Granite Bay Nugget Market opens to huge crowd

With its dramatic glow-up complete, Granite Bay's hotly anticipated Nugget Market officially opened for business bright and early Wednesday, Aug. 13. Doors opened at 6 a.m., and there was already a significant line of eager customers waiting at 5:30, with the store (and parking lot) bustling and jam-packed throughout opening day. The store is located near the intersection of Sierra College and Douglas boulevards. Store Director Cody Moody said they knew the community was excited for this new store, but they had no idea it would be this big. "This level of excitement is surprising everybody!" exclaimed Moody, with a huge smile. For many months, crews have been working to transform the inside and outside of this 42,000 square-foot building, which was formerly a Walmart, into the company's 17th Nugget Market. Greg Hill, president and CEO of Nugget Market, said the project brought creative challenges, as the store was a remodel project. "This store really stretched us in terms of how to make the most of the existing building," said Hill. "Sometimes, stores are space constrained and you have to make compromises to make it work, but we've been able to bring out the very best of every department in this store." Because it was a remodel, this particular Nugget Market is a bit unique aesthetically compared to others one may visit, but much of it has familiar characteristics, such as an upstairs mezzanine where customers can lounge or enjoy lunch while overlooking the vibrant store. There is an extensive deli and cheese section, which is commonplace in Nugget markets, but this particular store has Specialty Cheese Manager Daniel Muroney, also known as "The Cheese Monger." You would be hard-pressed to find someone who has a bigger passion for cheese. "Being the Monger means getting the cheese into the guest's mouths because there's a whole world of cheese out there and I always love saying tasting is believing," declared Muroney. "So I can talk about cheese all day long. Once you sample it and you can really taste the history, you can taste what the animal's diet was like. It's amazing. You can have the same cheese at different times of the year and pick up different nuances." Nugget's Director of Adult Beverages Mike Taylor certainly isn't complaining about his job, either, which often involves tasting wine and picking just the right ones to stock in each individual store. Nugget stocks a large variety of wines but especially likes to work with small family producers and feature local wines; for instance, the Granite Bay Nugget sells Ciotti Cellars wine, which is made from grapes in the Placer region. "We've added probably 50 or 60 wines to this store that no other location has. And it's varied, some of them are dry white wines, some of them are the more higher-end burgundies and Napa wines," said Taylor. "Some are certainly the local wines that are local to this store because it's local to this community and not local to some of the other stores." The meat and seafood sections are also extensive. On opening day, a crowd gathered to take pictures as chefs prepared to cut a huge yellowfin tuna into steaks and sashimi-grade ahi. There are everyday, common grocery items in Nugget Markets, but the stores also emphasize cutting-edge products, especially those in the health and wellness arena, which are gaining huge popularity. "You can still buy soda and candy here; we aren't going to tell you what you can and can't eat. But organic, alternative diets, we follow those trends, we know what people are looking for, and we want you to be able to find it here," explained Hill. Store Director Moody was all smiles as the day got underway. All the employees also appeared quite thrilled to finally welcome opening day. This new Nugget brought about 150 new jobs to the area, and associates have been in training for the last few months. "Our main feature that I'm most excited about is our associates," said Moody. "To be honest, it could be exciting one day but it's up to us to keep the momentum going moving forward and to start making relationships with this community." As the buzz continues over this new store, Nugget Market #17, work has already begun on #18 in the Whitney Ranch area of Rocklin, with an expected opening in the first quarter of 2026.