After Nearly 30 Years, SF’s ‘Little Witchy’ Herb Store is Closing
Photo of The Scarlet Sage Herb Co. storefront in at the Valencia Street location. Pic from their FB page.
After 29 years in San Francisco, The Scarlet Sage Herb Co. is officially closing down. On Tuesday, owner Laura Ash announced to Scarlet Sage’s 18,000 Instagram followers that it was time to hang up her broom. This comes after moving to The Fillmore District in 2023 after 28 years on Valencia St. in the Mission (thanks to BAS reader Lily for sending this our way).
Originally opened by Lisa Kellman and Dino Lucas in 1995, The Scarlet Sage Herb Co. is “San Francisco’s favorite spot for herbs, essential oils, and other organic supplements,” according to their website. It’s the kind of witchy, funky store where you can buy teas, crystals, candles, herbs, books, and other esoteric and arcane things. Walking in you have the distinct feeling that the people who work and shop there give really good hugs. Ash first worked at at Scarlet Sage in 2006 and then bought the place in 2015.
As Ash mentions in her post, after a number of factors including a shooting that happened in front of the store, and unaffordable rent, Scarlet Sage moved to the Fillmore because it was a”safe neighborhood that still reflected our values of diversity and inclusion”.
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After 7 months though business still hasn’t picked up enough, and according to Ash, the city has been less than helpful and full of red tape (this is a surprise to no one). In November she put Scarlet Sage up for sale, but no one stepped up to buy it, so the tough decision was made to shut things down at the end of February.
From now until they close, everything at The Scarlet Sage Herb Co. will be on sale. You can visit them at
Land of Verse, the online herbalism certification programs that Ash runs will still continue.
It’s always a bummer to lose a community oriented business in San Francisco, but it’s especially hard when one has been so important to so many people for nearly 30 years.
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