Harvest Market

Overview

Harvest Market is one of Fort Bragg's everyday anchors, sitting in the Boatyard Shopping Center near the Highway 1 and Highway 20 crossroads.

Harvest Market opened in May 1985 and became the original anchor tenant of the Boatyard Shopping Center. From the beginning, it helped establish this corner as one of Fort Bragg's main places for groceries, meals and everyday errands.

The store has remained family-owned and has grown into much more than a traditional supermarket. For generations of locals and repeat visitors, Harvest has become part grocery store, part deli stop and part community meeting place.

Location

Harvest Market is located at 171 Boatyard Drive in Fort Bragg, near the intersection of Highway 1 and Highway 20.

That location places it at one of the busiest crossroads in town. Highway 20 brings travelers into Fort Bragg from inland Mendocino County while Highway 1 carries traffic north and south along the coast.

Today the Boatyard Shopping Center feels like a permanent part of Fort Bragg, but community memories describe this property very differently before the shopping center was developed.

History

Before Harvest Market and the Boatyard Shopping Center, longtime residents remember open ground, barns and a much wider view across this part of town.

Several memories connect the land with Todd's farm.

One person remembered being a child and scavenging square nails from an old barn on the site and selling them.

Others remembered a large field and barns before commercial development changed the property.

Those memories help show how dramatic the transformation was. What is now one of Fort Bragg's busiest shopping areas was, within living memory, still open land.

Harvest Market opened in May 1985 under founder Tom Honer.

The store became the original anchor tenant of the Boatyard Shopping Center and helped establish the center as a major everyday shopping destination.

Harvest began as a traditional grocery store and gradually expanded its offerings to include natural and organic foods, specialty products, prepared foods and an extensive deli operation.

The family connection continued into another generation when Tom Honer's daughter Jennifer and her husband Tim Bosma joined the business.

Community Memories

The community memories around Harvest are a mix of old Fort Bragg and everyday modern life.

Some people remember the property before the shopping center — fields, barns, Todd's farm and the old square nails that could still be found around the property.

Others remember Harvest itself.

The salad bar and prepared meals come up repeatedly.

So do the hot barbecue tri-tip sandwiches.

The clam chowder earned especially enthusiastic praise.

Visitors describe Harvest as a regular stop whenever they come to Fort Bragg or Mendocino. Some stop on the way into town. Others load up on favorite foods before heading home.

One childhood memory recalls accompanying a grandfather on sales calls and seeing a barefoot hippie sitting outside Harvest — one of those tiny snapshots of Fort Bragg life that somehow sticks for decades.

Another memory praises the deli and the people working there, emphasizing how important it is to have a locally owned grocery store rather than simply another chain.

One person even mentioned supplying bananas to Harvest.

Another liked the store enough to joke about retiring in Fort Bragg and going to work there.

A recent comment brought up Purity Market and a husband who worked there as produce manager during the 1960s. Purity is part of Fort Bragg's broader grocery-store history, but it was a separate business and is being covered separately in this project rather than being folded into the history of the Harvest Market property.

Timeline

Earlier years — Community memories describe the future Boatyard Shopping Center property as open ground with barns.

Earlier farm era — The area is remembered locally in connection with Todd's farm.

Pre-development years — A childhood memory recalls collecting and selling old square nails found around a barn on the property.

1985 — Tom Honer opens Harvest Market in Fort Bragg.

1985 — Harvest Market becomes the original anchor tenant of the Boatyard Shopping Center.

Following years — The Boatyard area develops into one of Fort Bragg's main shopping and everyday-errand centers.

Later years — Harvest expands its grocery, natural-food, deli and prepared-food offerings while remaining family-owned.

2005 — Jennifer and Tim Bosma join the family business.

Today — Harvest Market remains at 171 Boatyard Drive and continues as one of Fort Bragg's best-known locally owned grocery stores and community gathering places.