Smart & Final Santa Rosa, CA Pre-Grand Opening: Event

Sharing is caring!

Dear Creatives, I was lucky enough be to be selected to attend the Pre-Grand Opening Celebration of Smart & Final in Santa Rosa, CA. One of the reasons I was super excited to be able to attend & see the new Santa Rosa, CA store first hand is that there will be a new store in our home town in just about a month! The Santa Rosa, CA Smart & Final store is located at 2805 Santa Rosa Ave. & it’s Grand Opening was May, 15th. It has easy access, plenty of parking & is surrounded with other retailers. Smart & Final offers quality products with savings! Product selections that include items perfect for your home grocery needs (home cooking, baking, diy, care to pet foods, team party & party supplies…) to small business needs (restaurants, deli, concession stands, event- larger quantities). First let me share the Pre-Grand Opening events & then a few photos of the store, in case you have never been to a Smart & Final.

I attended the preview on Tuesday evening May 14th. The new Smart & Final Santa Rosa store’s Pre-Grand Opening was invitation only. There was a celebration & ribbon cutting for the new Smart & Final Extra! store. Members of the community, Chamber of Commerce, Leaders of Smart & Final along with the management team, employees & several other guests. (like muah) There was a jazz trio playing music which included two seniors from Maria Carrillo High School. The trio was The Gladstein Trio, consisting of Gabe Gladstein on electric violin,  Zack Leever on keyboard & Chris Amberger on upright base. They were very good & set a lovely mood for the event. The food was both catered BBQ and samplings from several of their own suppliers, several who I met & spoke with.

Don Francisco’s Coffee was one of the brand’s & products being sampled. The rep had lined up lots of great flavors to pick from. The Don Francisco brand visits the world’s top coffee-growing regions in search of the finest high-grown 100% Arabica beans. I had the Vanilla Nut Coffee & Amy had the Hawaiian Hazelnut. There were many varieties to choose from it wasn’t an easy choice. The coffee was delicious! I am a coffee lover & if you are too you’ll be sure to enjoy all the brands including this one that Smart & Final carries.

Now if you are a foodie you’ll love hearing about this brand being carried at Smart & Final. The Cacique brand,  which carries authentic Hispanic cheeses & products. All of their products are gluten free. One of the cheese’s we tried were cooked up right on the spot by the nicest vendors. We tried quesadillas made with one of  their products, Panela cheese. Panela is a crumbly curd style, all-natural fresh cheese. Made with pasteurized Grade A part skim milk, rennet and sea salt. All of their products are proudly made in the U.S.A. The taste was just as described on their site   mellow, mild, delicious & fresh! Not salty & doesn’t string when cooked up. Now this was just one of the types of cheese’s being carried at Smart & Final you’ll find small authentic cheeses to quality bulk cheeses,  family styled brick cheeses & even string cheese. Not to mention lots of choices from cream cheese cups to bulk cream cheese!

Now there was cheese cake & cake that would make your mouth water, along with other foods being served & that will be sold in the Smart & Final stores. I can’t even begin to mention all the great brands that Smart & Final carries! Amy & I zipped around the store taking more photo’s than needed just to give you an idea of how nice a store & the quality of product’s that Smart & Final carries! But, one my favorite areas are the fresh fruits & produce. High quality, fresh & looks so beautiful.

Prior to the ribbon cutting of the new Smart & Final store there were check presentations to local Santa Rosa non profits. Donations were made to Redwood Empire Food Bank for $2500. & another donation of $2500. to  Schools Plus a non profit with no paid positions who were very excited to have all the monies go directly to helping. I am familiar with both these programs & non profits as I used to live and work in the area for years prior to moving down to Central, CA. They couldn’t of partnered with two better organizations to help in the community!

I made it a point to meet & talk to several of the Smart & Final leaders along with the new store manager Jeff Burritt who had been working & commuting to San Francisco for 21 years. He was so excited for his store opening & to be home living and working in the community where he raised his children. Now his children are grown. I did get to meet one of his sons he was so proud & happy to have his father working near by. I had wanted to come back by on opening day prior to leaving but, my older daughter had her baby that very day! Talk about timing!! You know I had to go meet my new grand baby! Talk about a double celebration! No doubt my older kids will be shopping at their new Smart & Final getting fresh meats, produce & products at great prices, for their growing families, along with their household, camping or party needs! Those red tags are big savings. The chili beans were .99 ! & always look for their First Street products quality & big savings! 

If you live in the Santa Rosa, CA area you should go visit your local store (or find one near you! )  There will also be Private Label & National Brand demos every day from 5-16- 5-19th & then again from 5-25 & 5-26! 

Plus if you like Smart & Final’s their Face Book page you can get a $10. off coupon for shopping, with min. purchase of $50.! You can grab it right by the top of their cover header!

Keep up to date with Smart & Final via their social media pages:

• Smart & Finals Community (sales ad’s, recipes & more)
• Facebook Smart & Final Page
• Twitter @SmartFinal 

A bit of Smart & Finals history: Smart & Final is a chain of warehouse-style food-and-supply stores based in Commerce, California, which developed through a series of mergers and expansions. The oldest of the combined companies, Hellman-Haas Grocery, was founded in 1871. The company has expanded to over 250 stores in the Western United States and Northern Mexico. Smart & Final stores target both the food-service and household markets….

Do you have a Smart & Final in your area? If so what is your favorite thing to purchase there?

Sharing is caring!