The beleaguered Safeway in the Fillmore, the planned closure of which was announced almost a year ago, now has a final closing date, and the company won't be negotiating this time.
The Safeway at 1335 Webster Street, which has been in operation in the Fillmore neighborhood for over 40 years, will close for good on February 7. As the Chronicle reports, Safeway corporate sent a letter to Mayor London Breed announcing the closure and, oddly, given that the property is contract to be sold to a developer, the company blames rampant theft as a reason for the closure.
Anticipating further pushback about closing the store, which is the only full-service grocery store serving Japantown and the Fillmore, the company made clear that it had already stayed open an extra 11 months "to provide a greater transition period for the community."
The company added that it was "proud" of its 40 years in the neighborhood, and said, "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."
A Wells Fargo branch inside the store already closed and vacated the property last month.
Safeway originally announced the impending closure in early January 2024, blindsiding the neighborhood, and saying that it planned to close two months later, in March. Pushback from Supervisor Dean Preston and others, who pointed out that any development on the property could take years to begin, led Safeway to extend operations until early 2025.
We still don't know what stage the deal is in to sell the 3.68-acre property to Align Real Estate, which has plans to redevelop the property into a 1,000-unit residential complex with ground-floor retail. Those are the only outlines of the development plan that we know, and Align has neither commented on its plans nor made any presentation to the city that we're aware of.
Demolition and development at 1335 Webster could still be years away from happening, but it seems Safeway remains in a hurry to shut down this store.
A community group, the Fillmore United Alliance, met last month to make plans for their own action against Safeway, to protest the closure. They now tell the Chronicle that they are planning to protest and boycott Safeway on December 23.
"There was no community outreach at all," says the group's leader, Rev. Erris Edgerly, speaking to the Chronicle.
The closure of this store also is likely to negatively impact a group of other businesses that occupy the adjacent shopping center that shares the Safeway's parking lot. These include a Popeyes, a Panda Express, a laundromat, a smoke shop, and Jai Ho, a specialty Indian grocery store.
Previously: Dean Preston Makes End Run to Thwart Fillmore Safeway Development Plan
