Safeway in SF’s Fillmore to close after 40 years

Phil Mayer
·2 min read
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SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — The Fillmore District’s only Safeway store is set to close, Safeway confirmed to KRON4. The San Francisco store is expected to shut its doors in early March.

The store located at 1335 Webster St. has been open for 40 years, Safeway said. It is across the street from the AMC Kabuki movie theater. The closest Safeway to the area will be at 2020 Market St. in the Castro District.

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Safeway said it agreed to sell 3.68 acres of the land to Align Real Estate, which will use it for a mixed-use development project, including housing and commercial retail.

“The developer purchasing the land at Webster Plaza is excited about this opportunity. San Francisco has struggled with housing shortages and Safeway sees this as an opportunity to positively impact the community and be part of a solution to bring much needed additional housing to San Francisco,” Safeway said.

Residents of the neighborhood told KRON4 they are disappointed to lose their only nearby grocery store. Some are worried it will create a food desert in the city’s historically Black neighborhood.

“I don’t think that’s right, because where else are we going to go?” said resident Sonya Robinson.

The Fillmore’s supervisor Dean Preston said he’s not against the new development but called Safeway’s sudden announcement unfair, saying the community deserved to be included.

“I think this is a good site for development of housing but we can do this in a way that preserves a grocery store for the community,” he said.

The store has gone through some controversy in its years of business. Last year, gates were installed at self-checkout kiosks to deter shoplifting. The self-checkout stations have since closed.

Longtime Safeway employee Ron Anderson says he believes crime is a big reason for the closure.

“I would say within the last 10 years we saw the theft step up,” he said. “A lot of people were basically stealing carts full of groceries and such.”

All Safeway employees at the Webster location will be reassigned to another store in the Bay Area. There are 15 remaining locations in San Francisco.

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