Has Sunset Dunes helped local businesses? It depends who you ask

Since the Great Highway was transformed from a roadway into Sunset Dunes, the park’s supporters have heralded it as a paradise for bikers, skaters, and families.

Indeed, the park is immensely popular, having drawn 1.2 million visits since its grand opening April 12, with an average of 3,700 visitors on weekdays and 13,400 on weekends, according to the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department.

You’d think all that foot traffic would translate into a bump in sales for nearby businesses, as the Dunes’ boosters have claimed. But nearly one year in, it hasn’t been a boon for everyone.

While cafes generally report an uptick in revenue since the two-mile stretch of the Great Highway closed to cars on March 15, 2025, restaurants and retailers have generally seen flat or lower sales, owners say.

Andytown Coffee Roasters CEO Lauren Crabbe said revenue has spiked between 15% and 20% at its three Outer Sunset locations during that period, but at the Outer Richmond cafe north of the park on Great Highway, near Cabrillo Street, they are up 0.03%.

Crabbe said the park has brought more tourists and people from around the city to the Sunset, thanks to the skate park, murals, and other attractions. “I do think the park made [the Sunset]  more of a destination,” she said.

Sales at Black Bird Bookstore & Café are up 44%, according to owner Kathryn Grantham.

Tuesdays, historically the slowest day of the week, have seen both book and coffee sales increase 60% since the park opened, Grantham said, adding, “It’s been nuts.” 

Other restaurants, retailers, and bars have seen mixed results from the park’s debut.

Tunnel Records on Taraval Street experienced a 17% drop in revenue between March 15, 2025, and Feb. 28, 2026, compared with the same period one year earlier, according to its point-of-sale data.

Owner Ben Wintroub said his store is a destination for record collectors — not a business that attracts passersby. He believes there is less parking near his store because the Great Highway, which used to be an arterial road for locals, is now a destination that people drive to from all over the city.

“It’s made people think twice about coming to the Taraval corridor,” Wintroub said.

Matt Lopez, who owns White Cap on Taraval and Pitt’s Pub on Noriega Street, both a short walk from the park, has seen a negligible impact. Across his two bars, the increase and decrease in sales basically cancel each other out.

Gross sales at Pitt’s in the year the park has been open rose from 3.9% to $721,000, while Whitecap’s fell 3.9% to $618,000, Lopez said.

“The numbers at my bars haven’t changed,” he said.

French bistro Galinette, located at 46th and Taraval, has seen a 2% year-over-year increase in sales, owner Julie Fulton said. “A couple thousand [dollars] difference, like, literally nothing,” she said.

Roughly 80% of the bistro’s clientele is regulars and locals, she said, adding that she doesn’t see park visitors stroll in for a bite, not even for “Le Burger. (opens in new tab)”

“It’s the weather that leads to us being busy or not busy,” she said.

Still, some full-service restaurants have seen an uptick since the park opened, but owners didn’t attribute it to the park itself.

Thanh Long co-owner Ken Lew said sales at the restaurant are up 22% year over year, but only because they picked up significantly late last year, surging 30% since November.

Lew attributed the improvement to a decline in the number of unhoused people in the area. During the pandemic, he said, four or five people were often camping at the bus stop across from the restaurant at 46th Avenue and Judah Street. Now, he said, he only occasionally sees one or two homeless people.

“I’m not sure the Great Highway affects us too much, since we’re a destination restaurant,” Lew said.

Though Lew’s restaurant is only three blocks from Sunset Dunes, it’s far from his mind. In fact, he has never been.

“It’s a little out of the way,” he said. “If I go to work, I stay at the restaurant.”