It’s What Good People Do

By SEA Co-Founder Jim Hood

https://www.sfchronicle.com/westport/article/old-mill-looks-for-new-operator-18337983.php

In Westport’s Compo Beach neighborhood, community has always meant more than proximity. It is a tradition of looking out for one another, preserving local treasures, and doing what is right not because it is easy, but because it is what good people do.

Around the year 2000, that spirit came alive when neighbors rallied to help the family running Elvira’s, also known as The Old Mill Market and Grocery, purchase the property and keep the business open. It was a gesture born of affection for a place that had long been part of daily life along Old Mill Road, where coffee, conversation, and kindness were shared as naturally as the ocean breeze.

Two decades later, when the family retired, they hoped to sell to someone who would carry on that legacy. Offers came and went, but none reflected the care the business deserved. Then, in an almost storybook twist, two newcomers to town stepped forward, quietly and humbly, to buy the market and keep its doors open.

They renamed it Elvira Mae’s and ran it through one of the most challenging periods imaginable, the pandemic. Against all odds, they succeeded.

When life later pulled them to Atlanta, these same owners, by then close friends to many, again searched for a buyer who would preserve the store’s character. None emerged. That is when three local residents, Ian Warburg, Chris Tait, and Jim Hood, approached them with a bold idea: give the community 60 days to raise the funds needed to buy the market outright and keep it alive.

The owners agreed, and in true Westport fashion, the neighborhood responded.

Roughly 570 donors, friends, families, and former residents, came together to save the Old Mill Market. Their success was made possible in part because those generous sellers accepted a financial loss, viewing their ownership not as an investment in profit, but as an investment in people and place.

Today, the Old Mill Store, known through its many names as Kenny’s, Old Mill Grocery & Deli, Elvira’s, and Elvira Mae’s, remains a living landmark. It is a place where friendships form, stories are shared, and generations return to reconnect with memories of simpler times. It is, in every sense, a community anchor.

Yet not everyone has celebrated its survival. A small handful of local residents have sought to shut down the business, challenging the very spirit of neighborliness that has defined this area for more than a century. Their efforts have drawn frustration and disbelief from many who see the market as a vital thread in Westport’s social fabric.

To most who live, work, and gather here, the Old Mill is more than a convenience store or deli. It is a daily ritual, a point of connection, a testament to what is possible when people come together for something larger than themselves.

As the community continues to defend and protect this beloved gathering place, one thing remains certain: Westport’s heart beats strongest when its people act with generosity, integrity, and care for one another.

Thank you all for making this dream possible, stepping up to keep our community connected and together, and for continuing to gather, laugh, love, and live – together.

After all, it is what good people do.