New Dixon Grocery Store Offers Food From All Local Farms

DIXON, CA — There’s a new kind of grocery store in town, offering all local fare with a unique farmer’s market feel. Two women plan to use the power of communal ideology and old fashioned homesteading skills to bring local farm goods into one place for consumer ease and education in their store called The Heritage Pantry, located in the heart of downtown Dixon.

Lindsey Hickman and Alyssa Connelly have always been passionate about feeding their families whole real food from local sustainable sources, that is what brought them together. And after a growing friendship through farming and food, they naturally decided the community needed a centralized location that brought the bounty of what Solano and it’s surrounding counties has to offer, therein was born The Heritage Pantry.

“It has always been a part time job traveling from farm to farm, bulk buying in groups, and joining food clubs and CSAs in order to source all of our food,” says Connelly, “When the opportunity to create this farm hub kind of store to be able grab all of that in one location, opening this business was a no brainer.”

“The most commonly consumed produce in the U.S. is bleak, with potatoes, imported hot-house grown tomatoes, onions, iceberg lettuce, sweet corn, and carrots taking the top spots,” explains Hickman, “We want to help change that, at least in our own neighborhood, by taking the guesswork out of how to get good food.”

The Pantry will carry what Hickman and Connelly call, “the perimeter of the grocery store.” That includes, only locally grown produce, raw cow and goat dairy, cultured grass-fed butter, grass-fed beef and lamb, pastured pork, chicken and eggs from animals fed organic no corn and no soy feed, locally made sourdough and bagels, raw nuts, heirloom grains and freshly made pantry goods, jams, herbal salts, truly local honey, olive oil and vinegars, plant based makeups, essential oils, soaps, fibers, and more.

Things Hickman says you won’t see at The Heritage Pantry include tomatoes in the winter, and broccoli in July.

“We hope to create and engage a culture that supports seasonal eating by educating the community on the importance of a wider variety of foods picked at their peak for the most nutritional value,” says Hickman. “A huge part of our business plan is education. We will host several classes monthly on homesteading skills such as sourdough and butter making, cheesemaking, sewing, culturing, fermentation, preserving what’s in season, and more.”

One thing that sets The Pantry apart from most other grocery store shopping is its boutique feel and trendy branding.

“Grocery shopping is not a very glamorous chore, but we think pretty helps with that,” says Connelly, “Just because the store looks like a boutique, does not mean your grocery bill will come with a high end price tag. Since we don’t have to rely on heavy shipments, high overhead and waste, we believe you will be pleasantly surprised and maybe even lower your grocery budget. We won’t temp you with the extra junk foods.”

The Heritage Pantry will open its doors on Thursday, April 5, with a grand opening celebration with farmer meet and greet on April 21 from 11AM-3PM. Store hours will start out Monday through Saturday, noon until 6PM, with the possibility of expanding with demand. You can find The Heritage Pantry at 350 West A Street in Dixon, on Facebook, Instagram, and at TheHeritagePantry.com