Nugget opened its first Food 4 Less franchise in Vallejo, California.

In the late 1990s, Nugget developed their Fresh to Market concept, pairing European-style open-air marketing with higher-end products and specialty departments, such as their Cheese Concierge, Pastry Chefs in a full-range Bakery, Full-Service Kitchen, Healthy Living Department, dedicated Seafood butcher and a Juice & Espresso Bar.

In 2001, the company built its first Fresh to Market store in Vacaville's Browns Valley Marketplace and then at Oak Tree Plaza in East Davis.

In 2008, Nugget sold its in-store pharmacies to Longs Drugs.

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.

Nugget continues to struggle against its image as an exclusive upscale grocer due to its specialty products and upscale store decor. Nugget identifies dominant local grocery chain Raley's & Bel-Air, as well as national chains Safeway and Whole Foods, as its primary competition.

In 2019, Nugget Market was ranked #81 on Fortune's list of "100 Best Companies to Work For".[1] The company placed 13th in 2007,[2] 10th in 2009,[3] 5th in 2010, just behind Google,[4] and 13th in 2016.[5]

Recently opened locations are in Elk Grove and El Dorado Hills. There are also tentative plans for Nugget to build a unique, significantly smaller size store under the K Street Mall revitalization proposal of Hank Fischer/Evergreen Developments. The K Street location would likely be half the size of a traditional Nugget store and, given the nature of the proposal, more focused on their Full Service Kitchen, Bakery, and Juice Bar.[6]

In 2003, Nugget Markets began plans to open a Nugget Markets in Vallejo. The company sought assurances from the city that a supercenter store would not enter Vallejo.

In 2005, Wal-Mart made clear its intention to build a Supercenter in the White Slough neighborhood, on the location of a former K-Mart. Given the proximity of the proposed Supercenter to Nugget Markets' location in American Canyon, as well as the guidelines of the neighborhood plan preventing the construction of a store of this type, the plans for the Nugget Markets in Vallejo continued. However, Nugget Markets' CEO, Eric Stille, made clear to the Vallejo City Council that the approval of the Vallejo Supercenter Wal-Mart would effectively supersede the Vallejo Nugget Markets.[7]

In November 2006, Stille announced the company would no longer build a Nugget Markets in Vallejo, citing a City Council indecisiveness vote on whether to approve the Vallejo Supercenter Wal-Mart. While supporters of the Vallejo Nugget Markets cited the lack of upscale grocery options in the city, and the need to travel to the East Bay or up to the Vacaville Nugget Markets for gourmet goods, Stille commented that the construction of a Vallejo Supercenter Wal-Mart would result in not enough grocery dollars in Vallejo to make a store financially feasible.

• Official website