Grocery Outlet opens at former San Francisco North Beach Safeway site, filling 3-year gap

By CBS Bay Area

A new grocery store opened Thursday at the border of San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf and North Beach neighborhoods, giving thousands of residents a long-awaited option after the site sat vacant for three years.

Grocery Outlet took over the former Safeway location on Bay Street, which closed in 2023 after the company said the store didn’t meet financial expectations. The closure left roughly 20,000 people living within a half-mile of the site with one less full-service grocery store.

Shepherd Sanders, a resident who spoke with CBS News Bay Area back in 2023 when the Safeway closed, said at the time the loss would mean extra trips across the city just to buy groceries.

“This gonna be tough because now I’ve got to catch the bus way to Market Street, or catch the bus down at Embarcadero just to shop,” Sanders said in 2023.

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie livestreamed a ribbon-cutting ceremony early Thursday as the new Grocery Outlet store opened its doors.

It offers fresh produce, meat, dairy, household essentials and discounted name-brand products.

“For many families, food has been difficult without a full-scale grocery store these past three years since the Safeway closed in 2023,” Lurie said.

One shopper we heard from, who is caring for his elderly mother, said the new store will save him time he didn’t have while the neighborhood went without a grocery store.

“Having to get away and… that takes extra time and stuff like that,” Alex said. “This is helpful… it takes a lot of my time and weight off my chest here.”

The store is independently owned and operated by Jacqueline and Joel Lanoie, who said their focus is on providing affordable groceries to the community. They noted their pride in joining a company with San Francisco roots — Grocery Outlet was founded in the city and is celebrating its 80th anniversary this weekend.

“Our focus is delivering affordable groceries for our customers,” Joel Lanoie said.

The Fisherman’s Wharf Community Benefit District said the opening matters because the neighborhood is more than a tourist stop.

“People live here, they work here — that’s why this opening is so important,” said Bri Maughan of the Fisherman’s Wharf Community Benefit District.

Nearby workers welcomed the opening as well. A pair of women who work at the Williams Sonoma corporate office close to the store said their entire office had been anticipating the day.

“Excited to have another option… I think also having more variety to have another place to shop,” one of the women said. “Our whole office was really excited so lots of excitement around this area.”

While a Trader Joe’s sits across the street and the new Grocery Outlet adds another nearby option, neither store is a full-service supermarket on the scale of the Safeway that once anchored the block.