North Beach Gets Its Grocery Store Back After Three-Year Desert

Mayor Lurie and a coalition of neighborhood leaders, city officials, and business advocates celebrated the grand opening of Grocery Outlet in North Beach — a store three years in the making that restores daily grocery access to thousands of residents left behind when Safeway closed in 2023. The ribbon cutting doubled as a policy stage, with Lurie spotlighting a new Office of Food Security Coordination and $34 million in city spending to backfill federal food assistance cuts.

• Grocery Outlet opens in North Beach, ending a three-year stretch without a full-scale grocery store for North Beach, Fisherman's Wharf, and parts of Chinatown
• Mayor Lurie announces new Office of Food Security Coordination, part of legislation introduced two weeks prior to centralize citywide food insecurity efforts
• City invested $34 million to keep residents on food benefits after federal cuts through HR1, with support from all 11 supervisors
• Community petition of 1,000+ signatures helped recruit Grocery Outlet to the neighborhood after Safeway's departure

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A Neighborhood Feeds Itself Again

Why it matters: When Safeway shuttered its North Beach location in 2023, it left residents across North Beach, Fisherman's Wharf, and neighboring Chinatown without a full-scale grocery store — forcing families, seniors, and workers to travel outside the neighborhood for affordable food. The new Grocery Outlet, independently owned and operated by Joel and Jacqueline Lanois, fills that gap with an extreme-value grocery model and deep neighborhood roots. The couple lives in North Beach and brings roughly two decades of grocery experience.

Where things stand: The store opened to a crowd that wrapped around the building, according to the operators. Multiple civic leaders turned out for the ribbon cutting, including Mayor Daniel Lurie, Supervisor Danny Sauter, Rodney Fong of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, Mike Martin, the newly appointed director of the Port of San Francisco, Alan Lowe of the San Francisco Fire Commission, Bre Mon of the Fisherman's Wharf Community Benefit District, and Malcolm Young, CEO of the Chinatown Community Development Center.

"Since the Safeway closed in 2023, people have had to leave this neighborhood just to find affordable day to day essentials. That changes today," said Mayor Daniel Lurie.

The store also presented a $1,000 community check to the Telegraph Hill Neighborhood Association.

The other side: There was no opposition voiced at the event — a rarity that itself signals the depth of community demand. Bre Mon, executive director of the Fisherman's Wharf Community Benefit District, said it was the best turnout she had seen for a business opening in the area. "Fisherman's Wharf and North Beach residents, workers and visitors can now drop anchor from everything from fresh produce, pantry staples, and all the unexpected bargains that you can get from grocery shopping," she said.

Malcolm Young, CEO of the Chinatown Community Development Center, underscored what the store means for the most vulnerable neighbors: "We have two 100% affordable senior housing buildings literally within a block. These are folks who depend on groceries, who need affordability. You can't live in affordable housing without affordable food." He praised the Lanois family for inviting seniors to visit the store before the public opening.

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How 1,000 Signatures and City Hall Pressure Sealed the Deal

The basics: The path from Safeway's closure to Grocery Outlet's opening was neither quick nor automatic. It required sustained organizing, city hall intervention, and a willing property manager.

Where things stand: Supervisor Danny Sauter detailed the multi-year effort, recalling the initial shock when the closure was announced. "I remember in those difficult, dark Covid days when it was announced that Safeway would be closing here. And very quickly, we had the entire neighborhood and city come together and say that it's not acceptable that this neighborhood, this corner of the city, needs, deserves, and will have an affordable grocery store," he said.

Sauter described going door to door with seniors from Next Village and neighbors from North Beach Neighbors, collecting more than 1,000 petition signatures asking Grocery Outlet to come to the neighborhood and pledging community support. He credited former Supervisor Aaron Peskin, Alan Lowe, and property management company Anton for making the deal happen.

Alan Lowe offered a behind-the-scenes look at the urgency from City Hall: "I want to recognize Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who called as soon as the contract was signed and said, opened the damn grocery store. And I said, we don't even know how we're going to pay for it. But it also took a lot of leadership from City Hall." Lowe noted that Mayor Lurie made clear the space had to become a grocery store.

What's next: Rodney Fong, president and CEO of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, who grew up in the area, framed the opening as a turning point rather than a finish line. "I think this is not just an opening of a store, but this is a revitalization of a community here that is soon to have more residents, hopefully has existing residents. This is a place where we come and meet and gather," he said.

Mike Martin, director of the Port of San Francisco, echoed that momentum, pointing to complementary waterfront investments including a new plaza and the Sky Star Wheel. "We see these green shoots of new investment, new businesses, new families coming to the neighborhood, and we want to be part of that ecosystem," he said.

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Lurie's Food Security Play: A New Office and $34 Million

Why it matters: Mayor Lurie used the ribbon cutting to connect a single store opening to a citywide policy shift. Two weeks before the event, his administration introduced legislation to establish a new Office of Food Security Coordination — a centralized body to oversee grocery deliveries to seniors and people with disabilities, distribute grocery vouchers, and help residents maintain food assistance benefits.

Where things stand: Lurie pointed to two recent moments when the city had to step in as the federal safety net buckled. During a federal government shutdown, San Francisco mobilized emergency food support to 112,000 residents within seven days. And after Congress permanently cut food assistance through HR1, the city — with unanimous support from all 11 supervisors — invested $34 million to help keep residents on the benefits they depend on.

"When Washington, D.C. cut food assistance permanently with HR1, we, along with all 11 supervisors, stepped up and invested $34 million to help keep people on the benefits that they rely on," Mayor Lurie said.

What's next: The new Office of Food Security Coordination legislation is pending before the Board of Supervisors. If approved, it would consolidate what has been an ad hoc, crisis-driven approach into a permanent city function — a notable expansion of local government's role in food access as federal funding continues to contract.