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. 

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. 

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.

“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.