Corti Brothers gourmet grocery store loses east Sacramento lease, will seek new location

Landmark Sacramento grocer Corti Brothers has lost the lease on its east Sacramento store and will close Sept. 30, company President Darrell Corti said Monday.

Corti says his business remains profitable, and he is looking for a new location.

The new tenant at the 5810 Folsom Blvd. site, Corti said, will be Good Eats, a gourmet bistro-market planned by a partnership that includes Michael Teel, former chief executive of West Sacramento-based Raley's Stores. Teel could not be reached for comment.

Corti said he learned he would be forced out of the location during the first week of July. The store's landlord, Nancy Cleavinger, called him to her office to say that his month-to-month lease would not be renewed, he said.

Cleavinger could not be reached for comment.

"It came as a shot out of the dark," Corti said.

At the meeting, Corti said he was handed papers showing the site had been rented to Teel's partnership. The new tenants will pay twice Corti's $12,000 monthly rent, he said.

Corti's shop has occupied the 20,000-square-foot building since 1970. The lease has been month-to-month since 1988, he said.

Founded in 1947 by Corti's father and uncle, Corti Bros. pioneered and came to define upscale specialty food markets in the Sacramento area with an aromatic delicatessen, full-service meat counter and tips on the culinary arts.

Darrell Corti, 66, began working at the store when he was 12.

Over the years, the store became known for its wine selection, hand-picked by Corti, an internationally known wine expert.

In the 1980s, Corti Bros. had four stores. But the three other locations closed in quick succession starting 19 years ago.

In 1989, Corti Bros. vacated a 30,000-square-foot outlet near Sunrise Mall at the request of the center's management, which wanted the space leased to nonfood retailers.

A year later, it closed its Arden Fair location, also 30,000 square feet, when the shopping center underwent a major renovation.

And in 1991, Corti Bros. shut the Freeport Boulevard store in a center once known as the Cort-Yard.

The Sacramento Public Safety Center now occupies the site.

Monday evening, shortly before the store's 7 p.m. closing, Corti Bros. customers could be heard talking with checkers about the upcoming closure. Some loyal customers were quick to list the store's charms.

"It's run by people in the community, not by somebody in another state," said Andrew Brillante of Sacramento, who's been shopping at Corti Bros. for a decade.

His favorite part of the store: imported prosciutto and serrano ham he said you can't find elsewhere.

"This is the best grocery store in Sacramento," said Tom Birchfield, another 10-year customer who was scanning the beer shelves. "They're very service-oriented. They're the opposite of a big chain."

Corti said the store has 50 union employees and revenue of about $8 million a year. He said it was too early to say whether any employees would lose their jobs.

About the writer:

• Call The Bee's Jim Downing, (916) 321-1065. The Bee's Rachael Bogert contributed to this report.