Bay Area’s historic Oakville Grocery to close Healdsburg store

Oakville Grocery will permanently close its Healdsburg store this month after 25 years at that location.

On Wednesday, the market announced its plans to shutter the location at 124 Matheson St. on Nov. 26. Specific reasons behind the closure were not provided.

“We want to say a heartfelt thank you to our dedicated team, community members, and loyal customers who made Oakville Healdsburg a cherished part of the square for so long,” the goodbye message on Instagram read, in part.

Patrick Egan, a representative at Boisset Collection, which owns Oakville Grocery, could not provide SFGATE with details behind the closure, but said that “the time came to give a new business the opportunity to thrive in that location.”

Egan added that the historic Oakville Grocery store at 7856 St. Helena Highway in Oakville will remain open.

Employees who work at the Healdsburg store will be offered severance if they cannot find positions at existing Boisset properties, which include the flagship location in Oakville as well as Oakville Wine Merchant in Oakville, Calistoga Depot in Calistoga and Elizabeth Spencer Winery in Rutherford, Egan said.

The Healdsburg location won’t stay empty for long, though. In the goodbye post, Oakville Grocery said that “a respected member of the Healdsburg community” is expected to move into the space, but did not share further details. Egan told SFGATE that the new business will not be associated with Boisset properties.

“Oakville Grocery’s Healdsburg property owner has been a long and fervent supporter,” Egan said. “They played an essential role in finding a committed local business to take the reins for the next chapter of this iconic location.”

Oakville Grocery, known for its sandwiches and wide selection of picnic provisions, has a celebrated history in the Bay Area that dates to 1881. In 1997, more than 100 years after it originally opened, the business finally expanded with the outpost at Healdsburg Square. Eventually, Oakville Grocery opened branches in Palo Alto, Walnut Creek and Los Gatos, but those stores have since closed. Boisset Collection purchased the storied business in 2019.