Local Love // Another Awesome Opening in Modesto

I live in the city where I was born. And if you’ve been reading Lovely Indeed for a while, you know that I left Modesto for a few years, came back (on purpose), and am doing everything I can to spread local love in this town my family calls home. So when a local business comes to me to collaborate, I am always over the moon. Seeing other people invest in our community in a way that makes it better for others is truly one of my favorite things.

Which is why I am SO PUMPED to help spread the word about the newest incredible local venture, the Save Mart “Valley Proud” flagship store. We were able to go to the preview party last night and I left totally high on love for my town, and completely impressed at the concepts that have been incorporated into this new homegrown grocery store!

The concept of it all is so cool, because it’s way more than a grocery store. It seriously feels like an environment that draws people together, which is such a hallmark of my town. We are always aiming to connect people, and Save Mart did it here, big time.

You want specifics? Here come specifics. There’s an in-store restaurant (The Tipping Point) that serves local wine, beer, and amazing street food, with indoor and outdoor garden seating. Those gardens? They’ll be planted and maintained by local 4-H clubs. There’s a bakery bar where you can mix and match amazing local Mexican pastries. There’s a valley fresh produce stand with fruits and veggies from right in our Central Valley, with Produce Chopping specialists that will chop your fresh produce for you (read that again, y’all!!!). I mean, you can walk in, choose a meat at the butcher, and they’ll grill it for you while you do the rest of your shopping so that it’s ready when you check out. Where else can you do that?!

It’s truly like nowhere I’ve ever been, even living in New York and LA. And it’s here, in my hometown, creating jobs and inspiring people and providing local food for our local community. It’s stuff like this that I know you can’t find anywhere else, and is the reason we love to live here.

So much of what they chose to carry and how they chose to program the store are all like little love notes to our Central Valley. They’re nods to our farmers, our workforce, and our community, and it’s seriously incredible.

If you’re local, PLEASE GO! As community members, the more we support amazing local endeavors like this one, the better our town will be. The new Save Mart is at Oakdale and Sylvan (you can’t miss it).

And if you’re not local, I can’t encourage you enough to get out and go local, wherever you are! What do you love about your town? What do you contribute there? These are seriously questions Ryan and I ask ourselves all the time.

Three cheers for communities coming together and doing big things. Congratulations, Save Mart! xoxo

This post is sponsored by Save Mart. All ideas and opinions are my very own. Thank you for being supportive of the partners who help keep Lovely Indeed rocking.