Curiouser and curiouser, the saga continues.

With no ownership or significant management role, it sounds like Miki was only there for show. He gave the City Council cover to rubber-stamp its approval of what is basically a vastly over-sized office building. After a few months of operation, he's not needed any more.

But let's make a prediction. This badly-run grocery store will fail, Palo Alto Forward types will declare retail "obsolete," and the landlord will come to the Council begging to be relieved of the annoying obligation to provide a replacement for JJ&F. After making the right campaign contributions, a majority of the Council will agree. So we'll end up with a big office building and no grocery.

That's what we call "progress" in Palo Alto.

I can attest to knowing Miki Chris and Addision.

Positives:
- great drip coffee Italian brand $2 cup
- great staff. Local, knowledgeable
- great meat market competitive prices
- great parking under the market, for cleanliness and comfort
- great wine choices
- great location

Things to improve
- adjust prices based on competitive business
- Lower prices for nuts, etc
- more vegetables and fruit at reasonable prices
- salads under $10/pound
- open till 2am
- community need to give their feedback
- honest conversation with owners

Reality:
- stanford feeds their people with many choices At campus
- local businesses don't know about Isabella kitchen and catering
- unattractive CT signage
- higher prices

Respectfully

During the epoch of climate change destruction we need aggressive emphasis on seasonal,locally grown organic produce and and non meat protein sources.

Yet the market seems stuck in a time warp featuring meat and ice cream. Cattle raising is a large contributor to warning

Palo has always been an icon for high intellectual awareness. A market that features food necessary for planetary survival in current changing times would have wide appeal.

The costs of living here are oppressive so if the owners made deals with local growers they could pass savings to customers and profit from high volume sales.

Let me guess, the market was the "community benefit" that allowed the developer to violate the zoning. Just like the public park that looks a lot like outdoor seating for Starbucks on California Ave was a community benefit. Right, that is a public park, you don't need to be a customer to use it. Surprise.

We need to get rid of any council member who support "community benefit" as a way to build more ****** offices. We need fewer jobs in Palo Alto so those of us who actually live here will have a viable city.

"But let's make a prediction. This badly-run grocery store will fail, Palo Alto Forward types will declare retail "obsolete," and the landlord will come to the Council begging to be relieved of the annoying obligation to provide a replacement for JJ&F. After making the right campaign contributions, a majority of the Council will agree. So we'll end up with a big office building and no grocery."

Totally. Smailey organized a neighborhood hysteria to bludgeon the city council into approving a new JJ&F (and, oh yes, these few little attached offices), but now has, for some unfathomable [snicker chortle] reason, failed to organize support for the little grocery store that did materialize.

City council, resist your impulses--do not let yourself be fooled. Either the grocery succeeds, or the development gets cut down to what the ambient zoning allows.

Iverson: you are the epitome of deceiving the community.

I hope Council will not let Mayor Scharff convince them that he has found the grocer who will make CT market be viable and sustainable when all along it has been to oust Miki after he vouched for he'd be the grocer. Shall we believe Miki next time? Nope.

Not sure why Palo Alto is so high on miki. The last store he ran closed after a few months. Given the low turnout at the new store, maybe they figured it out.
Also do not understand palo altos desire for small, overpriced stores

Everything I need is at Safeway in Menlo Park. I download savings onto to their app every week. Sorry but the Safeway in PA is too small and has no parking.

The current format has no chance of surviving into the future and "Fooled Again" is probably right.
However, if one replaced the current format with a top quality South Asian grocery store I suspect it would be a big success. Bring in a branch of the India Cash and Carry store in Sunnyvale and it would be an overnight success (the 200-300 customers a day will change to 2,000 to 3,000). I can't tell you how many people I know who drive 20 miles from PA to do their shopping for S. Asian products (and hey, if you are a College Terrace resident who just needs a quart of milk, a S. Asian place would work fine).

It is so interesting to see how people want to leave nasty, negative comments, like it somehow makes them better. College Terrace Market is not over priced compared to any other of their competitors (Draeger's, Piazza's, Wholefood's, or even Safeway). You cannot compare College Terrace to Grocery Outlet or Walmart. Any store at any given time is going to have an item cheaper than another store, but in whole College Terrace Market is inline with their pricing compared to all of their competitors. One thing you will find at College Terrace that you will not find at any of their competitors, is their in-house baking of cakes, cookies, etc. from the legendary Cosentino's Family- Isabella Cosentino-Costa. Draeger's, Piazza's, Wholefoods and even Safeway, all of their cakes are not made in store, but buy vendors. I even checked out a new store in Sunnyvale called New Seasons, and all of their cakes (except for one) are made from vendors and their prices are even higher than College Terrace. New Seasons sell a 4inch cake for $24.99, while College Terrace sells a 8inch cake for the same price. So I hope College Terrace succeeds. I live in San Jose, but make a trip to College Terrace at least once a week to pick up the best cakes in town. If for some reason the store folds, the owners need to invest into opening a bakery with Isabella Cosentino-Costa. For those who haven't visited the store, be sure to stop by and check it out, and pick up something from the bakery/deli.

Jeff, so sure it's a good bakery. Unfortunately we needed and were promised a neighborhood supermarket. For every 1 of you, there are 100 people driving past this place to go to Safeway or even Whole Foods (now with lower prices). And of course there's already Country Sun and Mollie Stones just blocks away, with either a stronger niche or bigger selection. Normally I would say fine, let the new guys fail - but this grocery market was a condition of the whole, very large project.

Jeff's posting about the bakery is enough for me to try it! Piazza's, Draeger's, Whole Foods bakeries are bad and high prices. I prefer Safeway cakes but Satura cakes for splurging.

If this store specialized in gourmet pre-made foods at decent prices, that should bring in customers. People are so busy but don't want to pay restaurant to-go prices nor eat fast food. The store needs a hook to set themselves apart.

Neighbor...well it looks like they kept their promise. What is wrong with everyone? I am amazed at how lazy people are that they want to find everything at one stop. I shop at all of the markets, each market offer different things, some have good sale deals, carry items that another store might not, get great in house made items. College Terrace has only been open for a few months...in time it will find its footing. Besides, I did price comparison shopping, and found that College Terrace pricing is in-line with all of their competitors. I wonder how many of these people who have made negative comments have even went into the store and purchased something? Most likely, most of them probably haven't. Easy to complain and not support a store within your own community.

"I'll Try", You will not be disappointed with the cakes. My favorites are the Black n White cake, the German Chocolate cake, The Turtle Cake, The Burnt Almond cake, and their chocolate thumb print cookies are to die for....

Thanks, Jeff, I'll go in this week and try the bakery.

Agree that there is no one-stop grocery shopping in the area. Piazza's seems to be good for meal items (good meat, deli meats and produce) but they don't carry some items that Safeway does. And Whole Paycheck is so expensive, although Amazon was supposed to recently have lowered the prices. I'm looking forward to Crystal Springs Produce opening at Edgewood Plaza in the former Fresh Market location, but it won't likely offer meat. I miss Fresh Market—they had good meat, deli, and produce and should have focused more on prepared foods than floral and bins of candy.

Agree with Jeff Cashdollar on all points. Every time I go back to the College Terrace Market, I find something new to try, and so far it's all been tasty and the employees are very much into service. Since late August, the produce section has gotten a real upgrade -- not just fresher but expanded local, seasonal and organic offerings. Seems top-notch in the meat/chicken/sausage/deli department but people looking for vegetarian and gluten-free options can find an amazing set of options for a store with 8,000 square feet!
Now that the new manager has addressed the horrible choice of signage on the developer's part with temporary banners (and lack of timely corrective action by the City), I keep meeting people I know who are shopping at the store for the first time, delighted at what they find. Check out the photos on the store's Facebook site for some visuals to see why! Web Link
Sure hope the Weekly does a balanced reporting job going forward!

Here is more evidence that the usual suspect complainers don't have the complete story on the College Terrace Market:
* If you live in Palo Alto and belong to Nextdoor, go to the Recommendations section and find the "Grocery" category. At last count, there are 42 enthusiastic individual comments recommending this business, which is seven times more than any other grocer in town or nearby has received since 2011. Yes, you can find some early complaints about lack of signage visible from El Camino, College or Oxford (how did the City miss this??) or glitches during the period prior to Miki's departure. But overall, it seems that shakedown issues are being addressed, predictions of failure would seem premature, and there is genuine grassroots enthusiasm.

See also a Yelp and Google reviews, which are remarkably numerous and positive for such a new place in such a picky town given that there's no organized campaign going on by any political group (thank goodness). How about we figure out how to support a new business working hard to serve a broad range of customers? If you have issues with the Palo Alto process related to the redevelopment of this block, so be it. But why kick sand at a new business just getting started that's providing a valuable service missing for +/- 7 years on the west side of El Camino Real?

To: long time resident

The grocer designed their signage (logo/appearance/size) and installed their signage. All you need to do is go to the building department or check online. Assuming the locations are per zoning & code approved by Planning. The grocer store can install additional signs at their discretion.

And YES, Everything else you wrote is spot on! The online reviews are remarkable numerous and positive for such a new place. I find something new every time I visit the store. The meat department is by far the best in Palo Alto.

"Sure hope the Weekly does a balanced reporting job going forward!"

To the community neigh sayer's at home watching Andy Griffith reruns- take notes, Mayberry always welcomed new business' and evolved with the changing times. Keep the negativity offline or be positive supporting your community and its grocery store.

No one cares if Miki is no longer partners with Chris and Addison.

The only thing we should care about is having a local grocery store to support in our community and getting to know the people inside of the store just like JJ&F.

College Terrace Market is a vast improvement and a great store.

Replace the market and give us a diner style restaurant instead.

CTM has already become our go-to place for the best butcher counter-- fabulous filet mignon!-- and for the deli items and FRESH produce. I typically shop Mollie Stone's for convenience, Safeway for economic prices on shelf items, but now I've added CTM to my shopping routine, for excellence in certain things. I hope more locals will do the same and keep this addition to our neighborhood.

PACC seems to have an unhealthy fascination with retail. Living here, they should be among the first to know traditional retail is shrinking. But they seem to listen mostly to 60+ yo residents.

Here's a thought - replace both College Terrace Market (and Fresh Market at Edgewood Plaza) with a San Pedro Market type setup. Multiple food vendors selling ready made, food truck type food with a shared indoor (and outdoor) seating areas and shared restrooms. It would be very popular with office workers/students and might make a worthwhile trek across El Camino from Cal Ave.

Here's the San Pedro Market yelp review:
Web Link
Web Link

I just dropped by College Terrace Market yesterday. My problem with CTM is more about their service. If you're looking to buy a sandwich, it can take well over 15 minutes to obtain a sandwich that should take 5 minutes. I just don't see a lot of foot traffic happening in the store and employees are just sitting around chatting with one another. If they're relying on Stanford students to save them, they better realize that these students cannot afford these prices. This is a very sad story with a predictable end. I wish CTM luck.

Just put there another Trader Joe's, please :-)
I would go there all the time.
I would be more than happy to avoid the atrocious Embarcadero traffic.

"TJ fan" I am also a TJ fan. I totally agree about the atrocious traffic around Town & Country (a side effect of its popularity, and bad design of traffic flow and parking for T&C)... Getting out of the parking area onto Embarcadero is the worst part... So in comparison, the traffic and parking at CTM is wonderfully stress-free!

I also like the idea of "what needs to happen", as we are one of those families driving 20 miles to India Cash & Carry for South Asian + standard groceries at low prices!

At the same time, CTM is what is there, and I think the market is worth shopping at, and can benefit from our feedback. I find the small size of the CTM a bit frustrating, and think they need to lower some of their prices to be competitive (with the many other grocery stores in the area) but am very happy with their excellent meat department, fresh sushi, deli, bakery and the coffee & ice cream, as well as the convenience of the location. When I shop there, I usually see people bringing their kids there for ice cream, or people sitting at the tables outside eating sandwiches or drinking coffee. The people who work there are consistently helpful and friendly, and I think it can become a valuable part of the community.

Jeff Cashdollar wrote:

"Draeger's, Piazza's, Wholefoods and even Safeway, all of their cakes are not made in store, but buy [sic] vendors."

Draeger's has an in-house bakery (which among other things makes one of the best bread in the Bay Area - their Sourdough Cheese Bread). Many Whole Foods have bakeries (I believe the Los Altos location does). Not sure about Piazza's.

I used to live in Fremont and worked on Hillview in Palo Alto. Every morning I would stop at JJ&F or a croissant. Every lunch I would buy a sandwich that was made behind the counter. The meat and cheese departments there were wonderful. The prices on what I purchased were competitive. My guess is that there are other workers like me who would enjoy a market where they can have lunch and a snack and pick up a few staples to take home for dinner. I miss JJ&F very much.

It makes me sad to read all of these negative comments. It seems that folks here are impossible to please. Sure, College Terrace Market is different from our beloved JJ&F. It takes some energy to get started going there but I'm happy to have discovered the wonderfully pleasant and helpful people there that are trying to make the place sail. I've found pretty much everything I need there. Give it a try.....and definitely take home some of their addictive chocolate chip cookies and Nonna's S cookies are delightful too!

Also, they are setting up a loyalty program for cash back to regular customers (not sure of the exact details here).

Go give it a try, find something to like. It's good for you!

People, people... What you need to do is go back and read thru the city councils minutes starting in 2009 or so. The city has been SO focused on getting a grocery on that spot, it turned a blind eye to all of the deficiencies in the planning. Everyone involved has given these guys tons of advantages to open this store. Low cost loans, sliding scale on the rent,(beginning with none), moving traffic flow to their advantage, etc. Any project that has to take this long to get off the ground, and has so many "give backs", is doomed to fail. The only question is when.
And as far as the store itself: wow ! took me FOREVER to get anyone to help me; getting a sandwich made was a near impossibility. I roamed around for a good 10 min. and saw NO ONE !
Seems to me the only thing that helped talk the city into this mess was Mikki's name and local pedigree. (Not sure why the manager of a failed grocery store would help but....) These two remaining guys have no idea of how to run a grocery store (and they admit it). The only real question is when?

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Don said: Draeger's has an in-house bakery (which among other things makes one of the best bread in the Bay Area - their Sourdough Cheese Bread). Many Whole Foods have bakeries (I believe the Los Altos location does). Not sure about Piazza's.

Draeger's has a fake in house bakery. Their cakes are not made in house, but by a vendor. They may very well bake their breads, but their cakes are vendor cakes. CTM cakes, cookies are made in house by the legendary Isabella Cosentino Costa, who has been making cakes for over 20 years from the famous Cosentino Markets. I have tried all of the stores cakes, Draeger's, Wholefoods, Safeway, New Seasons and none of them compare to Cosentino's.

We just got a cake and cookies at the market, and they were SO GOOD. We are definitely going there again.

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> CTM cakes, cookies are made in house by the legendary Isabella Cosentino Costa,
> who has been making cakes for over 20 years from the famous Cosentino Markets.

Get 'em while you can.

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Has anyone heard when the Smailey's are breaking ground to redevelop the lot with the two cottages on the corner of Oxford and Staunton? Smailey hired a developer to be the face of the project since their shenanigans with the College Terrace Centre City approval process.

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I used to work for Miki Werness at the Farm Fresh Market. He treats people badly, and he laid several of us off with no warning right before Christmas. He fought to deny us employment insurance, but he did not succeed. He assumed because his store was in Palo Alto his customers would be flush with cash and pay insane prices. It does not surprise me he came to this end.

@Michael: An owner must NEVER treat his employees poorly! What an oversight! Thanks for posting.

@Jeff: I did go in that week back in September and bought a B & W cake. Very dense and a bit dry. Very pretty, however.

The staff was very friendly. But the cons: street parking only, store way too small, hardly any room for produce, worry that the turnover of everything is slow so maybe not fresh. It's just too small to make a trip there, as there is too much competition.

I still think a place with all pre-made hot foods (at a decent price) that people could pick up would be fantastic. A real chef should run it. People don't want fast food all the time and don't want to have to sit down at a restaurant and pay for tip, time, and overpriced food.

"Only 10% of consumers now love to cook, while 45% hate it and 45% are lukewarm about it" Web Link Count me in the 45% who hate it, but of course, partly because my husband is so picky (traumatized by his mom's really, really deficient cooking and canned foods).

I worked for Miki at Farm Fresh Market. He is a terrible businessman who thought that he could charge insane prices for organic products that weren't much better than conventional prodcuts. Moreover, he laid off employees with no warning and fought to deprive them of employment insurance.

1. Palo Alto residents want reasonable prices and will not shell out top dollar. they will shop elsewhere;and

2. He treated his employees like dirt. He reaped what he sowed.