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San Francisco Safeway to close its doors after 40 years
A Safeway store that stood and ran in San Francisco's 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 - After 40 years serving San Franciscans, a Safeway grocery store in the Fillmore District is closing its doors for good.
The grocer on Webster Street plans to sell its 3.68 acres at Webster Plaza to Align Real Estate, which plans on building a mixed-use development at its location, a spokesperson for Safeway said.
The store plans on shutting down "on or around early March."
Housing and commercial retail space is anticipated for the location. Safeway said they view the closure as a way to "positively impact" the San Francisco community to help the city's housing shortages.
"Safeway has proudly served the Fillmore District for 40 years. All associates at the Webster Safeway will be re-assigned to another store in the San Francisco area, and we remain committed to serving San Francisco at our remaining 15 locations," read a statement.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the Webster Street store has seen some "controversy" after they shut down their self-checkout kiosks last year to combat theft. The store also played classical music to prevent people from loitering in their parking lot, which ended up annoying some neighbors, the outlet reported.
"The crime is probably the reason why. I’ve seen it with my own eyes," said customer Miguel Fonseca. "I knew one of two things would happen, the prices would go up or they would end up shutting it down. Probably a little bit of both has happened now."
In a statement, Mayor London Breed called the closure a "real and rare opportunity to add a significant amount of new homes" in the Fillmore District.
"[A new grocery store] shows a real interest in investing in housing in San Francisco. This is another big bet on our future. While in the short term we are losing a grocery store in the community, there is also a new Trader Joe’s opening nearby and an opportunity for a new market on site," Breed told KTVU.
Supervisor Dean Preston, who represents the district where the store is located, had a different view of the closure.
"We are extremely concerned with the potential loss of this grocery store in the heart of the Fillmore, and especially the possibility of losing it as soon as March, which we view as unacceptable. We welcome housing development on this large surface-level parking lot, but this should not be an either/or situation. We have reached out to Safeway and the developers to learn more about the plans, discuss the timeline, and explore the possibility of including a grocery store as part of any planned development at this site," Preston told KTVU.
"For elderly people who stay in some of these apartments, it’s going to be tough," said Martin X, a longtime Safeway customer.
Recently, a Safeway store in Santa Clara closed its doors over its "inability to meet financial expectations."
"This is the only Safeway around this neighborhood and I don’t think other grocery stores are as big as this one," said Luwam Beyena, who was shopping with her kids at the Fillmore Safeway.
The closest Safeway store from the plaza is located in the Castro District on Market Street, a little over a mile away.
KTVU reporter Zak Sos contributed to this report.