College Terrace Market, the new grocery project from Miki Werness (previously of Miki’s Farm Fresh on Alma in Palo Alto), is opening today in Palo Alto. They are located on El Camino Real near Cal Ave. I popped my head in yesterday when I noticed activities inside the store and chatted briefly with Miki and Chris the co-owners. They are putting some last minute touches on the store. The space is about the size of a typical Trader Joe’s. It looks to be a pretty ambitious project being a full service grocery store- with bakery, meat, fish counters, deli, coffee/ icecream bars. Some of the items have not arrived yet when I checked it out.
- Bakery: they bake their own baked goods (croissants, cakes, etc)
- Meat: Boar Head
- Fish: they get their delivery today.
- Icecream bar: Straus
- Cheese: buyer is Matthew. the selection is more scaled back and mainstream versus Miki’s, which is understandable since they are just starting out. One can special order cheese with Matthew. Saw selections like Ewephoria, Laura Chenel’s, a 15 mo comte, a Point Reyes toma
Obvious comparison is to the nearby Country Sun, which is more of a vitamin/ supplement store with basic grocery while College Terrace Market seems to be a grocery store first with a sizable prepared food section that probably targets the Stanford and nearby office crowd. Selection seems to be a mix between mid-range and high-end.
Time will tell whether this store will succeed. Its part of a real-estate deal with the city to include a grocery store in the larger office complex, and meant to replace JJ&F Market when the original building was torn down.
