Key West's
Gourmet Grocery Store

Superfine Groceries for your Table.
Provisions for your Vessel.

522 Fleming Street • 1105 White Street • Key West • (305) 296-5663 • finefoods@faustos.com

Fausto's First Grocery Store Opens in 1926

As seen in Go To Sea Key West Magazine December 1939

When Faustino Castillo came from Havana, in 1910, to become one of hundreds of cigar workers in Key West, he had not the slightest idea that he would later become one of the leading grocers of this little coral island. But such is the fact regarding this genial gentleman.

For fourteen years “Fausto” has been helping to supply groceries for Key West tables. Like many another successful man in the business world, Fausto began on a small scale. His first grocery store was opened in 1926 at Packer and Virginia streets in a little building that had been a house. As business grew he was required to remodel and enlarge the store. This growth continued for eleven years until such a time that Fausto could no longer “stretch” his building to meet his needs. In August, 1936, he took over the ground floor of a large house at 600 Fleming Street and converted it into an attractive store. This downtown place was what Fausto had always wanted. Now he was near the center of the business district. His store was handy, parking was plentiful, and he had room to display his wares.

Proudly he serves various customers who come to his place for their daily food. Writers, artists, housewives, husbands, children, natives and visitors - all find courtesy and a wide selection of groceries at Fausto’s. Specializing in fancy foods, he sends to Cuba for tropical fruits, to the far-flung markets of the world for the finest cheeses, to New York for other delicacies. Also from Cuba come special jellies, preserves and marmalades. The northern visitor finds the everyday tropical fruits in his store strange and exciting - and very fascinating. In season, Fausto sells such delicious fruits as the soursop, sapodilla, mango, plantain, pineapple, sugar apple, avocado, Jamaica apple, papaya, pomegranate and tamarind.

Faustino Castillo was born in Havana, Cuba, November 29, 1888. He attended private school in that city. Following the completion of his studies he was employed in Havana by the cigar industry. Coming to Key West in 1910, he continued here with the same industry until he entered the grocery business. Mr. Castillo married Miss Ana Luisa Alvarez, a Key West girl, and they have one daughter, Ana Luisa. Mr. Castillo is Vice-president of the Order of Caballero de la Luz, a Mason and a member of the Elks.

Fausto's still seeks to meet the needs of every palate.

By Henry Woods 2001

Ten-year old Jimmy Weekley made his weekly allowance sacking potatoes and onions back in 1957 at Fausto’s. Today, Jimmy is the third generation to oversee what are now two Fausto’s locations in Key West. A neighborhood institution that celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary in 2001. In 1926, Cuban-born cigar roller Fausto Castillo opened a neighborhood store at Virginia and Packer Streets. His daughter Ana, who still works daily at Fleming Street Fausto’s with her son Jimmy and daughter-in-law Susan, attributes the store’s early success to her father. Fausto would open the store at dawn and then work at the cigar factory until noon.

He then helped his wife at the store until closing time. They kept the store open until nine p.m. on Saturdays. Back then Fausto’s sold cheese and meats in five-cent increments. Ana’s father was consumed with keeping up with new grocery items, a passion that still exists at Fausto’s today. The store moved to the corner of Simonton Street and Fleming Street in 1939. It was there that Ana met future husband Carl Weekley.

In 1949, they moved to the current Fleming Street location. A fire burned that building down in 1966 and a new store was reopened at the site in 1967. Carl, already a meat cutter of many years, taught son, Jimmy, the meat-cutting business. Then the White Street store was acquired in the early 1980s. Like his grandfather, Jimmy is always on the lookout for new items and began stocking gourmet foods and specialty items in the stores. Today, Fausto’s has the feel of a Dean and Deluca, D’Agostino’s, Sutton Place or any other of a number of gourmet markets in large metropolitan areas around the country.

Jimmy Weekley, who is also Key West’s mayor, tries to keep up with the tastes of customers. The shrimpers and Navy personnel of the 1970s have given way to locals, tourists and winter residents who bring their particular tastes from other parts of the country when they come to the southernmost city in the United States. Those tastes include a yen for sushi, organic-fed beef, pork, and chicken and an array of the finest wines.

Past customers have included the likes of President Harry S Truman, Tennessee Williams and Jimmy Buffett. Today’s Fausto’s customer will find the same smiles and desire to serve from a staff that seeks to meet the needs of every palate.

Open seven days a week, Fausto’s is still going strong after seventy-six years. The small neighborhood store has grown to be one of the longest family-owned businesses in the Florida Keys. Stop in today at the Fleming Street or White Street locations.

Fausto's Food Palace

specializing in gourmet and specialty foods, Key West's hometown grocery store since 1926.

[Baskets] [Key West Items] [Recipes] [Merchandise] [History]
[Contact Us] [Party Trays] [Delivery] [Careers] [Home]

522 Fleming Street • Key West, Florida 33040 • (305) 296-5663
1105 White Street • Key West, Florida 33040 • (305) 294-5221

finefoods@faustos.com