Sunshine Foods Has New Owners, and So Do Two St. Helena Thrift Shops

"We don't view this simply as acquiring a grocery store," Elliott Stone, owner of Mollie Stone's Markets, told the St. Helena Star after his company's purchase of Sunshine Foods was announced this fall. "We view it as being entrusted with a 50-year family legacy, and we take that responsibility very seriously."

Around the same time, a few blocks away, La Bohème and Act Two reopened. Both thrift shops had been slated to close, and two women who had worked there for years took them over. Two places changed owners this autumn, and in both cases the people letting go chose who came next. They looked for someone who would keep things the way they were. The names on Main Street and La Fata Street are the same as last year. The owners, and the people the receipts benefit, are new.

Fifty Years, One Sale, and the Same Name on the Sign

Sunshine Foods at 1115 Main St. is the only independent full-service grocery in town. The Smith family bought it in 1975. The sale was announced in a news release on a Tuesday, and the first reader comment on the local story is stamped September 30, 2026.

Jay and Mike Smith said in a joint statement that the buyer's background mattered to them:

"It was extremely important to us to find another family-owned company that shares our values and understands the importance of employees, customers, quality and community."

The Stone family founded Mollie Stone's in 1986. It runs eight other stores around the Bay Area, in San Francisco, Palo Alto, Sausalito and Greenbrae among other places. Founder and CEO Mike Stone said the company plans "to be a long-term part of the St. Helena and Napa Valley community." The company also promised to keep the store's "neighborhood-market character and emphasis on fresh, local and specialty foods" while investing in improvements, products and services.

The reasons for the sale go back a year. The Star reports that Jay Smith announced last fall that Sunshine was for sale. The Star's report lists the pressures he gave: regulatory hassles, having to hire outside firms for services the store used to handle itself, difficulty finding qualified employees, and more second homes in town, which meant fewer local customers. A single store carries those pressures alone. The new owner runs nine stores across which to share them.

What Shoppers See at the Counter So Far

The store's own site lists hours of 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day. The deli and meat counters stay open until 8 p.m., and the kitchen grill closes at 3 p.m.

The clearest sign of the new owner is the holiday ordering page. Thanksgiving reservations for Sunshine now run through Mollie Stone's, and the page still calls the store Sunshine Foods. Its one turkey listing is a Branigan's Turkey marked "Sunshine Foods Only." Holiday sides are handled through the chain's catering site. The order is placed under the local name and handled through a Bay Area company's site.

The promised improvements have no public timeline yet. This Thanksgiving is the first holiday season under the new owner, and the reservation page is the first sign of how the Stones plan to run it. They kept the local name on the order.

Two Thrift Shops, Kept Open by the People Who Ran Them

The thrift shops show the same pattern on a smaller scale. Patch reported on October 1 that Providence had announced it would close La Bohème and Act Two. Jennifer Wilken had worked at the stores for about four years under Providence, and Oria Goleno for about three. Within a month the two had a business plan, a new foundation and funding. They also got new leases, insurance, a license, nonprofit status and a board. "Oria and I talked to Providence, and we told them our plan, and they were like, 'Wonderful. That's amazing,'" Wilken told Patch.

The St. Helena Chamber of Commerce noted that the two shops have been in town for more than 15 years. The bigger change is where the money goes. Sales now support the Goleno-Wilken Foundation, which gives to the Parkinson's Association of Northern California and other causes.

The two shops sell different things. Patch describes La Bohème as the higher-end shop among the downtown boutiques. Act Two sits on a corner among vineyard and winemaking suppliers and carries everyday goods. One recent donation there was a piece of art Goleno suspects may be an original Picasso. At La Bohème, everything was moved out so the landlord could replace carpet that had been down for 15 years. New paint, rearranged furniture and a relocated desk followed. After a weekend soft opening, the store stayed full of shoppers on its second full day. The new owners are also donating clothing to the high school drama department. They plan to work with the food bank to hand out dishes, utensils, pots and pans along with food.

The sellers are different kinds of owners. One is a family selling a business it ran for half a century. The other is an organization that had planned to close its two shops. Both picked a successor who already knew the place. The Smiths looked for another family grocer, and Providence approved a plan from its own staff. Neither store was handed to an operator with a different idea for the space.

The Season Both Handoffs Walk Into

These changes come just before the busiest stretch of the local calendar. The town is also in the last months of its 150th-anniversary year, and its own sesquicentennial site calls November "A Month of Being Thankful" and asks residents to gather at the Barrel Tree. The dates as currently posted:

1. Fridays through October. The St. Helena Farmers' Market lists its season as May through October, Fridays from 7:30 a.m. to noon at Crane Park, 360 Crane Ave. That leaves October 23 and October 30 on the posted calendar. No exact closing date has been announced.
2. Thanksgiving week. Turkey reservations for Sunshine go through the Mollie Stone's ordering page.
3. Wednesday, November 25, 5 to 7 p.m. The Barrel Tree Lighting is put on by the St. Helena Chamber of Commerce, the City of St. Helena and the St. Helena Tourism Improvement District, with Santa. The Mayor lights the 36-foot Beringer Holiday Wine Barrel Tree, followed by a Snow Show Spectacular, according to Beringer's events page. The Chamber says more details on entertainment and activities are coming.
4. Sunday, December 6. Beringer holds its Wine Club Holiday Party, and the Rhine House is closed to the general public that day.
5. Thursday, December 17, 7 to 9 p.m. The St. Helena Public Library hosts the Festejo Comunitario Posada, according to the city calendar.
6. December, date to come. The sesquicentennial ends with what organizers call "one final toast to the past and to the future of St. Helena." It is presented with the St. Helena Historical Society and the Napa Valley State Parks Association.

The Chamber's 2026 calendar also lists "Holidays in St. Helena" running from November through January.

Choosing the Next Owner

When these established St. Helena businesses changed hands this year, the sellers picked buyers for continuity. The Smiths put the store up for sale last fall and chose a family grocer, which has kept the Sunshine name on the turkey order. Providence's two shops went to the people who had been working the registers. The grocery now belongs to the Stone family, and thrift-shop sales now go to the Goleno-Wilken Foundation. The Barrel Tree is lit the night before Thanksgiving.

At Ginger Martin + Co., we are based in St. Helena and work with owners who care as much about who comes next as about the price, whether that is a family estate, a vineyard or a property with decades of history. If you are starting to think about your own succession, we would be glad to talk it through. Get In Touch.