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San Francisco Safeway to close its doors after 40 years
A Safeway store that stood and ran in San Franciscos Fillmore District plans to shutter its doors in the coming months after operating for 40 years. Plans are in motion on what the place will become.
SAN FRANCISCO - We have now learned the closing date of the San Francisco Safeway store on Webster Street in the Fillmore District. On Tuesday, a company spokesperson confirmed the store will shutter for good on February 7, 2025.
The store was initially set to close in March 2024, but after community outcry, an 11-month extension was agreed upon. The 3.68-acre store has been located at 1335 Webster St.'s Webster Plaza for more than 40 years.
A statement from the company reads in part, "The decision to close the store was made after careful consideration, due to ongoing concerns about associate and customer safety, as well as persistent issues with theft. We remain committed to serving San Francisco at our 15 remaining locations, and to ensure that our unionized workforce can perform their jobs in safe and secure working environments."
This is one of the stores that saw the removal of self-checkout kiosks earlier this year. The closest Safeway to the Fillmore District store is located on Market Street in the Castro District a little over a mile away.
Employees from the Fillmore District store will be reassigned to other stores throughout the San Francisco area, the company's statement read.
For those concerned that their pharmacy is at this Safeway location, they will be able to pick another Safeway store as their new pharmacy, the company said.
It remains unclear what will go into the existing space once Safeway leaves. However, the Safeway spokesperson said they continue to work with Align Real Estate on their proposed mixed-use development. They said the project proposal includes plans for housing and commercial retail space.
When the plan to close was originally announced, the company said it was a way to "positively impact" San Francisco's housing shortage. Mayor London Breed initially agreed with that position.
The Safeway is located in District 5. Dean Preston is the supervisor who represents that area. He wants the development plan to include a guarantee for a future grocery store. In a statement, he said the best way to do that is for the city to acquire the site. He also acknowledged the date of closure was bumped from January 2025 to one month later.
"On November 20th, I sent a Letter of Inquiry to the Mayor's administration calling on the Mayor to commence negotiations and explore all legal options, up to and including eminent domain, to acquire the site and ensure that the site continues to serve the community with a full service grocery store and development of housing that is affordable to those in the neighborhood and those who have been displaced from the neighborhood," Preston said.
Mayor Breed has not issued a statement on this latest development. Both Breed and Preston were voted out of office in November.
Safeway indicated San Francisco's Office of Economic and Workforce Development and San Francisco's Human Rights Commission are involved in the transition process.
"We are actively working on a transition plan to ensure a smooth and secure closure of the store, while allowing for continued access and traffic flow to neighboring businesses," the company's statement read.
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