When it comes to history, many places have made their marks in Sacramento, whether it is the Capitol grounds, the zoo, a music venue or whatever other site that made positive impacts on the memories of local residents. And with last month’s rally that was organized to save the Italian grocery store, Corti Bros., at its longtime Folsom Boulevard site, the importance of local grocery store history recently took center stage.

After 61 years of serving the community, Corti Bros. was faced with a monumental dilemma when its building lease ran dry and the store was not offered a new lease. Instead, Corti Bros. received an eviction notice.

By the time of the Sept. 3 rally, however, Good Eats Grocer, the business that planned to fill the Corti Bros. void at the Folsom Boulevard site, had backed out of this plan.

Corti Bros. has since had its lease extended through May 31 and will negotiate for a longer lease.

Corti Bros. co-owner Darrell Corti, who is internationally known as a food and wine expert, humbly commented to The Union regarding the large crowd that attended the rally in support of his store.

“The turnout for our rally was quite heartening, so we must have been doing something well,” Corti said.

In addition to Corti Bros., which is also owned by Corti’s brother-in-law Allan Darrah, many other grocery stores and markets, both large and small, have served the community at various times during the city’s history.

Produce, Products and People
The birth of the modern-day grocery store in Sacramento evolved through businesses that sold food along the area’s waterfront and other parts of the city’s west end in the mid-to-late 19th century.

In the early part of the 20th century, groceries were sold at such places as the American Cash Store at 801 K St. and Helibron and Co. at 703-705 J St.

With a review of a 1919 city directory, one can find listings for several of the city’s earlier grocery stores, including Pacific Market at 722 J St. and Arata Bros. at 1130 J St. and 2665 Sacramento Blvd. (now Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.).

Sacramento resident Ed Ohanesian, 82, said that he is not sure that the Pacific Market on J Street had any connection to a market by the same name at 2500 P St.

But he does believe that the Pacific Market on P Street, which according to city directories opened in 1941, is the city’s oldest continuously operating grocery store site.

Although Safeway stores date back to the late 1920s in Sacramento, the store has since grown to its much larger supermarket locations and no longer operates any of its earlier smaller stores. The oldest of the existing Sacramento Safeway stores opened on Sept. 22, 1974 at 1025 Alhambra Blvd., in the former site of the Alhambra Theatre.

Ohanesian added that he remembers that a grocery store was located at 2500 P St. as early as his youth during the 1930s.

City directories from this time confirm Ohanesian’s words, showing that the market was a combination of a grocery store owned by C. F. Dosch and a meat market owned by Stephen Munich.

Although many smaller markets re-mained in the capital city during the 1930s, the chain stores continued to dominate, as they were joined by a then-new chain known as Cardinal Grocery Stores, which by the mid-1930s had 10 stores, including stores at 1009 30th St. and 2300 F St. Safeway also expanded during this decade, as is evident by its 15 stores, which are listed in the 1939 city directory.

Enter the Supermarket
During World War II, a pair of the city’s biggest names in grocery store chains opened their first locations. These stores were Raley’s at 3256 Stockton Blvd. and Stop-N-Shop at 2800 Broadway, where the Golden Dragon Restaurant and Broadway Wash and Dry now operate.

By the 1950s, in a time when the supermarket concept was gaining much popularity, Lucky’s, which had opened at 3008 Broadway during the previous decade, became a big name grocer with its acquisition of the city’s Cardinal stores.

Bel Air Market, which became a division of Raley’s in the 1990s, also emerged in Sacramento during the 1950s with its first store at 6231 Fruitridge Rd.

The 1960s brought several new larger grocery stores to Sacramento, including Farmers and Jumbo markets, followed by Albertson’s and Alpha-Beta in the 1970s.

In more recent years, Sacramentans have seen the elimination of Farmers, Alpha-Beta, Lucky’s, Albertson’s and Ralph’s stores and the emergence of stores such as Save Mart, WinCo and Wal-Mart.

Also popular among modern-day shoppers have been specialized grocery stores such as Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods Market and the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op.

Like many longtime Sacramento natives, Carolyn (Kahl) Murphy enjoys reminiscing about details about Sacramento’s extensive grocery store history.

“As a child many, many years ago [during the 1930s and 1940s], my mother and I used to go to Arata’s on the corner of 32nd [Street] and Folsom Boulevard and that was always an adventure to go there,” Murphy said. “I clearly remember that they had good produce and really neat clerks.”

Murphy said that she also has fond memories of going to a grocery store at 51st Street and Folsom Boulevard, because it was next to Duane’s Ice Cream Parlor.

“When I behaved myself and I was a good girl, I would get a dime or a nickel or whatever it was to go get a cone,” Murphy said.

In summarizing the grocery store experience of years gone by, Murphy said, “Grocery stores were something that we shopped at every day, mothers would send their kids to the store if they needed something, celery was tied with a string, if you were a good friend of the butcher, he would give you a bone for your dog and if you could pay for your groceries, you would. If you couldn’t [pay], you would just charge it and run a tab. Back then, it was just a very personal experience going to the [grocery] store.”

But whether it is the 19th century, 20th or 21st century, one thing remains for sure and that is Sacramentans have and will continue to grow fond of their grocery store memories as the years pass by.

To share your personal memories about Sacramento’s grocery stores of the past and present, write to Lance Armstrong at .