Gold Stars for 50 years of Dave’s

It makes sense that customers enter each of the 10 Dave’s Marketplace locations in Rhode Island through the produce section, since owner/founder Dave Cesario got his start as a young teenager working for a fruit stand on Federal Hill. Each day, he would be sent to track down the best produce at the Providence Produce Market, and his passion for the freshest food possible—in all departments of his Marketplaces—has continued ever since. After surviving the winter of 1969 in a small lean-to and then a garage in Warwick in 1970, as Dave’s Fruitland, Dave opened his first store in Greenville in 1974 and the first “Marketplace” in 1994 in North Kingstown.

By searching out new and local products, training good staff and creating bright, engaging stores, Dave’s has flourished. So much so, the local chain is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. An emphasis on customer service begins at a coffee/tea station as a central hub, then encourages shoppers to roam through a large hot deli area—brick oven pizza, a hot wing bar, a dozen daily-made soups and hot entrées (pulled pork to rotisserie chicken); linger at a cold bar for salads, sandwiches or sushi; be amazed at the wide selection of meals-to-go; and find themselves back in one of the largest, lushest produce departments of any supermarket in the state. The East Greenwich store has scaled-down storefronts from E.G’s Main St. along the top of its walls; other stores have historic photos, murals or similar 3-D reproductions of their location.

Coventry, Cranston, Cumberland, East Greenwich, Quonset, Smithfield (2 locations), Warwick (2 locations) and Wickford. DavesMarketplace.com