Sphinx Date Co. Palm & Pantry

Sphinx Date Co. Palm & Pantry traces its name to a Black Sphinx date seedling that Roy Franklin found in a Phoenix front yard in the 1920s. Franklin persuaded landowner Ellen Amelia Goodbody Brophy to plant acres of the new variety in the Arcadia neighborhood, and the original Sphinx Date Ranch grew from that grove. A date shop and luncheon patio followed, and in 1957 date gift packs were sent to President Eisenhower and members of Congress. The groves were divided into residential lots in the late 1950s, and the store moved to Camelback Road in the late 1960s. Rick and Penny Heetland bought the shop in 1979, relocated the operation to Scottsdale and published the Date Recipes cookbook in 1986. Their son Jason added Arizona wine and craft beer to the shelves after 2005. Sharyn and Rebecca Seitz, a mother and daughter team, became proprietors in 2012 and widened the range of locally made goods. The shop at 3221 North Hayden Road still hand sorts every Medjool date it receives from independent family farmers in Yuma, Arizona. Black Sphinx dates from the original Arcadia grove sit beside other specialty varieties from Valley growers. A Date Jam and a line of Date Salsas carry the founding fruit into the pantry, under the motto a gift in good taste since 1951.