SF's favorite pricy gourmet grocer, Bi-Rite, is set to become a four-location enterprise with news that they have snagged a new space on California Street in the Outer Richmond.

The newest Bi-Rite is set to open — maybe later this year, maybe next year — in the former 60o1 California Market, at 6001 California Street (at 22nd Avenue), as the SF Standard was first to report. Reps for Bi-Rite have not yet confirmed the news or announced a potential opening date.

The historic grocery building, which was once home to Appel & Dietrich Fine Food Market — whose neon sign still graces the corner of the facade — is in keeping with the vintage aesthetic of Bi-Rite's other three locations, all of which occupy historic, standalone neighborhood retail stores. The original on 18th Street, which had the name Bi-Rite previously, provided the branding aesthetic for what's now a mini-chain of stores.

Marketing materials for the building note that it has 3,481 square feet on the main floor, and a basement level with another 3,375 square feet. That should help with Bi-Rite's storage needs, which are partly solved at its other locations through the leasing of nearby garages and the like. There is also a 645-square-foot mezzanine.

The store is in something of a gourmet cluster of businesses in the Central/Outer Richmond, just a block away from the much loved Pearl 6101 and Pizzetta 211, and also sits near Violet's, Fiorella, and Angelina's Deli Cafe.

This expansion news comes after Bi-Rite's latest addition, the Polk Street store, which opened in August 2024 in the former home of Real Food Co. Bi-Rite's first expansion to Divisadero happened in early 2013.

As we await a timeframe for the opening from the Bi-Rite team, it should be noted that these store openings have tended not to happen quickly. The Divisadero store was announced and buzzed over for a full three years before it made it open, and it was a full two years between the announcement of the Polk Street store and when it finally opened.

Bi-Rite owner Sam Mogannam took over the original Bi-Rite on 18th Street in 1998, and the block very quickly took on its foodinista status with the openings of Delfina that same year, and Tartine Bakery in 2002. Bi-Rite Creamery came along with its separate storefront in 2006, just down the street.

Many locals love the store for its excellent, locally sourced, organic produce, its wine and cheese selection, and its wide array of pre-made and grab-and-go entrees and salads. But as the Chronicle found in its most recent survey of grocery prices, Bi-Rite comes out on top among local stores for the cost of purchasing 12 specific items — with Trader Joe's prices being about half of Bi-Rite's, for those same items.

"Today, most Americans buy their groceries at Walmart and most of that food comes from a handful of multinational corporations," Mogannam wrote in Bi-Rite Market's Eat Good Food. "In contrast, our Market is in the middle of a densely populated neighborhood. We have no parking lot, but the foot traffic on our block is high. Those factors have made it possible for us to be the kind of store where people want to and can shop daily and can run into their neighbors at the same time."

Previously: Third Bi-Rite Location In Russian Hill Readies For Opening Next Week