San Francisco, CA
36-year-old SF Vietnamese grocery store is closing, plans to relocate
Duc Loi, a Vietnamese grocery store in San Francisco’s Mission District known for its banh mi, is closing after 36 years in the neighborhood, as first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle (the Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms).
Owners Howard and Amanda Ngo are transferring the grocery store to new owners on Aug. 15. In an email to SFGATE, Howard Ngo cited “the lack of man power and the pressure of the retail current situation” as the reasons for the closure.
The new owner will “continue [to] serve the hot food and will add more variety on the menu,” Ngo said.
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According to a liquor license application, the new grocery store will be called International Produce Market. Ismael Ahmed, owner of Evergreen Market nearby in the Mission, is the new owner, according to Mission Local. Ahmed told Mission Local that Duc Loi will continue to sell Asian products as well as “more diverse” options and that the popular banh mi counter will remain, although with some modifications.
On August 11, 2023, Duc Loi had a sign posted in the window announcing the closure (Amy Graff/SFGATE).
On August 11, 2023, Duc Loi had a sign posted in the window announcing the closure (Amy Graff/SFGATE).
SFGATE reached out to Ahmed for comment but did not hear back in time for publication.
The Ngos, meanwhile, are planning to reopen Duc Loi in a larger location in the Bayview at 5900 Third St. In 2016, the couple debuted a supermarket called Duc Loi’s Pantry at this location but closed it in 2019.
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“Hopefully we can open up before the holiday,” Howard Ngo said via email.
Howard and Amanda Ngo first came to San Francisco as Vietnamese refugees in 1979. They opened the first Duc Loi market in 1987 down the block from its current location in a 600-square-foot space. A decade later, they purchased the current, much larger building at 18th and Mission, which they renovated in 2009. The Ngos still own the building at 2200 Mission St., according to Mission Local.
San Francisco, CA
Major San Francisco companies partner for cleanup coalition
Volunteers from the Gap, JP Morgan Chase, Levi Strauss, Visa, and Wells Fargo stepped outside their office buildings on Thursday and into the streets and parks of San Francisco, ready to clean up.
San Francisco, CA
EXCLUSIVE: Black San Francisco man finds doll with noose around neck at his home
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — A San Francisco man is livid after finding a doll with a noose around it’s neck among other things on the doorstep of his Alamo Square home.
Terry Williams says he can’t sleep at night after the events of what happened April 26. One what seemed like an ordinary morning, Terry woke up to take his three Rottweilers out for a walk around 6 a.m. That’s when his father found something on the doorstep that shook him to the core.
It was a clear plastic zip bag with words scrawled in black marker.
“It has gangster, thug, and other negative stuff about Black people on there,” Williams said.
MORE: ‘I hate black people’: SJ officer no longer with dept. after exchanging racists texts, chief says
The contents inside were even worse.
“A picture of me with a noose around the neck and a noose around the dog figurine,” he said.
Also inside, this stuffed doll so graphic and laden with slurs, we couldn’t show any of it on television.
“Calling me monkey, go pick cotton…” rattles off Williams, who recalls such terrible slurs and sayings — he had to consult a family member asking about them.
MORE: Black California couple lowballed by $500K in home appraisal, believe race was a factor
A sheet of paper inside was also so laden with hateful speech, ABC7 News also had to blur it out.
“It says the 4th of July is for White people not for Black people, among other things,” Williams said.
Terry says, as a dog walker for more than a decade and someone living in Alamo Square since the 70s, he’s no stranger to racism but never vitriol and hate like this.
Terry has no idea who could have left the package but provided police surveillance video from a neighbor showing an individual approach his home around 12:30 a.m. SFPD tell me the incident is being investigated as a hate crime.
TAKE ACTION: Find resources to help with equality, justice and race issues
Terry is sharing his story not just to represent his industry. “As a minority dog walker, I’m trying to get more people of color to do it,” he said.
He’s also encouraging others to speak out and help end the hate – in the neighborhood he loves and calls home.
“This has got to stop. My people don’t speak up – they keep everything tucked in. You can’t let this go by. Can’t let this go by. The more stuff you let go by the most they feel entitled to do stuff. This is my way stepping up, no I’m not letting this happen no more. This makes me want to stay and fight harder, I’m not going anywhere.”
Neighbors have rallied behind Terry and started this GoFundMe to help him pay for security cameras at his home.
If you’re on the ABC7 News app, click here to watch live
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San Francisco, CA
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