San Francisco grocery store set to close after years as neighborhood staple
By CBS Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO — A grocery store that’s served the North of the Panhandle neighborhood for years is preparing to shut its doors, leaving shoppers worried about where they’ll buy groceries — and whether the space will become another vacant storefront.
The Lucky supermarket on Fulton Street will close in mid-September. Its parent company, Save Mart, says the location has been losing money for years.
For many in the neighborhood, the store is more than just a place to shop.
“A lot of people depend on this place because it’s the only, like, big market in the area,” one shopper said. “It’s very convenient; it has everything I need. People are going to miss it for sure because there’s no other alternative for it.”
Customers who walk, bike or take public transit to get their groceries say the closure will hit especially hard.
“I’ve always shopped here,” said another customer, Yondome Cade.
Forty-eight employees are expected to be affected by the closure. Shoppers say they don’t see another option nearby that can replace it. Some worry the closure could create a gap in access to healthy, fresh food in the area.
“Gonna be a food desert,” Cade said.
The concern is especially acute for seniors and people with mobility challenges.
“The closest one will be Trader Joe’s, but it’s up the hill, which is pretty far from here,” the other shopper said.
Residents say they hope the space doesn’t sit empty, pointing to a wave of high-profile grocery closures across the city. Last year, the Fillmore District lost its Safeway location about a mile away.
District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood says preventing vacancies like this one is exactly what he’s been trying to do. He scrapped an earlier version of his “Affordable Groceries Act” after pushback from the mayor and fellow supervisors. That version would have asked voters to approve a tax on long-term vacant storefronts while offering incentives to attract new grocery stores.
“It was blocked by a minority of my colleagues on the board who don’t believe corporations should be held accountable for the vacancies and zombie stores they allow to persist,” Mahmood said in a statement to KPIX.
Mahmood says he’s now pushing a new ordinance focused on incentives to get more grocers into vacant buildings as quickly as possible.
“I pray that they open up another store. I pray that it’ll bring more jobs for people,” Cade said. “This was a huge staple.”
District 6 Supervisor Stephen Sherrill, who represents the area, has not yet responded to a request for comment. Save Mart says it’s working to sublease the space to another grocer.
