It’s not a Happy Pride for the Castro’s Mollie Stone’s grocery store, as the SF Department of Health shut them down over a rodent infestation Thursday — but the store blames nearby construction and says they’ll reopen Friday afternoon.
Update: 2:38 pm - KRON4 has a Friday afternoon update that “When KRON4 visited the location on Friday, it was open again.” SFist phoned the store at 2:35 pm Friday, and the staff confirmed that they were indeed reopened.
Original story: 11:23 am - The SF Department of Public Health (DPH) smelled a rat, or rather found plenty of evidence of a rodent infestation during a Thursday inspection at the Castro Mollie Stone’s grocery store. And thus, the Chronicle reports that the Mollie Stone’s Castro location has been ordered closed temporarily, effective Thursday. Though Hoodline reports that the grocery store claims they will be open again by noon Friday.
“The permit to operate the above named food facility is hereby temporarily suspended, and the facility is ordered immediately closed,” the DPH said in their food inspection report. “This facility was found to have a rodent infestation.”
The above screenshot details the rodent issues (The emphasis added is ours). Inspectors saw rodent droppings on single-use containers in the deli and cheese sections, on the shelves for “bread, cookies, marshmallows, chips, [and] diapers,” the loading dock, warehouse floors, prep area, and walk-in refrigerator floors, and — yikes! — beneath the weighing scales for cold cuts.
Inspectors also observed evidence of gnawing on packages of bread, chips, cookies, and tortillas. Additionally, they saw “evidence of nesting at the shelves for bread, condiments, and cookies/cheese.”
The store gave a statement to Hoodline.
"As a local, family-owned and operated grocer, we have been extraordinarily proud of our record of cleanliness, health, and safety in all of our stores," Mollie Stone's CEO Mike Stone told that outlet. "A recent street construction project near our store in the Castro generated an increase in pest activity."
"Working with the city and our pest experts, we closed the store briefly to fully address the issue and have rectified it," he added. "The health department has re-inspected the store and we will be open for business by noon today."
There were other more minor issues too. Grab-and-go deli items like fried chicken, rotisserie chicken, and ribs were found to be below the required 135-degree threshold, and there was no hand sanitizer or potable water in the butcher area.
In the words of the DPH, this Mollie Stone’s location has 15 days to ask for a hearing "to show cause why the permit suspension is not warranted."
It’s unclear if that affects their timeline to reopen Friday afternoon. We’ll keep an eye on that and see if it reopens.
This is a developing story and may be updated.
Image: Steven Bracco, Hoodline
