Smart & Final To Take Over Fillmore Safeway Space, Addressing Neighborhood Grocery Gap

The grocer Smart & Final has stepped in to fill the gap left behind after Safeway’s exit from the Fillmore District, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Safeway has owned the 40K SF building at 1335 Webster St. for 40 years. 

The grocery store's withdrawal from the space in February left residents and city officials concerned about the lack of food and pharmacy options in the Fillmore and Japantown communities the grocery store served. 

Safeway is in the process of closing a deal to sell the property to Align Real Estate. The developer has plans for a mixed-use development, as reported by the Chronicle in January. Any mixed-use proposal would be contingent on the inclusion of a grocery store. 

Smart & Final is seeking an interim lease at the 1335 Webster St. location, with the intention of establishing a longer-term lease when a new space is completed. Both Safeway and Align would need to agree to the contract for it to move forward. This would be the second Smart & Final location in the city. 

Safeway’s January 2024 announcement of its intention to close the Fillmore store raised alarms in the neighborhood. The grocer said the decision to close was spurred by safety issues and theft. At a rally shortly after that announcement, Supervisor Shamann Walton echoed residents’ fear that the neighborhood would become a “food desert.” 

City officials floated possible solutions, including using eminent domain to turn the property into affordable housing and introducing a law that called for grocery stores to give six months’ notice for closure. 

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a proposal last month to ease restrictions on formula retail in another area that included a special exemption for the Fillmore Safeway. Align Real Estate would only qualify for those benefits by filling the Safeway space with another grocer.