A Safeway near Fisherman's Wharf is slated to permanently close at the end of May.
Dee S./YelpA San Francisco Safeway just minutes from Fisherman’s Wharf and North Beach is slated to permanently close on May 27 after decades of operation, marking the loss of one of the largest grocery stores in the heavily populated, tourist-packed areas.
“There’s a lot of reasons” for the closure, assistant store director Dermot Harris told SFGATE over the phone Sunday, “but it really boiled down to it not making sense financially for us to remain open.”
Harris noted that the 65 people employed at the Safeway inside NorthPoint Centre on Bay Street "would not lose their jobs" and will be relocated to nearby stores. SFGATE was unable to reach a spokesperson for the grocery store chain for more information by time of publication, but a Safeway representative told the Chronicle the decision “isn’t one we made lightly.”
“We continuously evaluate the performance of our stores, and occasionally it’s necessary to close locations that aren’t meeting financial expectations,” read a statement from Safeway shared with the Chronicle Friday.
14 other Safeway locations remain in San Francisco, the closest being in the Embarcadero and the Marina. And residents will still have a couple of other grocery store options in the area: A Trader Joe’s is located just across the street from the closing Safeway, and Luke’s Local on Green Street is a few blocks away, as the San Francisco Standard first reported.
It leaves a considerable vacancy at NorthPoint Centre, a shopping center with a 350-space parking garage and a handful of other tenants, including F45, PostalAnnex+, Fancy Fingers and Spa, a Subway and Bay Cleaners.