The 137-Year-Old California Grocery Store With An Upscale Clientele

The super-rich live in a completely different world than the rest of us normies, but that doesn't mean they're exempt from getting their groceries the same as anyone. While some do have assistants to run such errands (and they no doubt take advantage of delivery, which can help you save money), others opt to step out and make the trip themselves. One such popular market for the rich and famous is Roberts Market in Woodside, California, and if it isn't noteworthy enough because of the upscale clientele it serves, it's also nearly 140 years old.

Woodside might be one of the most elite towns in the country; while it's home to fewer than 6,000 people, the real estate in the area is off-the-walls pricey; most houses are valued at $1 million or more, and some of the more expensive ones are selling for upwards of $23 million. While some of the people who shop at Roberts Market are indeed famous, like Michelle Pfeiffer and Joe Montana, others are just fabulously rich, even billionaires.

Now you might expect a store like Roberts Markets in Woodside, which is less than 10,000 square feet (even smaller than your typical Aldi supermarket), to price according to its wealthy customers, but it's actually not overinflated, like Erewhon. Obviously, you won't find the knock-down low prices of an Aldi, but a rosemary pork tenderloin from its fresh meat counter will set you back just $8.89 per pound, a package of strawberries is $5 per pound, and the store runs weekly specials.

Roberts Market, for all its celebrity and upscale customers today, began as a humble butcher shop in 1889, part of the colorful Tenderloin District of San Francisco (did its original owner, W.F. Roberts, pay off police with meat, as was a common practice in the late 1800s? We'll never know). Roberts ended up moving the shop, and he got all four of his children working in it, performing different jobs, like butchering, delivery, and secretarial work. Roberts' grandson, who also grew up working in the store, eventually inherited the business, and he moved the store from its San Francisco location to its Woodside spot in the 1960s, where it has been ever since.

While Roberts Market expanded from just meat and fish to a full array of grocery products during the earlier years, in the latter half of the 20th century it began to sell items like caviar (which is now everywhere, and on everything) and organic store-brand juices, which appeals to the wealthy patrons, as well as made-to-order sandwiches out of its deli counter, all of which are priced, we must admit, quite reasonably. Roberts Market now even offers catering, everything from its famous sandwiches to charcuterie, sushi, and smoked salmon.