San Francisco Safeway to close its doors after 40 years

SAN FRANCISCO – After 40 years serving San Franciscans, a Safeway grocery store in the Fillmore District is closing its doors for good.

The grocer on Webster Street plans to sell its 3.68 acres at Webster Plaza to Align Real Estate, which plans on building a mixed-use development at its location, a spokesperson for Safeway said.

The store plans on shutting down “on or around early March.”

Housing and commercial retail space is anticipated for the location. Safeway said they view the closure as a way to “positively impact” the San Francisco community to help the city’s housing shortages. 

“Safeway has proudly served the Fillmore District for 40 years. All associates at the Webster Safeway will be re-assigned to another store in the San Francisco area, and we remain committed to serving San Francisco at our remaining 15 locations,” read a statement. 

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the Webster Street store has seen some “controversy” after they shut down their self-checkout kiosks last year to combat theft. The store also played classical music to prevent people from loitering in their parking lot, which ended up annoying some neighbors, the outlet reported.

Mayor London Breed told the Chronicle that the closure is a “real and rare opportunity to add a significant amount of new homes” in the Fillmore District. 

“While in the short-term we are losing a grocery store in the community, there is also a new Trader Joe’s opening nearby and an opportunity for a new market on the site,” Breed said to the Chronicle.

Supervisor Dean Preston, who represents the district where the store is located, had a different view of the closure. 

“We are extremely concerned with the potential loss of this grocery store in the heart of the Fillmore, and especially the possibility of losing it as soon as March, which we view as unacceptable,” Preston told the Chronicle. 

KTVU reached out to Preston and is awaiting a response.

Recently, a Safeway store in Santa Clara closed its doors over its “inability to meet financial expectations.” 

The closest Safeway store from the plaza is located in the Castro district on Market Street, a little over a mile away.