Downtown Market Takes Benicia Back to the Future

Behind the counter, proprietor Belal Jaber smiles and chats with a customer as he makes change. Outside, on an unseasonably warm November day, two women select artichokes from an array of vegetables and fruits displayed on a wooden stand.

opened at 632 First Street in October. As the women enter the store with their purchases, the scene evokes an earlier time in Benicia when a trip downtown might include a visit to the local butcher, baker, or grocer.

Just a block from Bela’s lives local historian Harry Wassman who resides in the same house in which he was born. He says he appreciates having the new market within strolling distance. In fact, ninety-three-year old Wassman said his first job was working at a downtown market in the 1930’s. “The store was called Benicia Free Market,” said Wassman, “even though nothing was free. It was better known to locals as ‘Jimmy the Greek’s’.” Downtown was also home to the Royal Bakery and a number of butcher shops, he said. Wassman’s wife Diane recalled visiting Safeway’s First Street location for candy when she was eight years old.

Over the years, grocery stores moved farther from downtown. Long-time resident Mary Frances Kelley Poh said a Food Fair Market occupied the corner at Military and Seventh when Southampton Shopping Center was still an open lot. A market called Park n’ Shop existed at the same location years earlier said Wassman.

Like market owners before him, Jaber stocks Bela’s with staple items: milk, bread and eggs. However he said his most popular items are organic and all-natural. “Customers come from as far as Napa for organic milk. It’s a very popular item. A lot of people call to ask about it. It’s easier to come here than to pay a toll and cross the bridge to Concord,” he said.

Lining Bela’s shelves are over 70 organic products and natural foods: cereals, condiments, candy, canned goods, even quick-dinner items like rice pasta stir-fry. He said he is working with a supplier to expand these  product lines.

Jaber, who has been in the grocery business since 1996, said he noticed the lack of a market on First Street. He had closed a Vallejo location seven months ago. In 1996, Jaber and his four brothers moved from Palestine to Oakland where they opened Mews Grocery stilll in operation. He chose Benicia for a new location, he said, because he was attracted by the friendliness of the downtown merchants.

“Everyone down here (on First Street) looks out for everyone else,” he said. “I appreciate everyone. The people I met were very friendly – that is really why I brought the store here.”