From: Joe < >
Sent: Sunday, March 22, 2026 3:33 PM
To: City Council <[email protected]>
Subject: There is room for Grocery Outlet in Sebastopol!
Hello Sebastopol Councilmembers,
First of all, I want to thank you all for the tireless work you do for our city each day!
I have lived in Sebastopol once in the late nineties and now for the past fifteen years and I am embedded in this community and it is where I have spent the majority of my adult life. I am an avid local shopper and choose to keep my tax money within the city as much as possible. I am a loyal patron to Community Market, Pacific Market, Andy's and Fircrest Market but due to the exorbitant prices, we shop sporadically at Grocery Outlet in Santa Rosa. We are very health conscious and eat organic natural foods and unfortunately the prices are so high at our local markets that we need an alternative for our two teacher salaries.
Like many others, Grocery Outlet is a place to find deals and more like a treasure hunt versus a day to day market. We will still frequent and support the local markets as we do now, but we would prefer our tax dollars to stay in the community when we need to stock up on things at Grocery Outlet. The former Rite Aid space is perfect for this market and will help alleviate an ugly, abandoned building like the old CVS on Gravenstein Highway. The senior community in particular needs this option as many of them can no longer afford to shop at the local markets for all their needs.
The only real retail threat is Safeway and Whole Foods which are both big chain stores as well and perhaps the other markets will respond by limiting their price gouging that we as loyal customers have to endure for the past five years.
Thank you for your time and please pass the ordinance for Grocery Outlet, it will be a huge benefit to this community. And to those who turn up their noses at the thought of a locallybased discount grocery chain, why didn't they protest the new Little Caesars or ask Amazon-owned Whole Foods to vacate the city. I know you care about the senior community and those that live on the financial fringes, people like us that are always worried about being priced out of the town we live in. We know you are here to help us stay and continue to build this remarkable community!
With so much gratitude,
Joe LeBlanc
Sebastopol, CA 95472