Nestled in the charming town of Woodside, California, lies one of the oldest grocery stores in the state. With only about 5,000 people calling Woodside home, one wouldn’t expect to see choice items like caviar and house-made Cambridge sausage sold in the establishment. Those are just a couple of the special products you’ll find at Roberts Market. It’s a place where many customers probably aren’t concerned with learning any money-saving tricks for grocery shopping because a significant portion of the clientele are bona fide billionaires.
Once a grocery haunt where the likes of affluent celebrities such as famed musician Neil Young and the legendary Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana would stop by and converse with folks regularly, Roberts Market now hosts billionaires like Charles Schwab and one of the wealthiest people in the world, Larry Ellison. Time is money, as they say, and given that the closest other grocery store option is 3 miles from town, venture capitalists and successful entrepreneurs who reside in Woodside flock to Roberts for everyday grocery items and premium products alike.
Not everyone who shops at Roberts is teeming with cash. Many customers who shop alongside billionaires like Thomas Siebel and Gordon Getty are working-class folks laboring as construction workers or chefs. Workers at the old-school grocery store continue to accommodate them with the same friendly service they have been providing since the late 1800s.
Roberts Market has stood the test of time
Roberts Market isn’t the oldest grocery store in America that’s still standing, but it’s close. Founded in 1889 by W.F. Roberts, it was first located in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District before moving to the Lower Pacific Heights area of the city. Called the Alta Plaza Market at the time, the founder changed the name to W.F. Roberts and Sons in 1919. When W.F. Roberts passed away, he left the store in the capable hands of his three boys, who kept the business running strong until the 1960s…