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# Good will shopping
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/good-will-shopping/
- Published: 2007-04-18T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T00:35:30.000Z
- Author: Kevin Herrera
- Tags: Business, Montana, #archive-import

*Farms Market reminds locals of a time when small business was king*

MONTANA AVE. If Catherine Horrigan and her fiancé ever move into a new home, there must be a neighborhood market nearby.

Like so many of her neighbors, Horrigan has come to rely on Farms Market, a Santa Monica institution that has served residents living near 20th Street and Montana Avenue for more than 50 years.

“How are we going to replace Farms?” asked Horrigan, a graphic designer who lives a few doors down from the market. “Aside from it being so convenient, the people there are very friendly. They know your name and what things you like. They are just really accommodating.

If you want something and they don’t have it, they’ll order it.”

Neighborhood markets like Farms used to be a fixture on nearly every corner of the city when Councilman Bob Holbrook was a boy, but over the years, as supermarkets became more commonplace, many of the family-owned shops closed, leaving residents with fewer alternatives.

Over the years, the City Council has taken a number of steps to preserve the neighborhood markets, including an action taken last week which will allow Farms to continue operating for decades to come. If not for the vote in favor of Farms, the market would have been forced to close in November 2008, according to a city staff report.

Because Farms is much larger than most independent markets, around 3,700 square feet, it exceeds the standard of 3,000 square feet for neighborhood grocery stores. To continue operating, zoning codes had to be modified.

City staff recommended approving the modification because of the market’s value to the community, providing residents who do not have transportation a convenient place to buy their essentials, like milk, eggs, butter, bread and meat. The market also reduces the number of vehicle trips in the city.

More than 1,000 people signed a petition in support of saving the market.

“Local markets are very important for the fabric of this community,” said Holbrook, who used to run to a market at Seventh and Marine streets almost every day for his mother. “These are places where people run into each other, share the gossip and trade stories about their lives and pass the word around.

“They really help to provide a sense of community.” That friendly nature is what keeps Tolly Beckett coming back to Farms, even though prices may be a bit steeper than at larger chains.

“They open the door for me and my kids. That goes a long way,” Beckett said.“I’m a mother, so I’m always running out of milk and veggies. This is very convenient.”

Marty Hartman, an employee at Santa Monica College who lives about a block from Farms, knows a lot about convenience. Aside from buying groceries, Hartman often cashes checks at Farms. If she ever forgets her wallet, employees there send her home with food anyway, trusting her to phone in her credit card number. She even scores free cigarettes every once in a while.

“It really has that small-town feel in a big city,” she said as she sipped coffee in her backyard.“Everybody up here uses it.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 18, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/041807.pdf?ref=smdp.com)