Healdsburg high schoolers and Powell Avenue people, rejoice! Summer’s Market, the little neighborhood convenience store and deli that replaced Powell Avenue Market a little over a decade ago, is up and running again. Co-owners Summer Sebastiani and Todd Fernandez officially reopened this week after months of closure.
When they decided to shut down the market and list it for sale last October, Todd told the Healdsburg Tribune: “It’s not money, it’s just exhaustion.” But when Christian Kallen, my colleague at the Trib, stopped by a few days ago, Todd seemed refreshed. He called this “Summer’s 2.0,” and said: “We told people we’d be back in May if we couldn’t sell it, and here we are.” The owners even had to restock everything, because when they closed their doors last fall, they donated all their stock to charities. “We’ve done it before — we know how to do it,” Todd said.
Here are some more details on what nudged him and Summer out of retirement, courtesy of the Press Democrat:
During their hiatus, the couple spent most of their time with their dogs and gardening, but Sebastiani said community members kept reaching out to her about the deli’s closure.
“We’re coming back for them and only them,” Sebastiani said. “It broke my heart to leave because it is like our baby, but we needed a break and I thought we could pass the baton on to somebody who was going to carry on, but we just haven’t found the right person yet.”
She said they will be serving the same classics such as sandwiches and baked goods, with a few new menu items not yet finalized.
That said, the Summer’s property at 555 Powell Ave. — including the market, a storage yard and a two-bedroom home out back — is reportedly still on the market for just under $3 million, if you happen to have a secret dream of keeping after-school pitstop culture alive on Powell.
Note from Simone: This piece originally appeared in the weekly email newsletter I write for the Healdsburg Tribune, called Healdsburg Today. Subscribe here!
