Prescott Market, a collection of food and drink vendors coming to West Oakland, is planning to launch this summer with a taproom from Almanac Beer Co. as its first tenant.
The organizers, the same people behind West Oakland Farmers Market and the Prescott Night Markets debuting June 6, are busy recruiting other tenants that will offer a variety of services and cuisines morning through night, including a coffee shop, butcher and burger spot.
Prescott Market will feature eight food and beverage vendors in all—six local restaurateurs and a coffee shop in addition to Almanac Beer Co.’s taproom. The Prescott Market will be at 1620-1640 18th Street (at Peralta, two blocks west of Mandela Parkway) and the 1923 building was formerly an industrial site.
Joe Ernst, the founder of Prescott Market and srmErnst Development Partners, is also Almanac’s landlord for the brewery’s flagship Alameda location. Ernst approached Damian Fagan, Almanac’s founder, about the idea of anchoring Prescott Market, and it did not take long for Fagan to jump on board.
“I met him there in August of last year, so they were just getting started and it took a lot of visualizing, but I immediately fell in love with the concept,” Fagan said. “I loved the idea of a food market in West Oakland with a focus on local vendors … and knowing Joe for as long as I have, he’s a great partner and it was just a good fit.”
The Almanac Taproom will have indoor and outdoor seating areas, space for live music or other activities, and 20 taps. In addition to the beers brewed a few miles away, there will also be hard cider, kombucha, three different types of hop water, and wine from around California. It will also feature non-alcoholic drinks from Alameda Soda Co. and there will be a slushie machine for both alcoholic and non-alcoholic frozen concoctions.
“We want to build the same community nexus as we’ve built in Alameda, that’s the model of what we want to create,” Fagan said. “It’s less a craft brewery and more a community gathering place that happens to be a craft brewery.”
The Almanac space is in a portion of the brick and timber building that has curved walls and was constructed next to a railroad spur.
“There are high ceilings, exposed timber beams and the space opens up onto a gorgeous courtyard,” Fagan said. “We’ll have fire pits, shade structures, sandboxes … it will be family-friendly.”
No specific opening date is set for Almanac’s taproom yet, but the target is sometime in August. The expectation is that the other tenants of the market will fill in by the end of this year.
Harvindar Singh, the founder of Foragers Market who launched the West Oakland Farmers Market in conjunction with Ernst, will be the director and curator for Prescott Market.
Singh said they are in the process of signing leases with other vendors and announced Woo Can Cook, a regular at the West Oakland Farmers Market, will be moving into Prescott Market when it opens.
“We are still waiting for some to sign the lease, but we are getting very close to starting to announce more tenants,” Singh said. “We have strong interest from an East Bay coffee chain, we’re in talks with a couple of bakers, a couple of taquerias, a burger concept, and a butchery and pantry concept … we want to have Prescott Market humming all day through the night, breakfast, lunch and dinner.”
Singh said they are still searching for a pizza vendor, and he has a vision of a natural wine bar and restaurant filling one of the larger open spaces in the market.
The Prescott Night Markets, supported in part by an Activate Oakland grant, will be held one Thursday each month from June to October from 4 to 8 p.m. The first three editions, June 6, July 11 and August 15, coincide with Oakland Ballers home games.
Prescott Market will join a plethora of other business growth and new activity in West Oakland. The area includes the Bandaloop Dance Company and Touchstone Climbing Gym, and The Ballers are preparing nearby Raimondi Park for the start of baseball games in June. Proyecto Diaz opened a coffee shop nearby in January, and Brix Factory Brewing opened in March. Matt Horn, after announcing the relocation of Horn Barbecue to Old Town, said he is planning to open “Horn Barbecue Shop” next to his other West Oakland restaurant Kowbird. The newcomers join Kilovolt Coffee, City Slickers Farms, Ghost Town Brewing, Soba Ichi and others in the neighborhood.
Singh and Fagan said they were both motivated to participate in the events and Prescott Market because they see potential in West Oakland and want to contribute to the community and its growth.
“When I see and experience West Oakland I see the positivity and creativity, I see the rich sense of heritage and history there,” said Fagan, who grew up in Detroit. “It looks like and feels like the neighborhoods I grew up in, and where I spent my formative years.”
Singh, who has witnessed a great deal of progress and beautification in the area since the farmers market launched in summer 2022, said he is keeping his focus on working with as many local and BIPOC-led businesses as possible. The West Oakland Farmers Market has stabilized with roughly 40 stalls selling a broad range of goods each Sunday, and 80% of the vendors are from the BIPOC community.
“One of the main reasons why I joined this project is because of the community and what it means, the kinds of impacts it will have on the residents that live immediately right around the market,” Singh said. “It feels very purposeful and gratifying. I’ve spent 20 years in the local food movement, building healthy, resilient communities through good food. That’s what we’re really doing here and that was the draw.”
