New SLO County grocery store aims to ‘celebrate local people’ through food

A new grocery store is bringing farm-to-table fare to Santa Margarita.

Caliwala Community Food Market & Deli will host local artisans, food makers and musicians — including Caliwala owner Erin Inglish — during its grand opening on Jan. 12.

“January 12 is our victory party for being open and for what’s to come,” Inglish said.

Growing up near Santa Margarita, Inglish said she would ride her horse to town to order sandwiches from the Margarita Mercantile. After it closed, Inglish said Santa Margarita was left a food desert.

After years as a sustainability consultant, Inglish became a full-time musician.

In her downtime, she began researching food economics and said she found it ironic that locally produced food was not easily accessible to Santa Margarita residents. So she decided to open Caliwala.

“I wanted to do something meaningful for my community. Why would I not?” Inglish said.

Inglish, who studied in India for nearly a year during college, said Caliwala gets part of its name, “wala,” from a Hindi word for someone who makes something. The “Cali” part of the name represents the California-made products the store sell, which include organic goods.

Inglish originally planned to open Caliwala in September, but that date was pushed back as a result of city permitting. The store had a soft opening Dec. 1 .

“The mission of the market and deli is to celebrate local people,” Inglish said. “We’re just bringing in the best of San Luis Obispo County.”

In addition to basic goods such as fresh produce, meats, cheeses, breads and beverages, the market sells grab-and-go items made in-house, including macaroni and cheese, empanadas and sandwiches, Inglish said. The store will offer made-to-order sandwiches in the near future, she added.

According to Inglish, most of the food is made with grocery store products that aren’t purchased by customers, in order to reduce waste.

“Its completely insane to run a local grocery store,” Inglish said. “This is truly a labor of love ... but the work is where the care comes in.”

Caliwala Community Food Market & Deli, located at 2200 El Camino Real in Santa Margarita, is open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.