Super Marché
The Oxbow Public Market captures the hearts and appetites of Napa.
California Home + Design
Tucked between busy Highway 29 and the meandering Silverado Trail, Napa has long been the city that Wine Country forgot. Unlike Napa Valley whose big-name restaurants and posh wineries lure more than five million international tourists yearly the little town on the banks of the Napa River has remained sleepy. But Napa’s historic downtown is beginning to wake up. Since December 2007, cars cruising north on the Silverado Trail have a new reason to brake for town: the Oxbow Public Market.
Situated at the heart of the city and next door to Copia, Oxbow Market’s 40,000-square-foot space is both a local gathering spot and a culinary destination. The building resembles a contemporary barn, with a red brick exterior and a modernized gambrel roof of galvanized steel beams and glass. Ten permanent farm stands line the building’s eastern face, while inside, the light-filled market smells like freshly baked waffle cones and bustles with 25 retail spaces and a few casual dining options. The buzzwords are, of course, “local,” “artisanal” and “sustainable.”
“Napa is a sophisticated community that’s been underserved from an artisanal-food standpoint,” says Steve Carlin, the market’s founder and CEO, who spread his roots in the business during a 20-year tenure at Oakville Grocery, a Wine Country mainstay. “We have great restaurants here but limited places to shop,” he says. “I thought it was time to fill that void.”