Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Store

such a beautiful space with a huge variety of seeds and tons of books. I bought two books that were 40% off, such a bargain!

I was visiting Petaluma a couple years ago and passed this place while it was closed. I forgot where it was and finally found it online again and went back for a visit. I got 4 different heirloom tomato varieties, non GMO corn, watermelon and and cucumber seeds. I will definitely be back next year and I’m excited to see how my seeds do this spring and summer!

Sunday January 17,2016 before noon.
I am a regular customer at the Online store, however I decided to check out the store on this rainy day. I came up from San Jose about 100 miles, drinking coffee. I asked the nice Lady who was tending to the seed racks if they had a restroom, she politely directed me to the restroom. I wanted to take my time selecting seeds and the urge to pee was not helping. I made my way up to the register which is where the restroom was. The cashier Girl told me «there is no working restroom» OK. I made my way back to selecting seeds and commented to the other sales woman what had happened, she was confused and insisted that she direct me to the restroom. I told her «I can wait». NOW, there was a couple with a small child shopping too, he had asked for his son to use the restroom. The cashier Girl told them to walk down the block to another restroom. WTF?! It was sprinkling outside too! Wow. Anyway, the Lady who’s first helped me insisted that their child use the WORKING restroom inside the store which they did. The seeds are Great and I will most likely continue buying seeds from Baker, but never again will I come to this store. Maybe the young cashier Girl needs better customer service training? Maybe she was instructed to tell people there was no working restroom? Either way-​its not cool.
Also, I came here to buy certain small packs of seeds (Pusa Asita carrots, Atlantic Pumpkin) which they were out of stock. The $ 3.50 shipping looks good now. I should have just purchased them online and suggest you save yourself a trip and order them online as well.

This place is so much fun. Huge variety of seeds and unusual cultivars. They also have tools, books, magazines and some plants. If you’re into gardening, make sure you plan to spend at least an hour here!

Seed Bank is the Holy Grail! This is a candy store for people who love to grow things. The varieties are pure delight. I appreciate this business so much. It is one of my favorite places to shop and bring people from out of town.
This business has strong values and gives back to the community in numerous ways. I love supporting good local businesses. This is one!

Definitely deserves a big Kudo for the way they do business, incredible range of their seeds.
This kind of business makes Petaluma, or even Northern California a very special place. I want them to thrive. As a local, you need to support business like this. Not Monsanto.

A dream come true for garden nerds! Like a lot of other reviewers, we stumbled upon the Baker Creek store by accident. If you are passing by, expect someone around you to yell, «No way!!» in surprise. It’s everything that I could dream it to be. Seeds set up by type/​alphabetical order, potato starters, gourmet food items, books, magazines, etc.

The fact that this place is closed on Saturdays baffles me. Many of us urban farmers can only get to places like this on Saturday. Would have been here about 4 times as many visits if it were open like most normal businesses. Why not close on Sunday? Monday? both? Not a great business practice.

Do you like to grow heirloom vegetables and plants from seeds? This might be just the place for you. Thousands of different seeds are housed in the old 1920s Sonoma County Bank building,
I will confess that I don’t have much luck growing plants from seeds. That doesn’t stop me from enjoying looking at all the possibilities that the seeds promise!

WHAT A GEM!!!
Came in and was totally overwhelmed, because that’s just how I get when faced with SO MUCH AWESOMENESS. I don’t know where to turn first, so I run around just trying to take it all in.
Will definitely try to make a little list before I come in again.
First of all, awesome building. Absolutely beautiful old ban building with a gorgeous façade.
Only 1 person seemed to be working, but he was able to answer all questions and was an expert!
Picked up a packed of heirloom cherry tomatoes, and tansy, a medieval herb!!!
Can’t wait to go back when we are in town again.

I LOVED this place– The only thing that could have made it better was hundreds more seed packets on top of the hundreds they had. wonderful choices!
And how great is it that they saved the original Petaluma Bank building with all the features in place– like the partition separating the tellers from the customers? That alone deserves 5 stars.
Who could not enjoy the workers dressed like Amish farmers? And the cool selection of books preventing nail fungus?

Should you find yourself in Petaluma, this is a must visit if you are a gardener or food lover who cares deeply about sustainable, non-​GMO seeds. I adore the irony of its location and admire the owners passion. And of course the plentiful choice of seeds to choose from. I wrote a blog article if you are looking for more info:

I have ordered seeds as gifts from the Bakers Seeds in Mansfield, Missouri, so when I learned the other location was Petaluma, I knew I wanted to visit on my next trip to Northern California. I cannot grow anything for the life of me, but if I could, I would get all my vegetable and flower seeds here. Check out the website for some exotic tomatoes! But let’s move on to my experience here.
The store is located in an old bank building, and be prepared to be blown away when you walk in. Absolutely stunning facility with vaulted, artistic ceiling and décor straight out of the early Nineteenth Century. Baker Creek has not altered the facility. Things are set up to accommodate the structure rather than to accommodate the product/​company.
While I had fun looking at the different seeds and books about growing things, I loved the organic honey, smelly spray, soap, lip balm, etc. for sale. This stuff is all made by local craftsmen, so I loaded up on things to take back home as gifts for the dog sitter, etc. AFTER I paid, and on the way out, I saw a downstairs! Well, I had to go down and check that out. Mainly, downstairs contains tools and things for gardening and growing stuff. It was fun to look, but again, useless for me.
Even if seeds are of no interest to you, this place is very much worth visiting just to gawk at the facility. You won’t regret it.

This place is amazing! I can’t wait to come back with my mom!
Rows and rows of seeds of every varietal imaginable … and many you couldn’t even begin to imagine. I was lucky to catch the manager briefly who gave me a lot of good suggestions for my garden. I walked away with 5 packs of seeds that I can’t wait to start growing next year!
Don’t forget to check out the downstairs. There’s a whole room of air plants!
If only they carried red wigglers as well …

Been coming here for years. Less and less as the years go on however. I’ve been able to acclimatize much of what I’ve grow over the years from here. So the genetics are better for my growing region and micro climate and soil compound. I seem to have more than 70% germination success. But some more than others. If I had to complain. I’d say the onion seeds. It could be operator error as well. But I can’t seem to grow a damn onion in Oakland to save my life!
I actually rather like how the place is kinda «boutiquey.» There are books up the wazoo in here. They carry Haws watering cans, which are a treat. Assuming you’re cool with a $ 150 watering can. I’ve never gotten anything less than great service here. I’m glad they are here.

Absolutely incredibly awful phone service. Will never use again.
About 3 weeks ago on a friday, I called to place an order. They were busy and requested I leave my number, which I did.
They never called back. I’d had the exact same problem with them a year before.
10 days later, I called the store manager to complain, and to have my order filled. He tried to convince me my phone garbled my number. Not two years in a row, it didn’t!
I placed the order and asked the store manager to confirm he had my requests in stock. He asked me to allow that he call back in a few minutes. HE never called back.
I placed my order with Seed Savers’ Exchange, a national non-​profit which has a much greater selection — and worlds’ better service.
Then, I called Baker Creek owner Jere Gettle in his Missouri office. I left a message asking him to return the call.
Guess what? He didn’t return the call, either.
One cannot respect a company which treats customers this way.

If you or anyone you know loves to garden or cook, go to this place and take a bunch of people with you. It is incredible! Located inside an actual old bank building, there are tons of heirloom seeds here, for all the various micro-​climes of the Bay. There are also really interesting prepared foods, beauty products, books, cooking supplies, and of course, gardening tools. I am so glad this place exists. After our family discovered this, we won’t be buying seeds anywhere else!

Huge seed bank! Bought a couple packets and the lady gave me one free one! She also gave me a free catalogue that had all the different types of seeds. It is 2 stories and even if you’re not a fan of plants, it’s definitely a must check out!

My visiting sister dragged me here because she thinks that everything is close in the Bay Area. But since we went on a mini road trip from Mountain View to Napa, I figure what the heck, Petaluma isn’t that out the of way. That way I have an excuse to stop by Lagunitas.
She wanted to go to the seed store because she bought a bunch of seeds for her garden this summer from Baker Creek and wanted to stop by one of their three retail locations. Since the other two are in Missouri and Connecticut, I guess the California location made sense.
As a child, my mom always had a backyard garden and my grandma has a green thumb for flowers, so I’ve always liked gardening even though I don’t think I am very good at it. I even took a home vegetable gardening class in college. That class introduced me to heirloom veggies.
But I digress. The store is located in downtown Petaluma in an old converted bank. Parking was easy to find on the street. There are aisles of seeds, sorted alphabetically. I didn’t know how many tomato varieties there were until I stood in front of the tomato seeds for about 10 minutes waiting for my sister to pick two packets. They also sell cute crafts and gardening related items. The people in the store are super nice and helpful and the prices are good. We left with a bunch of veggie/​flower seeds for the spring/​summer.

Absolutely *gutted* that i’m not more versed in the green thumb edible category… cuz if I were, I’d be zapping up seeds left/​right. Heirloom seeds galore… a catalog from MO come alive inside a historic, lovely building, with airy, high ceilings, and the most organized of aisles, baskets, and photos with desciptions? Want some heirloom bean seeds? Better be decisive, as I spotted about 15 varieties… squash, eggplant, tomatoes, etc…
Renders one speechless… I think this is one specialty shop that fills a niche that more folk should be into, if they can. Ever wonder how all those wonderful restaurants begin? Yep… it starts at the seed, with the soil, in the ground, buddy. Just love it.
Makes me proud that the one brandywine heirloom tomato plant is still alive, and even has a green baby or two off its vine. Oh yeah — -