Santa Barbara, California – Tri-County Produce, a Santa Barbara institution for over 50 years, was days away from shutting its doors for good — until Eric and Wendy Schmidt, the billionaire power couple behind Google’s rise, swooped in to save it.
John Dixon, who bought the humble market with his father in 1985, had decided to retire after decades of running the beloved store known for its farm-fresh local produce, meats, and gourmet goods. After announcing the closure, Dixon braced himself for a tearful goodbye from a community that had come to rely on Tri-County as a rare non-corporate shopping oasis.
But fate had other plans…