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Mountain View’s Milk Pail Market reopens as drive-thru
Ann Rubin reports.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - A year after closing its doors, the Milk Pail Market in Mountain View is making a comeback, this time as a drive through.
For customers, it was welcome news. For all the small businesses coronavirus has killed, it managed to resurrect one too.
"The Milk Pail back just felt like a really important thing to do at this time when people are just looking for some kind of comfort and they're finding it often in their kitchens," says Kai Rasmussen of the Milk Pail.
The owners, the Rasmussen family, still had their warehouse and connections to local bakers, cheese makers, and farmers.
And when they floated the idea online, the response was overwhelming. 1,800 customers expressed interest in a matter of hours.
The Milk Pail closed after a big new development sprung up around them. There had been petitions to save the store and customers say losing the local market was hard.
"We would prefer to buy from them if we could and we're sad that they were closed, kind of pushed out of the San Antonio Shopping Center," said Brandon Connors, a loyal customer.
In a way, the Milk Pail is going back to its roots. It started as a drive-thru dairy market back in 1974.
Now, they're offering curated baskets in their drive-thru, either of produce, or the essentials, like bread, cheese and chocolate.
"I am so excited Milk Pail is finally open again. And it couldn't be better timing. We are just so thrilled," said Mountain View resident Debbie Cunningham.
The Rasmussens say they're thrilled too, that they can help small vendors and that they have received such a warm welcome back from the community.
"And just knowing we still had such a strong place in people's hearts and minds was really awesome," said Rasmussen.
Originally the Rasmussens envisioned this market as a pop up. But now based on the response they're getting, they say it may continue even after the pandemic ends.