When Santa Barbara resident Wendy Schmidt and her husband, Eric, heard that the beloved community market Tri-County Produce was in danger of closing by the end of April, the pair jumped at the opportunity to step in as angel investors, working with the ownership group to negotiate a deal that would allow the store to continue running under the stewardship of two longtime employees, father and son Jaime Desales Sr. and Jaime Desales Jr.
Wendy said she read the news of Tri-County Produce owner John Dixon’s plans to retire and close shop in a March 7 Santa Barbara Independent article, and right away she reached out to Dixon and business partners Austin Herlihy and Chris Parker to see if there was some way to keep the business going after Dixon’s departure.
“I knew we had to find a way for this beloved market to continue serving the community,” Wendy told the Independent. “With its 40 years of networked fresh produce suppliers across the region and a unique curation of other products, Tri-County Produce has become an essential part of Santa Barbara.”
Wendy, a former journalist and current Lotusland boardmember, and her husband Eric, who was Google’s CEO from 2001 to 2011 and executive chair for four years after that, have been active philanthropists since 2006, when they started the Schmidt Foundation together to support clean renewable energy, healthy food systems and oceans, and the protection of human rights. Since then, Wendy has served as president of both the Schmidt Foundation and the Schmidt Ocean Institute, which gives scientists free access to the world’s first year-round philanthropic research vessel.
More recently, in 2024, the Schmidts founded their latest nonprofit, Schmidt Sciences; and just last month their family foundation secured the purchase of the 350-acre Mar y Cel property — the largest piece of contiguous undeveloped land in the area — which they intend to preserve as open space.
The Schmidt family’s investment into Tri-County Produce will be part of a deal that will allow the father-son duo of Desales Sr. and his son, “Mito,” to run the business and ultimately take over as owners. Desales Sr., who has worked at the market for 26 years, said the opportunity to carry the business into its next chapter was both “humbling and exciting.”
Tri-County Produce’s transition into the hands of former employees was a move celebrated by many in the community, and is just the latest example of Santa Barbara businesses gaining a second life, with both Chaucer’s Books and Federal Drug Company experiencing similar changes with longtime employees taking over as owners.
Tri-County Produce is expected to remain open while the rest of the property undergoes redevelopment, with 53 units of residential housing proposed on the parcels directly behind the market.
“We’re delighted that we’ve crafted a way for the market to continue and the Desales family to ultimately own this market, and we look forward to continuing to work with Austin and Chris to make this a smooth transition for everyone,” Wendy said.
