Supe proposing grocers give notice of closures
San Francisco Supervisor Dean Preston is proposing that grocers be required to notify and involve the community when they plan to close stores in the city. The proposed legislation comes in the wake of a battle with Safeway over the fate of its Fillmore district location.
On Monday, Safeway said it will keep its Fillmore supermarket open longer than first announced after pushback from the community. The store was slated to close in March to eventually make way for a residential redevelopment on the site, but it will now stay open through early 2025 after the community, including many seniors, decried the swift closure. Both Preston and Mayor London Breed worked to keep the store open longer.
The law would require six months’ notice prior to the closure of a neighborhood-serving grocery store, as well as requirements that the store meet with community members prior to closure and explore a replacement supermarket.
Preston’s proposal would resurrect the Supermarket Closure Ordinance, which was approved by the Board of Supervisors in 1984 but vetoed by then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein. He will introduce the law as the Neighborhood Grocery Protection Act.
“It was a good idea then, and it’s an even better idea now,” Preston said. “We need notice, we need transparency, community input and a transition plan when major neighborhood grocery stores plan to shut their doors.”
Preston announced the legislation during a Tuesday rally outside the Fillmore grocery store joined by Supervisors Aaron Peskin, Ahsha Safaí and Shamann Walton.
Preston wrote a letter Jan. 8 to Safeway demanding it reverse course on the closure.