Driver’s Market opened in May 2013 with a lot of community support and big dreams for the future. Today the market is a bustling Sausalito hub. We sat down with Adam Driver to look back over the last five years and talk about what the future holds.
In A Good Place: Xlc Joloronde
Xlc Joloronde (pronounced “shell-sea”) has always let her passions guide her worklife – first as a midwife in Seattle, and later as an educator homeschooling her two sons. Now, with her boys off to high school and college, Xlc brings her passion for food and cooking to her work at Driver’s.
Sunny in Sausalito: Abrenna Johnson
There is a lot to love at Driver’s Market, and having a cheerful chat with Abrenna Johnson is one of them. Abrenna engages her customers at the register, exchanging tips on new favorite items and dinner ideas.
Driver’s Market feels like home to Abrenna. “That’s the atmosphere here,” she said. “It feels like working for a huge, extended family.”
CB McGillivray – The Artist Behind the Counter
Before he worked at Driver’s Market, CB McGillivray was a customer. “I fell in love with the place and the community of people,” he said of the market. In 2014, CB started working in the deli. Now he is a supervisor, usually the first person at Driver’s every morning, 5 days a week. He approaches his work at Driver’s as an artistic and social opportunity.
Alice Merrill, Our Landlord and Crewmate
Five years ago, before they had even met, Alice Merrill and Adam Driver were working toward the same vision – to keep a natural grocery store at 200 Caledonia Street. Alice has been a good friend of Driver’s Market ever since. Whether it’s as our landlord or as a cashier, Alice steps up to bat for the market whenever she is needed.
Francisco Cuervo, Family Man
Francisco Cuervo is busy. He cares for his three young children at the family home in Novato every morning so his wife can get to work. Then he works the night shifts at Driver’s and another local establishment. Although he recently took a leave from the market to care for his kids, Francisco has been at Driver’s since we opened …
Prepping with Domingo Morales
Domingo Morales is our deli prep specialist. When Adam Driver, our co-founder, offered him a job at Driver’s two years ago, Domingo was working for Sushi Ran, the famous sushi restaurant half a block away from Driver’s. He was reluctant to give up his job, so he took Adam’s offer as his second job. Domingo is responsible for prepping ingredients …
Minding the kitchen: Carlos Rodriguez
Carlos Rodriguez joined us about a year and a half ago. We’ve been eating better ever since, and hope you have too. Carlos and his team of four whip up our daily selection of salads, burritos, lasagna, chicken curry, chicken tenders and a number of other prepared foods that can be found at the front of our deli section, as …
Stocking the shelves: Amaris Cuervo
We work hard to keep our shelves laden and our wares neatly displayed, and no one works harder to help us do that than Amaris Cuervo. The Los Angeles native moved to Novato as a child. She was working at a local dry cleaner’s when she was encouraged to apply for a position we’d posted by her sister, who works …
Operations up front: Lauren Miller
Many of our colleagues are migrants from points East, but few have had as long a journey as the one Lauren made before joining Driver’s team last year. A New Jersey native and 2011 graduate of Colgate in upstate New York, Lauren headed to Sierra Leone in the Peace Corps after graduation, and then returned to work on an unusual urban …
Poet at the cash register: Paul Geffner
There are many reasons Paul Geffner, our co-founder, is excited about Driver’s Market. The Sausalito resident has helped create more than a dozen different businesses over the past few decades. “Of all the things I’ve been involved in, this is by far my favorite!” he exclaims. As we’ve explained elsewhere, Adam Driver met Paul on a local basketball court years …
The founder (and boss): Adam Driver
Many of our friends and customers know the story of how Driver’s came about. While managing the Real Food Company at the same location for years, Adam began putting together his own business plan for a market. He met local businessman Paul Geffner on the Sausalito basketball court, and they started kicking around the idea of opening the store together. …
The grocery curator: Graham Driver
Graham, a partner in the store (and Adam’s brother) takes on a lot of different roles around the store, but by far his favorite one is sourcing products. “He ensures that we live up to our standards,” Adam says. Graham says, “I take that responsibility seriously. We’ve created a climate where people trust the products we put on the shelves …
The wine merchant: Niesa Granger
Producing great wine, Niesa Granger says, is a lot like producing great art. “It’s about both knowing how the science works and knowing how the art works.” Niesa, who heads our wine department, studied art at the University of Washington, and then began learning more about wine’s similarities while working as a sommelier in New Orleans. After Hurricane Katrina devastated …
The gift guru: Mia di Tommaso
Mia, a Detroit native, joined Driver’s when we opened, having heard about the store from our own Jonathan Alexander, whom she had worked with at Zingerman’s, the legendary food mecca in Ann Arbor. Mia brings to Driver’s great knowledge and experience from a year studying Italian food in Italy, a year studying pastry arts in New York, and then three years …
The sandwich genius: Alex Hayden
Alex Hayden joined Driver’s a couple of months before it opened, and runs our deli section. “The deli is my brainchild,” says the Sausalito native. His late grandfather, Sterling, starred in 35 movies and lived in Sausalito until his death in 1986. His mom when pregnant with Alex worked as a cashier at Real Foods, which occupied the Driver’s space …