Stella’s Grocery brings products to Museum District at rebranded VMHC café

Stella’s Grocery products at the VMHC café. (Photos courtesy VMHC)

As part of its recent years-long, facility-wide rebrand, the Virginia Museum of History and Culture has a new name for its café and a new menu courtesy of a local neighborhood market chain.

VMHC announced on Monday that its previously unnamed museum café will now be called “Commonwealth Café,” and will have a revamped menu courtesy of Stella’s Grocery. 

This collaboration is the first extension of Stella’s products outside of its restaurants and grocery stores, VMHC CEO Jamie Bosket told BizSense on Monday. 

Namesake Stella Dikos was the matriarch of the Giavos family, whose restaurant holdings include the likes of Kuba Kuba, Sidewalk Café, The Continental and Stella’s, the latter of which has expanded beyond its longtime Lafayette Street restaurant to include seven grocery locations in the region. 

The revamped Commonwealth Café menu offers around three dozen Stella’s menu items – sandwiches, salads, entrées, desserts and some retail products to customers, alongside the previously existing coffee bar. 

The offerings range from a turkey and pepperjack baguette to a chickpea salad to a chicken souvlaki with rice pilaf and sweet treats like brownies and carrot cake. Products like Stella’s olive oil and coffee cups are also available in the museum café and its gift shop across the hall. 

Stella’s sandwiches and salads at Commonwealth Café range from $8 to $16, entrées range from $16 to $19 and retail items range from $18 to $22. The items are grab-and-go, but café employees can heat up entrées for guests. 

While Stella’s products are new to VMHC, the Giavos family and Stella Dikos herself are not. 

VMHC’s previous unnamed café is now “Commonwealth Café.”

Bosket told BizSense that after Dikos’ passing last year at 82 years old, museum staff learned from her family that she would often frequent the Virginia Historical Society (the museum’s former name) in her early years in the U.S. to help her learn English. Dikos immigrated to America from Greece in the 1950s and built a successful restaurant brand alongside her husband Stavros over the following years. 

When Dikos passed away last June, her family asked the museum to host her memorial service, which it did. And as the VMHC continued its relationship with the Giavos family, the idea to bring Stella’s to the museum felt natural, Bosket said. 

Stella Dikos.

“She’s an icon and such a Virginia legend. We thought this was a really nice fit,” Bosket said. “Over the past year, our conversations and relationship has evolved to this point where the Stella’s brand, which is beloved in greater Richmond, has done something really unique.” 

The museum café soft-launched back in 2022 as the VMHC was embarking on a brand refresh that meant major upgrades to the building, including things like an added entrance atrium, a research library and added exhibition space.

But the café has remained nameless over the past few years prior to Stella’s coming in. The new “Commonwealth” name is meant to evoke the story of the state of Virginia itself, which is made up of stories like Dikos’, Bosket said. 

Much of the café interior remains the same, but small details like signage and menus have been replaced with input from Stella’s. Customers can also check out a glass display of some of Dikos’ loved objects, like a recipe card and a mortar and pestle she used up to her passing last year. 

“I think it doubles down on the way this museum is meaningfully connected with this community,” Bosket said. “[It’s] a place to learn and come and gather.” 

Dikos’ story will also be featured in the VMHC’s upcoming exhibit, “We The People,” which will explore the stories of Virginians throughout centuries. The exhibit is set to open its doors in March of next year. 

Commonwealth Café is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

Dikos immigrated to Richmond from Thessaly, Greece, in the 1950s. For years she worked alongside her husband at the Village Cafe, the restaurant Stavros opened in 1956. The restaurant was a hit, and later led her to opening her namesake restaurant, Stella’s, in 1983 on Harrison Street. 

Stella’s restaurant moved several times over the years before landing on its current Lafayette Street location. 

Stella’s Grocery first opened in 2014 at 1007 Lafayette St. across from the restaurant. Further locations soon began popping up. The grocery chain now has seven Richmond locations, with fellow spots at 3351 W. Moore St., 109 E. Grace St., 5802 Grove Ave., 609 Hull St., 4930 Forest Hill Ave. and 5001 Huguenot Rd.

Stella’s also opened a restaurant in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2017.

The Giavos family is set to open Lafayette Tavern in the former Lafayette Pharmacy building this fall. 

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