Wildwood Market Ready to Open Its Doors in Saratoga Village

Saratoga Village's newest grocery store, Wildwood Market, is about to open its doors at 14413 Big Basin Way.

And owner Frank Dutro was ecstatic last week as he gave several people preview tours of the commercial space he's transformed into a hip little convenience store.

When we visited, he still needed to get the shelving in, get his inventory done and work through unexpected delays that come with the opening of any business. He was anticipating the official grand opening taking place sometime in August.

The edifice where the market is located was built in 1910 and served until 1999 as the Saratoga Drug Store.

Dutro said he completely gutted the building and remodeled it from the ground up. He kept the original historic decorative tin ceiling, restoring it and painting it after it was neglected for decades.

He also installed new electrical, plumbing, sewer and wiring. The new oak wood floor came from beams taken out of a mill built in Missouri in 1865, he said.

The market's large front glass windows and elegant doors are made out of Honduran mahogany and its interior is painted in green and bronze colors.

"It's basically an upscale convenience store," he responded, when asked what the market's services would be. "A small Trader Joe's. "We'll carry all the things that people would want access to in the Village, hopefully, but we'll also have a few goodies."

Some of those treats include a self-serve milk-shake, or smoothie machine that allows customers to pick their favorite flavors and mix them in a blender. Boylan sodas, made with sugar cane, are also available and Devil's Canyon brand root beer from San Carlos.

The market will also carry specialized and unique sodas as well as dairy products, some produce, cold cuts, breads and items for those who go picnicking and camping up Big Basin Way, or Highway 9, like firewood, charcoal and grilling tools.

Dutro will also sell wine and beer by the bottle, cheeses and prepared frozen and fresh meals from a variety of vendors that can be taken home to heat up and serve for those with busy schedules.

The market will also have a nice small outdoor patio on the front and tables and chairs in the back. Parking is available in the back of the store, or on Big Basin Way. No gum or tobacco products will be sold.

Between 10 and 12 employees working part- and full-time will labor at the market, Dutro said, adding that its hours of operation will be 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Sunday.

Wildwood Market will also sell pre-paid cards after parents asked Dutro if he could make them available for their children to get a quick bite to eat after school. He anticipates many juniors and seniors from Saratoga High School hanging around in the afternoons this fall.

Before opening Wildwood Market, Dutro started two other companies, a deli and bakery in Glendale, CA and then, when he returned to his native Saratoga in 2004, he started a water filtration technology company that was sold last year to the Dow Chemical Company.

Dutro said he moved to Saratoga in 1960 with his parents when he was 2 years old. "I spent my whole life here."

He attended Saratoga Elementary School, then Redwood Middle School and then graduated from Saratoga High School. "I love Saratoga. I always have. On a scale from one to 10, the reception I'm getting is about a 20," he said. "I'm happy with that. They feel this is a real positive step in the right direction for the Village. They really appreciate the quality of the work we've done."

Other market facts:

• All construction work was done by Saratoga general contractor Larry Schuck
• From 2000-2012 the space was home to a series of businesses that came and went.
• New, high fidelity, audio system streams great music via Pandora.
• The new sales and check out system uses iPads. Lightspeed Retail Software.
• Wildwood Market is 100 percent Apple technology based.
• The mirror in the bathroom uses peach colored glass. This style of mirror was popular in fancy homes and cruise ships during the '20s and '30s. 
• All new brick work in the front is in keeping with the historical look and feel of the original building and the historic district of the Saratoga Village area.
• The granite monuments on each side of the entrance came from an old house in Santa Cruz.
  
• The granite stones used in the front brick walls come from Philadelphia. They were used as ballast on ships.  
• The Horse Head hitching post in the back celebrates Saratoga’s past when these types of hitching posts were used up and down Big Basin Way.