Last updated on June 14th, 2024
Holiday Market in Weaverville, California, sits within the Browns Mountains, less than three hours from Oregon.
The store was a Tops Market before it was purchased by Cottonwood, California-based North State Grocery. Long before the COVID-19 pandemic, the business has dealt with supply chain issues, in part due to its remote location as well as literal acts of God.
Jeff Edenburn, store lead at Holiday Market, has been there since it transitioned to the new banner. In 2018, the Carr Fire razed the surrounding area. While the store itself was not in danger, it experienced its own issues.
“[The wildfire] started in Whiskeytown, which is maybe 35 miles west of where we are. It’s right along the main highway,” Edenburn recalled. “I can’t say there was a specific threat that we felt that the store would burn down, but there were evacuations that happened here in Weaverville.
“The problem was they closed Highway 299 for months…we had a lot of issues trying to get product into the store. They had to ship it all the way up through Oregon and come back down.”
The retailer closed down temporarily during the fire due to power outages in the area. Holiday Market was going through about “100 gallons” of diesel a day to keep large, rented generators pumping electricity.
“There were days where hours at a time we just couldn’t open the store because we didn’t have the power. It wasn’t safe,” he said.
The retailer faced similar problems during last year’s McFarland Fire, when major routes in and out of the county were closed off.
“Luckily, we had some experience in dealing with the loss of regular deliveries…we’ve got a great relationship with our suppliers, and we communicate well with them,” Edenburn said. “If we couldn’t get it, there wasn’t much else we could do besides just sit and wait.”
Holiday Market’s supply chain has had its ups and downs due to fires, but COVID-19 did not impact the retailer much comparatively.
“It was just like anybody else. There wasn’t really an issue getting what we needed during the pandemic,” Edenburn said. “We really didn’t see much change within the store aside from having to close River Rock.”
River Rock is the store’s restaurant and lounge area that was built during the store’s remodel following its ownership transition, according to Doug Duggins, VP North Division for North State Grocery, parent company of Holiday Market.
“It’s designed to be not just an eating area but a gathering place for the community,” he said. “It was part of the remodel. But with COVID happening, it just sat there.”
Plans are under way to reopen the eating area within the coming months.
“We are moving ahead, but there are things we need to catch up on and wait for the ‘all clear’ [from the state] before we open it for sure,” he said.
The remodel was undertaken before the pandemic started but yielded overall good results. Holiday Market is the only full-service grocery store in Weaverville. It shares the town with a Dollar General and an “organic niche store” called Mountain Market, according to Edenburn.
Alongside River Rock, the retailer was able to expand its full-service deli and bakery, added dual lanes that can be manned or self-checkout, and extended the aisles.
“We’re very proud of how everything turned out,” Duggins said.
That sentiment was echoed by Edenburn, “It’s great what they’ve been able to do with the store.”
For more information, visit shopholidaymarket.com.
