Get your groceries, wine and supplies faster from downtown Reno’s markets and restaurants
It can be difficult to keep the basics in your fridge and pantry from day to day with so much demand shifting exclusively onto chain grocery stores. But that’s exactly why some downtown Reno restaurants and small grocery stores are thriving during the COVID-19 shut down.
“We realized we had access to these distributors and anything and everything people would order and eat at the grocery store,” Kevin Stanley, owner of Old Granite Street Eatery, told the Downtown Reno Partnership. “At the same time, we kept hearing these nightmares about things running out on the shelves and I thought, ‘Hey, there’s no reason this should be running out and can’t be made available so why don’t we sell it through the restaurant?’ ”
Old Granite Street Eatery and Liberty Food and Wine Exchange have both converted into small, specialty markets that also do take-out food.
“It’s a good second revenue stream, it’s really what’s floating us right now,” Stanley said. “The amount of market orders accounts for 70% of our orders right now. Another 15% are market orders with take out and the rest are just take out.”
Distribution systems for restaurants run separate from grocery stores, including with items like toilet paper, leaving restaurants largely unaffected by supply shortages.
Similarly, Great Basin Food Co-op and The Urban Market in downtown Reno rely on local or regional suppliers, farms and organic companies to produce a lot of their products. And the best part is, online ordering for curbside or delivery doesn’t take 7-days at any of these locations. Here are four downtown stores that reconfigured their business models to serve customers:
Old Granite Street Eatery Market
In addition to bringing back curbside take out and the famous Royce Burger, Old Granite Street Eatery has created an online market and partnered with other companies to sell items and provide meals for first responders.
New owners Kaya and Kevin Stanley started with basic produce, dairy, eggs, bread and four-pound jars of peanut butter when the first shut down order came in mid-March. Now, they also sell tonic water, locally-roasted whole bean coffee, Ferino Distillery sanitizers and, of course, bleach, tissues and toilet paper.
“I think we’ve identified a need in the community that wasn’t filled before,” Kevin Stanley said. “We’re going to maintain our key pantry items after this is over.”
They also added a large list of packaged liquor, including mainstay spirits and locals beers after new rules were announced Wednesday.
Stanley is working to remodel Old Granite Street Eatery during the shut down so that when it reopens, customers can also grab food to go from a deli case and even pick up staple items for their home.
“This is the opportunity we have to really get out of the rut,” Stanley said. “I get mad at myself for not doing it sooner, but the fact is when your head is down and you’re making it go from day to day, you don’t have the right motivation to change.”
Anyone can also buy a first responder a meal, purchase gift cards or add an extra tip through the online shopping site.
Liberty Food and Wine Essentials Market
Liberty Food and Wine reopened with its classic Italian-inspired take-home pizzas and pastas while also adding market items. Owner Mark Estee has rejiggered the space to promote social distancing and safety for people who walk into the store. Everyone else can do curbside pick up or delivery.
“We are taking requests, so if you say, ‘Hey, why don’t you try to add this,’ we’ll do our best to do so,” Estee said on a Facebook Live tour of the new market.
People who have lived in downtown long enough may remember these ‘Provisions’ from an earlier, simpler time. Liberty is different from Old Granite Street Eatery because it focuses on charcuterie, the famous budino, fresh-baked bread and chips, $10 finish-at-home pastas and other meal kits. Everything is made downstairs in their kitchen except the local dairy and eggs and butchered meat. They also sell “ridiculously low-priced wine,” Estee said.
All these items and so many other goodies can be ordered online and picked up curbside or one person at a time can go inside the store. Watch the video below to see more.
The Urban Market
While Urban Market, on the ground floor of 3rd Street Flats, hasn’t had to change their business model much, they should be applauded for being able to keep their shelves stocked with a lot of unexpected items that sold out everywhere else.
They sell pre-made food, produce and basic staples, such as locally-made bread, small bags of flour, eggs and even matzo. Also keep a look out for their varied selection of snacks, hot foods and whole bean coffee, ready-to-go coffee beverages, energy drinks, beers, wine and cider. They plan to open their made-to-order deli this month and will offer curbside and delivery for those custom sandwiches.
They also started their loyalty program this month: Make a $100 purchase, get 10% off your next purchase of $50 or more, then get 20% off the rest of April.
Great Basin Community Food Co-op
GBCFC employees spent “countless human hours of data entry” converting their grocery database into an online shopping system using Shopify so that people can order online for the first time. Shopify orders can be picked up curbside to avoid going into the store or people can go into the store a few at a time.
The GBCFC team also transferred all bulk food into one-pound, one-use bags to comply with new orders from Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak.
“Online orders are accepted 24/7 but order pick-ups are ONLY Monday-Friday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.,” according to the Co-op’s online order guidelines. “For next-day pick-up, all orders are due by 5 p.m. the evening prior to our pick-up days.”
Be sure to read all the guidelines before ordering since it’s different than larger grocery store eCarts.
If you’re looking for a large selection of regional produce and household staples on par with a farmer’s market, the Distributors of Regional & Organic Produce & Products (DROPP) program is delivering now. The program works differently than the Shopify site because it only allows ordering on specific days at specific times, but the team will deliver for $11 fee to most zip codes in the area. This is an opportunity to support local farms who might lose revenue without farmer’s market customers.
On April 18, they also converted their outdoor seedling sale into an online shop.
“This sale is a significant part of some of our farmer’s early-season revenue streams,” Co-founder Amber Sallaberry told the Downtown Reno Partnership. “The co-op is hosting a Shopify account for all of the producers but 100% of the profits go to the farmers. “
Customers can look for seedlings online here.