Morgan Hill
– Something’s fishy at the city’s newest business. After months
of planning and preparation, Poppy’s Fish
&
amp; Poultry Market officially opened its doors Friday in the
Morgan Hill Times building on Third Street.
Morgan Hill – Something’s fishy at the city’s newest business.
After months of planning and preparation, Poppy’s Fish & Poultry Market officially opened its doors Friday in the Morgan Hill Times building on Third Street.
When the building was sold last year, the Morgan Hill Times moved into a smaller portion on the west side of the 6,000-square-feet facility. No longer will the building only house the hottest news in town. Now it also will be home to its coldest catch of the day.
Owners Michael Castelan and his wife Jana, who have lived in Gilroy for four years, celebrated their grand opening Saturday.
“I was really surprised at how many people came out especially with the weather,” Castelan said. “We probably had 100 people here. A lot of people are happy we are here, and I think they are pleased with what they saw.”
One of the goals of Poppy’s is to offer its customers something they can’t find anywhere else in the area. In addition to fresh sea food such as lobster, salmon and shark, the store also offers a selection of deli meats and cheeses. They also plan to sell range chickens and duck, just in time for Chinese New Year.
“We want to have that 1960-style butcher store with the old style of service,” Castelan said. “People will find things they won’t find at any grocery store. We can customize what we offer to what people want.”
The store also offers a selection of wines and other specialty cooking items.
Castelan comes from a long line of fishermen. His grandfather was Croatian and helped found the town of Gig Harbor, Wash. on Puget Sound near Seattle. And his father ran a fish market similar to Poppy’s from 1954 to 1981 in Walnut Creek.
Castelan has many fond memories of fishing with his dad and grandfather, but his best memory is when his dad caught his first salmon with a fishing line when he was over 70 years old. His father had fished his entire life but always used the nets of a commercial fisherman.
And it was in honor of his father, whose nickname was ‘Poppy,’ that gave the new store its namesake. The Castelans proudly display pictures of the family on the walls. There is even a life-size cutout of the ol’ skipper ‘Poppy’ himself waiting to great visitors. Castelan also has one of the early editions of the Morgan Hill Times framed to reflect the building’s history.
“I want people to see the tradition and know that we are for real and know what we are doing,” Castelan said. “I’m trying to keep the market how I remember it when my father was alive. Morgan Hill reminds me of Walnut Creek in the 1960s. It is a real community-orientated town. There is a lot of support for local businesses.”
The journey has been a long one for the owners, who have found out first hand how tough moving into a renovated historic building can be.
“It’s been an extremely long process,” Castelan said. “Moving into this old building has made it a lot more difficult than it would be normally. Everything had to built from the ground up. A lot of it was hurry up and wait. There were half a dozen things that almost made us give it up.”
But moving into a historic building has also been rewarding, Castelan said.
“When we saw the building, we fell in love with it,” Castelan said. “It felt like where we should be.”
Castelan said he has put an average of 90 hours a week to get the business ready.
Now he plans to make at least three trips to San Francisco each week to pick up fresh batches of fish.
In a lot of ways Poppy’s is reminiscent of a time long since expired in today’s business world – a time when personal, friendly service was the standard, Castelan said.
“Many times businesses put in too much flash and forget what they are about,” he said. “We want to keep it simple. We want to know what people in Morgan Hill want. People are getting tired of large box stores. The friendliness is gone. You don’t get that old-time feeling in Gilroy.”
For more information about Poppy’s Fish & Poultry Market, call 778-3200 or e-mail po********@*****on.net.
