Bay Area

How Local Grocer Became a Natural Wonder

When Bob Gerner attended his first Organic Merchants meeting in 1970 on Mount Shasta, it led to creating the popular El Cerrito Natural Grocery Company, which he founded and has been dedicated to for more than 50 years. “This was the start of the natural foods movement and we are still guided by the principles adopted by this organization,” said Laurie Wilt, a Kensington resident and spokesperson for the employee-owned company.

Published

3 years ago

April 15, 2023

Oakland Post

The El Cerrito Grocery Store won the East Bay Express Reader Poll for Best Natural Food Store in 2021 and in 2022, due in part to its establishing personal relationships with vendors and farmers. The worker-owned business doesn’t just sell food to make money. “We believe in caring for our resources and providing healthy, nutritious ingredients to our community,” Wilt said.

The Richmond Standard

“This was the start of the natural foods movement and we are still guided by the principles adopted by this organization,” said Laurie Wilt, a Kensington resident and spokesperson for the employee-owned company. “Their goal was to promote organic agriculture and to sell wholesome unrefined natural foods. The Organic Merchants defined these as foods without white flour, white sugar, hydrogenated oils, artificial sweeteners, artificial flavors, artificial colors, or preservatives.”

From 1971 to 1980, Gerner changed locations and expanded offerings, including a bakery and café that had 50 unique vegetarian dishes and the first tofu burger in the U.S.

After an attempt to sell the store, Gerner and his wife Pattie regrouped and reopened the store in 1981 calling it Berkeley Natural Grocery Co., the beginning of The Natural Grocery Company at 10367 San Pablo Ave. as it is known today, according to Wilt.

In 2002, the Natural Grocery Company became employee owned (Employee Stock Ownership Plan), and the following year the Employees of the Berkeley Store launched the Non-GMO Project with the People Want to Know Campaign, according to Wilt.

The El Cerrito Grocery Store won the East Bay Express Reader Poll for Best Natural Food Store in 2021 and in 2022, due in part to its establishing personal relationships with vendors and farmers.

The worker-owned business doesn’t just sell food to make money. “We believe in caring for our resources and providing healthy, nutritious ingredients to our community,” Wilt said.

“I think that commitment to our ideals is what sets us apart,” she said. “It isn’t always about the bottom line. We are a community of individuals working towards the health of ourselves, our families and the population at large.”

That dedication is proven in the store’s product offerings. The store only sells organic produce. Its bulk foods department is almost all organic.

The store’s Café features Equal Exchange Organic/Fair Trade Coffee and Juice Bar that uses the same organic produce sold in its the stores, its Ice Cream Counter features Straus Ice Cream and Mr. Dewie’s Cashew Ice Cream, and its Bakery Department makes tasty organic treats, special order cakes and pastries, as well as morning baked goods like muffins, scones, cinnamon rolls and biscuits. Vegan and wheat free items are offered, although the store is not a gluten free facility, according to Wilt.

The store also has a Deli that prepares grab and go sandwiches, salads and dishes to eat in or take-out, a Wine & Beer Department focusing on natural, organic and craft beverages, and a Floral Department that was co-winner for Best Flower Shop in the 2022 El Cerrito Chamber of Commerce Best of El Cerrito competition.

Both the Berkeley and El Cerrito grocery stores are certified California Green Businesses.

“You may notice the solar panels that are on the roofs of both our San Pablo Avenue locations as well as over a portion of the parking lot,” Wilt said. “Additionally, we have an electric car charging station in our lot that provides an hour of free charging during business hours for customers.”

What customers don’t see are the beehives on the roof. The hives are maintained by Bay Area Bee Company, according to Wilt.

“When they produce enough honey, we get jars to sell in our stores that tell you it’s from our bees!” Wilt said.

Wilt also noted the store sells fresh ground-your-own peanut and almond butters. But you won’t find individual water bottles of less than one gallon, a decision the store made in 2019. The store only carries water in aluminum, paper or glass.

“We provide a Reverse Osmosis Water Filter System for our customers who want to fill up their own containers and that is what we use to wash our produce,” Wilt said. “Recent audits of our composting show that we are doing a great job separating our waste and making sure it goes to the right place (compost, recycling, landfill).”

The Natural Grocery Store and Natural Grocery Preparation Food Annex open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

San Leandro Unified School District and City of San Leandro Joint Response to the Cary Drive/Haas Ave Pedestrian Bridge Collapse

Don't Miss

Food Insecurity, Hunger Expected to Soar After Cuts to Extra SNAP Benefits

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Activism

At the event, 16 entities signed the EIP pledge, vowing to take steps to increase public contracting opportunities in their spheres for small and historically underutilized businesses. The pledge signees included Hub International, the Port of San Francisco, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, California High-Speed Rail Authority, the Port of Oakland, Robert Graham of Webcor Builders, Holder Construction, the Weitz Company, Sky Blue Builders, Hornblower, Swinerton, Luster National, Talson Solutions, Center for Community Wealth Building, and the Construction Contractors Alliance.

Published

1 week ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Toks Omishakin, secretary of the California State Transportation Agency, was one of the speakers at the event. Photo by Shellee Fisher Photography and Design.

By Calvin Naito, Special to The Post

On June 4, a national nonprofit named the Equity in Infrastructure Project (EIP) – which aims to increase public construction contracting opportunities for small and historically underutilized businesses – held a day-long event in downtown San Francisco to rally supporters and build momentum to its cause.

It was attended by more than 100 individuals from public agencies, private firms, and other organizations committed to increasing contracting opportunities with governmental agencies, thereby creating more competition and lowering public costs.

The EIP event was held the Hyatt Regency San Francisco in conjunction with BuildIT, which aims to increase contracting opportunities for LGBT-owned businesses.

At the event, 16 entities signed the EIP pledge, vowing to take steps to increase public contracting opportunities in their spheres for small and historically underutilized businesses.

The pledge signees included Hub International, the Port of San Francisco, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, California High-Speed Rail Authority, the Port of Oakland, Robert Graham of Webcor Builders, Holder Construction, the Weitz Company, Sky Blue Builders, Hornblower, Swinerton, Luster National, Talson Solutions, Center for Community Wealth Building, and the Construction Contractors Alliance.

Following the workshop, BuildIT hosted a VIP evening reception honoring EIP, whose principals – Phil Washington, John Procari, and Rick Jacobs – accepted the award.

The event also set in motion the coalition’s efforts to implement recommendations from EIP’s “Procurement for Prosperity: A Playbook.”

The Playbook is a practical guide for public agency leaders and procurement and contracting practitioners to grow the capacity of small and first-time contractors, strengthen competition, and deliver better value for taxpayers.

Toks Omishakin, Secretary of the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA), a long-time EIP supporter, also told attendees, “This is about commitment. This has been a life’s work. This is a tailwind moment.”

The event’s presenting sponsor was Hub International, one of the largest insurance brokerages in the nation, which was joined by partners Travelers Insurance and the State Compensation Insurance Fund.

After the pledge-signing ceremony, attendees participated in a workshop in which they examined the policies, practices, and programs needed to meet EIP goals, learned from practitioners, and identified next steps toward utilizing the Playbook.

Ingrid Meriwether, formerly of Merriwether & Williams Insurance Services (MWIS) and current president of Hub International’s Aligned Risk Management, MWIS, described the hard-fought lessons she and her MWIS team have learned over the last three decades administering contractor development programs (CDPs) for the City and County of San Francisco, Alameda County, City of Los Angeles, LA Metro, and other municipalities.

The CDPs help small and local construction firms win public infrastructure contracts with these government agencies. The program provides bonding assistance, contract financing, technical support, training, and other services to underrepresented businesses funded by public agencies who seek greater contracting participation with these firms.

Merriwether said programs like these “break down systemic barriers, create greater fairness, and save taxpayers money by enabling more competition. The contractor development programs have, cumulatively, over two decades, helped contractors access over $1 billion in bonding, supporting over $380 million in awarded contracts, and maintaining a loss ratio 250 times lower than the industry average – while saving participating municipalities more than $27 million in contracting costs as a result of enabling more competition.”

Rick Jacobs, EIP co-founder and co-chair urged attendees make plans to meet again in the near future “to continue building on this work, share progress on organizational commitments, and discuss how we can collectively advance the goals of the EIP pledge.”

For more information on the EIP and to access a copy of the Playbook, go online to https://equityininfrastructure.org/

Calvin Naito is communications manager for Equity in Infrastructure Project.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Oakland Museum Presents Landmark Retrospective Celebrating Beloved Bay Area Artist Mildred Howard

“Poetics of Memory” coincides with a year of major recognition for Howard. In 2026, she received the California Arts Council’s 50th Anniversary Award, honoring artists whose work has shaped California’s cultural and civic life, as well as the Museum of the African Diaspora’s Artist Impact Award. In 2025, she was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in recognition of her transformative contributions to American cultural life.

Published

1 week ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Mildred Howard. Photo by Christine Cueto for the Oakland Museum of California, 2025.

Special to The Post

The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) opened “Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory,” the first major museum survey of Bay Area artist Mildred Howard, on June 12.

The exhibition spans five decades of Howard’s influential work, bringing together immersive installations, found-object sculptures, archival materials, and new commissions that explore memory, identity, and power in American life.

Howard was born in San Francisco in 1945 and raised in the East Bay, where she went on to study Afro-Haitian dance, make and sell clothing, and experiment with collage and sculpture.

Her multimedia art practice emerged from these experiences, later becoming associated with West Coast conceptual art, San Francisco funk, and a vibrant community of artists like Oliver Jackson, Betye Saar, and Raymond Saunders. Since the 1970s, she has used found materials and family stories to explore memory—both individual and collective.

At OMCA, visitors enter “Poetics of Memory” through a series of intimate galleries featuring Howard’s early mixed-media pieces and sculptures, along with a large video projection of a number of her public artworks.

Together, they emphasize Howard’s interest in everyday objects as powerful carriers of individual and shared stories. Highlights include collages that remix images of the artist herself; found-object sculptures like The History of the United States with a few Parts Missing (2007) that address omissions in dominant narratives; and public works like “Locks and Keys for Harry Bridges” (2001) that transform urban space into a meditation on access and labor.

This culminates in a richly detailed “studio” environment, where works in progress, archival exhibition flyers, historic photographs of Howard and her community, postcards from fellow artists, and other materials offer insight into her creative process and daily life.

The exhibition then opens into a high-ceilinged, dramatically lit space that brings together Howard’s signature immersive installations. On one end, “Crossings” (1997/2026) – a field of hundreds of ceramic eggs leading to an ornate mirror – suggests cycles of birth, motherhood, and transition, while drawing on the emotional echoes of the Middle Passage. On the other end, “Blackbird in a Red Sky” (a.k.a. “Fall of the Blood House”) (2002) – a red glass shack bordered by a pond – also uses reflection and transparency to draw viewers into the work and prompt consideration of themes of identity and home.

Howard’s newest video installation, “Moving Stills” (2026), repurposes never-before-seen family footage she took as a teenager on a train trip to the American South. Projected onto cascading layers of translucent fabric that stretch across an entire gallery wall, the piece immerses viewers in a layered meditation on memory, migration, and time.

The “Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory” exhibit will be on display through Oct. 11 at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St., Oakland, CA 94612. Museum hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended hours on Fridays to 9 p.m.

This story is sourced from the Oakland Museum of California press office.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Alameda County

Ferry Fares to Increase July 1 as Ridership Hits Record Highs

The Oakland and Alameda routes will increase from $4.90 to $5.10, the South San Francisco route will go up from $7.40 to $7.60, and the Vallejo route will increase from $9.90 to $10.

Published

1 week ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Courtesy photo.

By Mike Aldax, The Richmond Standard

Starting July 1, the standard adult fare for the San Francisco Bay Ferry route between Richmond and San Francisco will increase to $5.20, up from the current $4.90.

Discounted fares for eligible passengers, including youth, seniors, people with disabilities, and Clipper START users, will rise to $2.60 from the current $2.40. Children under 5 will continue to ride for free.

The Oakland and Alameda routes will increase from $4.90 to $5.10, the South San Francisco route will go up from $7.40 to $7.60, and the Vallejo route will increase from $9.90 to $10.

The adjustments are part of a systemwide fare update approved by the agency’s Board of Directors, which is moving away from a flat 3% annual increase to route-specific pricing for the 2027 and 2028 fiscal years.

This fare update arrives as San Francisco Bay Ferry celebrates a historic May, transporting 301,270 passengers. The record-breaking figure represents an 8% increase over May 2025 and marks the third consecutive month of record-setting ridership.

Furthermore, it is the sixth month in a row that passenger numbers have exceeded pre-pandemic levels. Weekend travel has been a primary driver of this growth, with average weekend ridership seeing a 56% increase compared to pre-pandemic trends.

The agency states that the fare adjustments are necessary to ensure the long-term fiscal sustainability of public ferry services. By shifting to route-specific adjustments, the agency aims to offset rising operating costs while maintaining the high levels of service frequency and reliability.