Finger-pointing Won’t Stop Fillmore Safeway Closure

A neighborhood Safeway was narrowly (and temporarily) saved by a departing district supervisor and a handful of community activists. Can they prevent it from closing February 7th, 2025?

The Recent Past

In January, community members gathered for a rally near the truck loading area at the Safeway on Webster and Geary. There were a few politicians, lots of nicely printed yellow Food Justice signs, and momentum. The corporate powers behind the grocery store were trying to sneak around and close the location without any community input, and the pushback was strong. 

So strong that Supervisor Preston successfully got an old vetoed piece of legislation back out in front of the Board of Supes and on the books. Moving forward, grocery stores are required to give The City advanced notice before shuttering. Too bad it doesn’t apply retroactively to the Fillmore Safeway.

The Safeways of San Francisco have a solid place in our urban history. The Marina Safeway is colloquially known as Dateway. It’s a reliable haunt for single straight people looking to find someone special in the bread aisle. Then there’s the Safeway where Mayor Ed Lee had a medical episode. He later died, making Sup. London Breed the replacement mayor. There’s a Safeway up by Ocean Beach where you can find your bonfire supplies. And then there’s the redheaded stepchild, the Fillmore Safeway.

The Sunday before Christmas, a few community members gathered in a cold art studio in Japantown to paint up some fresh posters. There were fearless introductions where neighbors met each other again or for the first time. Then there was an inspired dialogue where each person explained why they cared about the Safeway closing.

Why Do They Care?

One elderly man explained that they’d already been giving him a hard time when he tried to fill his prescriptions. A few parents from the nearby elementary school described using the location to buy snacks for their kids’ classes. A little girl said, “That’s where (my classmate) gets his lunch!” And several members of the St. Francis Cooperative Housing explained that they’d chosen to live there in part because of the reliability of having a Safeway nearby, especially for those with mobility issues.

The closure will create what some call a food desert and others label food apartheid.

There weren’t any politicians at this meeting. Just a reverend, some children, some elders, and a sorrowful feeling that the fight for food justice would continue. The Safeway business folks are blaming the community for shoplifting and other problems that are forcing their hand, but they didn’t bother to show up to either the painting party or the protest. They’ve gone silent.

News articles and online forums alike are copying the corporate strategy and pointing fingers at the community, saying things like, “If it meant so much to the community, why didn’t the community protect it?” And, “Want nice things? Do better.” One commenter on Reddit said, “This is the first situation in which I’ve seen so many people trying to hold a whole neighborhood responsible for the behavior of criminals. I wonder what this is all about.”

Wonder, indeed. The topic sparks vitriol and a desire to punish the Fillmore. But for what?

Don’t Take It Out On Workers

That Monday, right before Christmas, the rally was quieter. The microphone glitched. But there were plenty of handmade signs and community members gathered. One speaker cautioned the protesters to not take it out on workers. “It’s not their fault it’s closing,” he explained. “And they’d be out here too but they’re not allowed.” 

One worker privately spoke with this reporter afterward, confirming that there are some strong feelings among Safeway employees. The Fillmore Safeway is recently under new management and “shows so much potential.” Although it has issues, those who spoke at the rally said that’s part of the cost of doing business in a big city. And although the store poses a lot of issues, “none are unmanageable.” 

Scorched Earth Safeway

But the Safeway is going full scorched-earth, and it’ll be a pyrrhic victory if they succeed. They’ll rip out all of the freezers so that no competitors can move in, part of their plan to retain customers while cutting costs. And since some of their workers are union strong, ostensibly those folks will get placed at what they indicate to be their top three alternate locations. But there’s only so much the other Safeways can absorb.

When The City decided to clear urban blight (read: Black homes and businesses) they provided Fillmore residents with certificates of preference. These certificates allow holders to have first preference for any new housing in the historically Black Fillmore neighborhood. One demand that arose in the rally was the hope that these displaced Black San Franciscans could one day find housing in whatever happens on the Safeway lot. 

This would be a sliver of justice, given that The City cleared and kicked out these folks to sell the lot in the 1960s. Since The City already got itself involved through the Redevelopment Agency, one hope is that government will once again step in to right their wrongs.

Hopes For The Future

Community activists are hopeful that The City will use Eminent Domain for good this time. But newly elected Supervisor Bilal Mahmood recently suggested to the community members that it would be too messy and create lengthy litigation. That might happen regardless. It’ll be years, maybe even decades, before anything happens because projects here take longer than you think. 

Meanwhile residents will lose access to name brands, diapers, prescription refills, and things that neighboring stores like the new Trader Joe’s simply don’t stock as part of their aesthetic. 

“I won’t say anything bad about Trader Joe’s,” explained one mother. “We shop there too. But it’s not a replacement.”