{"id":49287,"date":"2026-07-20T12:50:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T19:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=49287"},"modified":"2026-07-20T12:50:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T19:50:14","slug":"three-grocers-walked-away-from-a-vacant-fillmore-safeway-now-its-a-political-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/07\/20\/three-grocers-walked-away-from-a-vacant-fillmore-safeway-now-its-a-political-battle\/","title":{"rendered":"Three grocers walked away from a vacant Fillmore Safeway. Now it\u2019s a political battle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Supervisor Bilal Mahmood argues that the failure to revive the site shows the need for his proposal to bring Mamdani-style government grocery stores to SF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The Safeway on Webster Street closed in early 2025, leaving the Fillmore without a neighborhood grocer. | Source:Magali Gauthier for The Standard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez<\/a> Politics Reporter<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published\u00a0Jul. 14, 2026 (SFStandard.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three separate efforts to bring a grocery store back to a vacant Safeway site in the Fillmore have collapsed, deepening a political fight over who\u2019s to blame \u2014 and what San Francisco should do about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grocery Outlet, Smart & Final, and Sprouts Farmers Market(opens in new tab)<\/a> have all explored taking over the former Safeway at 1335 Webster St. on a short-term basis, as Safeway finalizes the sale of the property to Align Real Estate, which intends to build housing on the site. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The collapse of all three efforts leaves the Fillmore, a historically Black and low-income San Francisco neighborhood, without a full-service grocery store for the foreseeable future \u2014 more than a year after Safeway\u2019s Webster Street location closed. The failed talks come amid a broader political fight: Supervisor Bilal Mahmood is pushing a ballot measure to tax vacant grocery stores and subsidize new operators, an effort now tangled up with accusations that Safeway hindered efforts to bring in a new grocer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an interview, Mahmood said negotiations to bring a grocer back to the site are dead in the water, and emails his office provided in response to a verbal records request back up that account. Sprouts\u2019 interest in the site has not been previously reported. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh my God. It\u2019s devastating news,\u201d said Majeid Crawford, a Fillmore native. \u201cWe were really hoping something would happen; the community has been waiting and hopeful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the months before Safeway closed in February 2025, neighbors rallied and pushed(opens in new tab)<\/a> for the grocer to stay open, or for a new grocer to take over the space. Crawford \u2014 executive director of the New Community Leadership Foundation, a group trying to prevent the Fillmore\u2019s gentrification \u2014 said the failure to find a new grocer will send shockwaves through the neighborhood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Safeway\u2019s Webster Street store served the Fillmore community for four decades. The new owner, Align Real Estate, plans a mixed-use project on the site with more than 1,800 housing units(opens in new tab)<\/a> and a ground-floor grocery. Lawmakers had hoped a temporary grocery store could load Fillmore neighbors\u2019 shopping bags in the years before the project breaks ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Supervisor Bilal Mahmood wants to revive his effort to bring government-backed grocery stores to San Francisco. | Source:Jason Henry for The Standard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mahmood is hoping his ballot measure to establish a fund to subsidize grocery stores and levy a tax on vacant supermarkets will pressure grocers to lease to new operators or reopen. The idea resembles one from New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, whose proposal would establish government-subsidized grocery stores. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Mahmood\u2019s proposal faced a setback last week from the Board of Supervisors and opposition from Mayor Daniel Lurie<\/a>, he\u2019s planning to introduce a motion Tuesday(opens in new tab)<\/a> for the Board of Supervisors to re-hear the measure by the end of the month, which would restart the process of placing it on the ballot. Lurie previously said he\u2019s working to bring more grocery stores to San Francisco, but new taxes won\u2019t help that effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mahmood alleges the negotiations between the three grocers, Safeway, and Align Real Estate failed because Safeway impeded efforts to find a replacement grocer. Emails Mahmood provided offer a behind-the-scenes look at negotiations marked by canceled meetings, stalled talks, and growing frustration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt shows us that Safeway was never intending to actually put a grocery store in there,\u201d Mahmood said of the emails. \u201cWe know of three grocers who were made an offer to go onto that property.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Safeway, Grocery Outlet, and Sprouts declined to comment. Smart & Final did not respond to a request to comment. David Balducci, a principal at Align Real Estate, told The Standard they\u2019ve not given up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Fillmore community deserves a grocery store, and we will do everything we can to bring one to the site,\u201d Balducci said. \u201cUnfortunately, Supervisor Mahmood\u2019s tax on grocery store vacancies would only make it more difficult to open a store.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mahmood told a different tale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlign told me that there is no plan to do a short-term activation with another grocery operator anymore,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Majied Crawford, a community activist, said residents of the Fillmore need a grocery store at the Webster Street site. | Source:T\u00c3\u00a2m V\u00c5\u00a9\/The Standard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The effort was difficult from the start \u2014 Safeway promised to rip out its freezers(opens in new tab)<\/a> at the end of 2024, before it even closed, making it more difficult for a new grocer to move in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In January last year, Grocery Outlet made an offer to Safeway to take over the site. In an email sent Jan. 9, Bill Coyle, vice president of real estate with Grocery Outlet, aired a hopeful tone about his meeting with the supervisor and Align Real Estate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Interview: Marina Safeway developers say the law is on their side(opens in new tab)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou have [Grocery Outlet\u2019s] commitment we shall pursue with vigor and hope for the best outcome,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Jan. 22, 2025, Grocery Outlet sent a proposal to Safeway, outlining a \u201cscaled-down\u201d version of its store for two to three years, paying Safeway $400,000 in annual rent. The hope, Coyle wrote, was that Grocery Outlet would become a permanent grocer once Align Real Estate\u2019s project was complete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPoliticians happy. Community happy,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His optimism was short-lived. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coyle said he wrote to Mahmood Feb. 4 that \u201cI have NOT heard back\u201d from a consultant working for Safeway. In an email venting his frustration over the process, he alleged Safeway has a pattern of making it difficult for other grocery stores to open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s what they do,\u201d he wrote to Mahmood, \u201cimpede competition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Feb. 19, the parties met once again. Coyle emailed Mahmood shortly before, noting that the cost to open a grocery store there \u2014 even a temporary one \u2014 would be at least $2 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"An
In this redacted email, an Albertsons real estate officer acknowledges that Grocery Outlet withdrew from a deal to lease space at a Safeway site in the Fillmore neighborhood. | Source:Email provided by Supervisor Bilal Mahmood’s office<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Emails revealed the deal\u2019s definitive end in April: Eric Holzer, senior director of corporate real estate at Albertsons, which owns Safeway, wrote to Mahmood acknowledging that Grocery Outlet \u201cdropped their interest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the intervening months, Safeway and Align Real Estate held discussions with Smart & Final, a grocer with other San Francisco locations, and Sprouts, a Bay Area staple exploring its first San Francisco location<\/a> in the Showplace Square neighborhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sources with knowledge of the deal rejected the notion that Safeway had impeded efforts to bring in a new grocer and said the grocers walked away from the deal for financial reasons. The amount needed to bring the building up to code, which may have been $2 million to $4 million, was so high that they would need to operate a store there longer than the proposal allowed for it to pencil out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mahmood said the emails show Safeway \u201cintentionally dragged their feet to allow the deal to die.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
The Webster Street Safeway was a neighborhood staple and a lifeline for low-income families and people with disabilities. | Source:Magali Gauthier for The Standard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The lack of a local grocery store hurts low-income Fillmore families, people with disabilities, and seniors who can\u2019t travel far, according to Crawford, the neighborhood advocate. He knows its importance personally: His mother was an artist and single parent who shopped at Safeway when he was a child. She would stretch her limited dollars and buy ingredients to whip up a family favorite: spaghetti and meatballs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo hear all those things fell through,\u201d he said, \u201cit feels like our community is being erased.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More about the author<\/p>\n\n\n\n