Nugget Markets - Vallejo Store Controversy

Vallejo Store Controversy

Given the company's success with the Food-4-Less store, in 2003 Nugget began plans to open a Nugget in Vallejo as well. The company sought assurances from the city that a supercenter store would not enter Vallejo, and these fears were seemingly assuaged when Wal-Mart built a supercenter several miles away in American Canyon. Development began on a Nugget and a property was selected.

In 2005, Wal-Mart made clear its intention to build a Supercenter in the White Slough neighborhood, on the location of a former K-Mart. Given the proximity of the proposed Supercenter to the existing location in American Canyon, as well as the guidelines of the neighborhood plan preventing the construction of a store of this type, the plans for the Nugget in Vallejo continued. However, President Eric Stille made clear to the Vallejo City Council that the approval of the Vallejo Wal-Mart would effectively mean the end of the Vallejo Nugget.

In November 2006, with construction already underway at the Vallejo Nugget location, Stille announced the company would no longer build a Nugget in Vallejo, citing a City Council deadlock vote on whether to approve the Vallejo Wal-Mart. Stille stated that with the construction of a Vallejo Wal-Mart, there simply would not be enough grocery dollars in Vallejo to make a Nugget financially feasible.

His comments and actions resulted in a backlash from the city residents. Supporters of the Vallejo Nugget cited the lack of upscale grocery options in the city, and the need to head down into the East Bay or up to the Vacaville Nugget for gourmet goods. Opponents derided Stille's actions as unwarranted, claiming that Nugget feared that its customer service or products would not be good enough for Vallejo consumers. Others accused the Nugget of trying to blackmail the city in order to maintain their virtual monopoly on discount grocery goods in Vallejo.