Sunk in Debt, Dean & DeLuca Closes Its St. Helena Location

Napa Valley dwellers no longer have a Dean & DeLuca nearby. The St. Helena location of the gourmet grocery store, which grew from a shop in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood to a global chain, closed for good last week, the New York Times reports. It’s one of several U.S. locations to shutter recently.

Founded in the 1970s by Giorgio DeLuca and Joel Dean, the shop was known for stocking high-end versions of produce and pantry items that seem everyday now but weren’t commonly sold in the U.S. at the time, like balsamic vinegar. The late Leslie Rudd, who owned the landmark Oakville Grocery along with several wineries, a restaurant, and a farm in the Napa Valley, bought a majority in the Dean & DeLuca chain in the mid-1990s — its presence in Napa helped shaped the region into a culinary destination.

In 2014, Dean & DeLuca was sold to Pace Development Corp., a Thai real estate developer. Since it took over, Pace has closed most of Dean & DeLuca’s U.S. locations and left vendors, suppliers, and landlords unpaid as its debts mount.

Along with the St. Helena location, an outpost in Manhattan’s Upper East Side just closed as well, and one in the city’s Meatpacking District is on its way out.

• Dean & DeLuca Closes Stores as Debts Pile Up [New York Times]
• Dean & Deluca’s Major Debt Issues Are Sinking a 30-Year-Old Brooklyn Bakery [Eater NY]
• Dean & DeLuca downsizes amid lawsuits from angry suppliers [New York Post]
• Dean & DeLuca sold for $140 million [Napa Valley Register]
• St. Helena’s Dean & DeLuca store closes [Napa Valley Register]