After a 30-year career in healthcare, Ashley Juhl-Darlington decided it was time to pursue the dream she had carried for decades: opening a natural health foods grocery store in Chico. Today, that dream is BAPA’s Market, a place Ashley describes as “healthcare re-imagined.”
“I’ve always been passionate about health and healthy food, and I believed our community needed better access to natural, wholesome products,” Ashley says. “But having a dream and knowing how to turn it into a viable business are very different things.”
To turn her idea into a real business, Ashley connected with the Butte College Small Business Development Center (SBDC) through California’s SCALE program, the flagship initiative of the California Office of the Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA) and managed by CAMEO Network. For a full year, she worked with SBDC coaches to build a business strategy, financial model, and a clear plan for long-term sustainability.
More importantly, the SBDC helped Ashley become “capital ready,” which meant developing a deep understanding of her finances and learning how to communicate her vision and viability with confidence. “The SBDC coaches walked me through all of this,” she explains. “They prepared me to approach lenders with a solid plan.”
When she was ready, the SBDC connected her directly to 3CORE, a community development financial institution (CDFI) that understood her business model. Instead of spending time with traditional lenders who often hesitate with startups, Ashley worked with 3CORE, which provided a loan that, combined with her own investment, allowed her to purchase the essential equipment and inventory needed to open BAPA’s Market.
With that capital, she transformed an empty space into a fully functioning natural foods grocery store—complete with commercial coolers and freezers, shelving, cash registers, and fresh stock for her first customers. It was the foundation she needed to bring healthier options to her community.
More than a year after opening, Ashley has navigated unexpected challenges, including nearby construction that disrupted customer traffic. Still, she remains resilient. “The time I spent with the SBDC wasn’t just about paperwork,” she says. “It was about understanding my business from every angle and building the skills to adapt when things don’t go according to plan.”
Ashley credits the Butte College SBDC, 3CORE, and California’s SCALE program for helping her transform a long-held dream into reality. “When you invest in business coaching and community lenders, you’re investing in entrepreneurs who want to serve their communities in meaningful ways,” she says. Today, BAPA’s Market stands as a testament to that investment and to the power of mission-driven entrepreneurship.