In a world where conscious consumerism is gaining momentum, the newly launched West Marin Culture Shop has carved a niche in Point Reyes Station as a haven for fair-trade, nutritious foods tailored for picnicking probiotic enthusiasts.
Within the shop are four tenants: Flowerbed Florals, a family operation that peddles local seasonal bouquets; The Farmer’s Wife, featuring Sebastopol-based sandwich and salad artist Kendra Kolling’s creations; Canteen Meats, an award-winning Petaluma team of charcutiers; and the building’s anchor tenant, Wild West Ferments, co-owned by Maggie Beth Levinger and Luke Regalbuto since 2010. The store has been through a successful inaugural month, but Ms. Levinger said retailing pricey food can be a tough sell—even when the quality of the product is top-notch.
“One thing that interests me is when people place value on certain things. They expect them to be expensive, but food is usually not one of them,” Ms. Levinger said. “It’s an interesting quandary to be dedicated to feeding people—and I have cripplingly high standards sometimes—so it adds a layer of difficulty when trying to make it financially feasible. But I’m just not willing to compromise on health and safety.”
Amidst the backdrop of a growing appreciation for sustainable choices, a cornerstone of West Marin’s food scene, the Culture Shop’s commitment to ethical practices is apparent both in the front and back of the house. As you walk in, a question is posed in large print: “Is there such thing as food-grade plastic?” Wild West Ferments says no. It uses ceramic crocks for the fermentation process and glass for packaging to avoid any plastic leaching to products rich in acids and salt.
At a beverage station, seasonal fruit sodas like the $6 apple-lemon soda, made up of Sonoma apple juice and lemon juice fermented to be fizzy and probiotic, are fan favorites. For just $4 more, scoops of vanilla water-buffalo ice cream turn it into a float. Tonic shots of their fire brine, sauerkraut juice and beet kvass provide unique flavors and a stomach cleanser. For $8 you can try all three.
The shop received its license to sell alcohol last Friday and has stocked its shelves with Avi Deixler’s Absentee Wines but has plans to expand with more wines and beer.
Miguel Kuntz, who has worked with Wild West Ferments since 2012, is the master curator of the shop. His cheese selection is made up of mostly Northern California cheeses whose history Mr. Kuntz can recount in detail, along with recommendations for pairings. Tinned mussels, scallops, sardines, smoked oysters and more line the shelves. Mr. Kuntz spent an entire day sampling tinned fish to find the perfect products for the shop. Books on fermentation sit next to organic heirloom hand-threshed dry beans, local seaweed, organic wild honey and ethically sourced chocolates.
The West Marin Culture Shop feels a bit like a live being with all its inner machinations on display. Behind each operation is a local business with a vision in sustainability and quality.
Flowerbed Florals
Run by Point Reyes Station resident Laurie Sawyer and her daughters Shelby and Claire, Flowerbed Florals is powered by Marin women from the flowerbed to the shop’s stands. Ms. Sawyer’s ability to craft an aesthetic is informed by decades working as a scientific illustrator, an artist and a freelance florist who first gardened as a child at her family home in Malibu.
“We believe in eco-friendly flowers that have no herbicides or pesticides,” she said. “We’re beekeepers as well, so it’s important for us to have pollinator-friendly flowers. We have an extensive garden at home we supplement from.”
Claire spent two years working as a florist and costume designer in Manhattan and the Hudson Valley before returning to West Marin to open the shop with her mother and sister. Her custom bouquets are inspired by the natural contours of West Marin’s landscape and are the shop’s best-sellers. All the flowers are sourced locally: Peggy Orr’s Point Reyes Flowers, Molly Myerson’s Little Wing Farm, Liebe Patterson’s Blue Dot Farm in Nicasio and Peter and Mimi Buckley’s Front Porch Farm in Healdsburg.
The Farmer’s Wife
Kendra Kolling’s sandwiches are a force to be reckoned with. Though they come at a higher-than-normal cost—think Saltwater, the Marshall Store, etc.—the ingredients and flavor profiles make them a cut above the rest.
For $25, the “Sausage & Berries” is toasted fennel pork sausage served on sourdough and crammed between blueberry plum conserve, Dijon mustard, fresh greens, aged local cheddar and Point Reyes Blue. But it’s her salads that are her secret weapon. Weighing as much as the sandwiches themselves, seasonal side salads are freshly made with peas, arugula, beets, apricots, grapes, sliced cucumbers, strawberries and more.
A Cape Cod native, Ms. Kolling recalled her first visit to Inverness in the early ’90s for a wine tasting of Jim Clendenen’s Au Bon Climat wines at Manka’s. “I had never been out here before, and I was like ‘What the heck! Oh my god!’ And my DNA just started going pop! Pop! Pop!”
She began working at Manka’s and living in a small cabin behind Lowell “Banana” Levinger’s house. It was there she first met his daughter, Maggie. The two became friends and associates in the food business.
In her time living in West Marin, she has worked at Susan Hayes clothing shop, Straus Family Creamery and run her own fresh-pressed juice business exclusively powered by solar. Her gig as a juicer required her to shop at the Point Reyes Farmers Market, where she still buys ingredients for her fresh sandwiches and salads.
Canteen Meats
John Ginanni and his award-winning cured meats have yet to move into the Culture Shop, but he plans to arrive next weekend. As he spoke to the Light over the phone, the sound of lamb salami being sliced and stuffed cut through the line.
Mr. Ginanni has operated for the last three months out of Wild West Ferments’ former space in Petaluma, where he butchers, salts, cures, ages and packages everything in-house. All his meat is sourced within an hour and a half’s drive. The pork, beef, lamb and duck come from Stemple Creek Ranch in Tomales, Silver Sky and Liberty Farms in Petaluma, and Wolfe’s Ranch in Vacaville.
“Most of these ranches we’ve met at the farmers market where we’ve worked for the last two years,” he said. “They’re our neighbors and it’s easy and fun to buy from friends you work alongside every week.”
Mr. Ginanni’s recommendations include a pack of mortadella, black pepper coppa, salami and the 2023 Good Food Award-winning fiocco—a smaller, leaner portion of prosciutto—which sell for an average price of $15.
With a 13-person staff, Wild West Ferments has more than doubled its operation since the opening of the shop. Ms. Levinger said the Cowgirl Creamery owners worked closely with her and Mr. Regalbuto before they opened their doors. But after the soft opening, the couple realized they were starting a business of their own that didn’t have decades of history and the following of their predecessors.
“We realized they were giving us information for the end of a really famous business and we’re at the other end of the spectrum—we’re babies,” Ms. Levinger said. “I feel pretty proud of how well it’s going.”
The West Marin Culture Shop is located in the old Cowgirl Creamery building on Fourth Street in Point Reyes Station. It’s open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays through Mondays.