20 Year Old Valencia Vintage Shop Retro Fit is Closing
The funky, artsy, weirdo Mission died a little bit more today. I received confirmation that Retro Fit, the vintage store/drag queen depot that’s been on Valencia near 20th St. for 20 years, officially got a 30 day notice. Back in February Pete Kane did a big feature on the possible demise of the shop, but it ended as a question. Unfortunately, we now have the answer. This is sad news for the community.
From the FB page of Steven LeMaySteven LeMay has owned and operated Retro Fit for the past 12 years and he’s been as much of a staple on Valencia Street as any shop owner I can think of. I’ve bought numerous wigs, coats, shirts, and weird costume stuff from Retro Fit over the years, but more than anything I just loved popping in to bask in Steven’s glorious sarcasm and sass.
The 30 day notice is really not much a surprise. Before this the landlord had tripled the rent to $10,000 a month. Cool and funky vintage stores no longer jive with the New Mission District. What was once a street full of cafes, auto body shops, bohemian boutiques, thrift stores, and bars, has become a stretch of stores that seem to carry only seven items and restaurants with absurd prices. Commercial landlords are killing the soul of not just The Mission but the entire city. Community and culture are ineffable things and can’t be measured in dollar signs, but in this newest Gold Rush – where its an orgy of greed by an means necessary – landlords would rather charge insane amounts of rent for businesses guaranteed to fail, than continue to support good tenants who’ve been around for decades.
This is a time of jackals and hyenas, and if you can’t feed them the ever increasing amount of coin, they’re going to take your flesh. Or at least, the City’s soul.
It’s a shame that Retro Fit and Steven will no longer be on Valencia. Whatever goes in there next won’t have 1/10th of the spark that made this place special. I guess you can say the same for most of San Francisco.
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5 Comments
Great. Maybe some bubble tea place will move in or perhaps a small batch artisanal bowtie shop.
The BREAKS my heart! This is one of the last great vintage shops in the Mission, curated by LeMay with love for vintage and part of the community <3
The one that was on 16th got muscled out the same way (a shadow of it's former self in a tiny space way down on 27th I think)…F*@K these landlords!
I think it's about time San Francisco business owners deserve some tenants rights too! These businesses are about community and connection. If they keep getting muscled out for expensive boutiques there's nothing left ??
Pretty sure Valencia will suffer the same fate as Bleecker…
I will boycott whatever business goes into that space, just as I have boycotted every business that has gone in next door to it in what was once the lovely Latin American gallery and artesenia shop “Encantada”.
These articles should always name and shame the property owners, so that people know who is killing the character of our fair city.