It’s been almost a year since Mountain View’s beloved Milk Pail Market shuttered. The humble building still exists below the towering facade of the ShowPlace ICON movie theater, but it’s vacant, the marquee gone. Thanks to the coronavirus, the theater is now empty, too.
While the ICON and most other businesses at The Village at San Antonio Center await relaxation of shelter-in-place orders to reopen, the Milk Pail is experiencing a mini revival a mile away.
“I sort of called it the ‘Milk Pail Pop-up’ initially because that kind of felt like what we were doing, sort of popping up out of the ashes,” said Kai Rasmussen, Milk Pail manager.
Twice a week, on Fridays and Saturdays, the market is providing curbside pickup at its warehouse at 2560 Wyandotte St. for shoppers who preorder curated collections of Milk Pail classics such as frozen croissants, European cheeses and fresh produce.
The endeavor began in March when Rasmussen, the daughter of longtime Milk Pail owners Steve and Lian Rasmussen, noticed the pandemic-driven demand at Bay Area grocery stores and some businesses’ transition to pickup and delivery operations. She dispatched an email to former customers to gauge interest in the concept and to solicit feedback. Close to 2,000 people responded. Their comments were overwhelmingly positive – and most expressed a desire for cheese and fresh produce.
Rasmussen reached out to vendors her family has cultivated for decades. She said many had recently lost business due to restaurants’ coronavirus struggles, and they were happy to rekindle the relationship.
The first Milk Pail assortment, an “essentials kit,” debuted April 17 and featured a pack of frozen chocolate croissants, artisanal imported and domestic cheeses, a Midwife and the Baker country sourdough, cheese board accompaniments and “satisfying sweet surprises” for $75. Two hundred families purchased.
“I just thought that the Milk Pail represented this community, this resource, for people to obtain food of high quality, fresh, good value, and it just felt like it would be so necessary now more than ever to continue that work and to supply people with the sense of comfort and community spirit that the Milk Pail offered for so long,” Rasmussen said.
‘A little bit of sunshine’
The market closed in June after 45 years in business. At the time, the Rasmussens cited struggles with ongoing San Antonio Center construction, the departure of negotiation-savvy manager James Liu and Steve and Lian’s desire to retire as motivation for their exit.
Among the Milk Pail faithful saddened by the closure is Mountain View resident Jen Greenwood, who had shopped there since 2006. But Greenwood referred to her first Milk Pail 2.0 installment, which she collected April 18, as “a little bit of sunshine in a hard time.”
“Now, more than ever, you need to support small business, because if they go away, you’re giving up your choices, and corporations are going to get more powerful out of this, not less powerful,” Greenwood said. “People really need to shop with their heart and pay a little bit extra because it goes a long way to help local businesses.”
A smaller, less-expensive “essentials” kit and a produce version are now available for customers, and customizable options may be possible in the future. Rasmussen’s yet to determine, however, the timeline for this new business model and if it might lead to more permanent Milk Pail operations.
“Consumers today have shifted so rapidly to these changes as a result of the pandemic, and perhaps a lot of people won’t be returning to all the same patterns they have had before,” she said. “So in some ways, this kind of model and business might be here to stay a little longer.”
For more information, visit milkpail.com.
