Betsy Larsen, who owns Larsen's Fish Market, told The MV Times she had been "driving by here every day, every morning all summer long, looking, looking." On Wednesday, Sept. 16, the blue doors finally opened. At 7 a.m., the Menemsha Store started serving breakfast. The Gazette reported that bacon was sizzling at the Menemsha Store for the first time in seven years.
Most coverage has treated this as a homecoming, and it is one. The bigger story is how the store is set up. The grocery is tied by contract to the Martha's Vineyard Fishermen's Preservation Trust, and the Trust plans to turn the building next door into a year-round seafood hub. Coffee, eggs and lunch sandwiches are now part of how Menemsha's fishing port pays for its future.
Seven Years Without a Counter
The store goes back a long way. The MV Times reports that Liz Oliver's grandparents, Barbara and Bill Seward, opened the first version as the Menemsha Market in 1948, near the Menemsha Galley, with a post office inside. Liz and Kevin Oliver reopened that market the summer after they graduated from college in 1997 and married that June. The Gazette reports they ran it for 16 years before stepping away in 2012, came back in 2017, and saw it close after a fire in 2019.
The old market was seasonal. The new one plans to stay open. "We are going to try to keep the store open — open, open," Kevin Oliver told the Gazette in August. "People find when they're here in Menemsha, they like to stay here in Menemsha." The MV Times now calls it the only year-round food store in Chilmark, and it quoted Liz Oliver on why that matters. An up-Island option for a breakfast or lunch sandwich, she said, "doesn't really exist in the off-season."
The store is in the old deli, next to the Fishermen's Preservation Trust building and across the street from Iggy's Bread. It stocks fresh fruit and vegetables, milk, eggs, snacks and dry goods. It serves breakfast and lunch daily until 2 p.m., along with baked goods. Liz Oliver had a specific gap in mind. In August she called provisions for boaters "the missing piece to Menemsha." The shop also means residents no longer have to drive to West Tisbury or a supermarket for basics.
A Lease Built Around the Fleet
In 2025, Sarah Bernard and James Seppala bought the old deli, the former Poole fish processing plant and a nearby cottage, all at 10 Basin Road, for $3.1 million. They lease the property to the Fishermen's Preservation Trust and to the Olivers. According to the Gazette, the Olivers don't pay a traditional lease. Instead, 30 percent of the store's net profits go to the Trust. The MV Times describes it slightly differently. In its account, the owners and the Trust waive the Olivers' rent and put that money toward the nonprofit and Menemsha's working waterfront, and the Olivers donate 30 percent of net sales. Either way, the store's money ends up supporting the fishing port.
According to Liz Oliver, the store started with a phone call. "John Keene called up Kevin, and said, 'What do you think about running another store?' And so here we are." Kevin Oliver described the Trust's mission in the Gazette: "Menemsha is a fishing port first and foremost, so they really concentrate their efforts here."
The partnership is on the sign out front. Gary Demers designed it, and it shows the Little Lady, a vessel the Trust is restoring. The Trust's own page says the boat needs a major rebuild, names Gannon & Benjamin as the restoration partner, and describes plans for public visits, talks and seafood donations once the work is done.
Next Door, the Larger Project
The store is small. The Poole building beside it is much bigger. The Trust describes it as a former fish-processing center of roughly 6,000 square feet. It plans to fill the building with cold storage and freezer space, a commercial kitchen, a seafood processing area, a community meeting room and maritime or seafood businesses. The Trust calls the goal "a fully operational, year-round seafood processing and community hub."
For now, the Trust's Seafood Collaborative works out of the former Menemsha Fish House, which the Gazette reported in August is 600 square feet. The Poole building would give it about ten times that space. The Trust's published schedule looks like this:
- Summer 2026: permitting and interior planning
- Fall 2026: exterior renovation begins, with new doors, windows, trim and shingles
- Winter 2026: interior renovation and utilities work, plus kitchen equipment purchases
- Spring 2027: cold storage and processing equipment installed
- Summer–Fall 2027: facility partly operational and year-round programs start
- Spring 2028: facility fully operational
These are the Trust's targets, and they have already slipped once. A 2025 Gazette report had forecast a summer 2026 opening for the Trust's headquarters and store. The grocery opened in September, but the larger facility now runs on a longer schedule. If the plan holds, Basin Road this winter will have a store selling breakfast next to a building where work on the exterior is underway.
The Trust's fish already reaches people away from the harbor. Its 2026 Community Supported Fishery offered summer, fall and winter share pickups at the West Tisbury Farmers Market, not in Menemsha.
What's Open at the Harbor This Month
The store matters most in the weeks after the seasonal businesses close. Here is what the harbor businesses currently post on their own sites:
| Spot | What's posted | What it means for late fall |
|---|---|---|
| Menemsha Store | Breakfast and lunch daily until 2 p.m., groceries | Owners plan to stay open year-round |
| Larsen's Fish Market | Daily, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., "Last Day Oct 18" | About two weeks left as of early October |
| Menemsha Fish Market | Fall hours, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day | No closing date posted |
| Iggy's Bread, 29 Basin Road | Saturdays and Sundays, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. | Site gives no seasonal end date |
| The Homeport | Lunch 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., dinner 5 to 10 p.m., seven days | No 2026 closing date posted |
Hours change quickly this time of year, so check before you drive down. The general direction is clear, though. By late October, the store at 10 Basin Road may be the most dependable place in the village for food, and that is why the Olivers wanted to keep it open year-round.
Derby Mornings and an Oct. 27 Meeting
The Derby kicked off Sunday, Sept. 13, and the Menemsha jetty has been busy since. The Gazette's Oct. 2 Chilmark column describes a crowd that arrives daily with snacks, drops tailgates and often trades casting for coffee. The column names locals including Evan, Leila, Adam, Brooks, Casey, Annette, Joey, Lew, Clay, Ryan and Elisha, plus Brian, Brad and Sarge, who travel from around the country each year. At the tournament's midpoint, junior angler Booker Weisner hooked a 4.55-pound bonito fishing side by side with his father, Elisha. The fish earned him a first fish pin and second place on the Junior Shore leaderboard behind Latham Kurth's 5.82-pound catch. A grocery that opens at 7 a.m. a short walk away fits that routine.
The town is also reviewing how the harbor worked this year. The Select Board's Sept. 15 agenda included a discussion of when, or whether, to take out the Basin Road speed tables this fall. On Tuesday, Oct. 27, an optional walkabout is set for 3 p.m. at the Menemsha Harbormaster Shack, followed at 4 p.m. by a joint meeting at Chilmark Town Hall. The agenda covers the 2026 season, parking, enforcement, safety, the Tabor House town lot and the speed tables. No decision has been announced. Anyone who walks or drives Basin Road in winter has a reason to follow it.
Up-Island, the rest of October fills in around the harbor:
- Saturday, Oct. 10, 1 to 3 p.m.: Rebecca Gilbert of Native Earth Teaching Farm, author of "Weedy Wisdom for the Curious Forager," leads "Friends Foraging and Fermenting" at the Chilmark library. Registration is required.
- Sunday, Oct. 11, 1 to 2:30 p.m.: Beetlebung Farm hosts a free food-forest demonstration. Registration is required.
- Saturdays: The Farmers Market has moved inside Ag Hall. October is the last month of Irene Wong's residency at North Tabor Farm, and she plans one more Fancy Pizza feast at the farm.
- Saturday, Oct. 24, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.: The sixth annual Harvest Festival at Agricultural Hall in West Tisbury, with pumpkin carving, farm animals, contests and live music.
On opening day, Liz Oliver described the store this way: "But now that there's a store and another gathering place, it just adds to the sense of community here." This winter will be the first time in years that Menemsha has that gathering place after the season ends.
If you own a home near Menemsha and are deciding whether to keep it open past Columbus Day, rent it in the shoulder season or line up winter maintenance, a year-round store down the road changes the calculation. Anson Realty can walk you through what an off-season in Chilmark looks like for your property. Request a private consultation.
