The formal application to convert the shuttered 9,549-square-foot Walgreens within the Bayview Plaza Shopping Center at 3801 3rd Street into a supermarket has been submitted to Planning. And while the conversion would yield a smaller than average store, the plans for the proposed Lucky include fresh produce, meat, baked goods and a deli, in additional to typical supermarket isles, goods and fare.
A building permit for the interior conversion and improvement has already been requested and triaged as well.
Shoplifting risk for that location can’t be controlled. Fresh and Easy tried and failed. Conditions haven’t improved.
While the Fresh & Easy on 3rd Street was one of the first to be shuttered, it wasn’t due to shoplifting.
Totally agree with Fact. This store will be a money loser on Chesa’s watch. Politicians will celebrate the opening and then decry the inevitable closing in less than 18 months. There’s a reason some neighborhoods can’t have nice things. Good Lucky to the store….
In order to really understand Socketsite comments it helps to read them with a Bull Connor accent.
Not surprising the editor deleted my response to this unfounded racism accusation.
Perhaps try responding with more than a “no, you suck” retort. And now back to the plans at hand…
That’s not at all what I said, but you do seem to foster a number of commenters who live under bridges.
This grocery store will likely not open and if it does, it will soon fail because it is in a low income, high crime area in a city where basic norms around theft and prosecution are routinely ignored. There is no downside to stealing stuff in San Francisco. “I mean he was just a young man who needed a snack.”
F&E shut down their entire California operation and I doubt it had anything to do with shoplifting. My guess is that they were unable to scale up their sales and logistics fast enough to satisfy the Tesco board. Much of their shelves were filled with F&E house branded items and you need significant regional volume to make that strategy work.
[Editor’s Note: Once again, as noted and linked above.]
Honest question — why is a “formal application” required for this at all? One retail store gets replaced with another retail store — selling different items, but who cares? The amount of unnecessary planning BS in this city is crazy
It’s a change of use for which the interior improvements are required to be permitted and approved.
the fresh and easy closed because the concept was flawed and all of their stores closed
the “Doc Long” closed due to lack of support from the community in my opinion.
[Editor’s Note: As noted and linked above.]
The other Fresh and Easy sites in SF were taken over by grocery stores like Grocery Outlet, but the 3rd Street location wasn’t and there is reason for that. It might not be possible to have an honest discussion about site selection for retail because “reasons”.
That’s incorrect. The first Fresh & Easy site in San Francisco, at 32nd Avenue and Clement in the Outer Richmond, was vacant for years after F&E exited the market in 2015. And Duc Loi ended up taking over the 5900 3rd Street space, albeit only for a few years and then shuttered due to low sales not theft.
Develop the entire parking lot with housing and guarantee decent grocery sales. Not that complicated…aside from the endless permitting and labor/construction costs haha. 😉
Looks like obvious redevelopment play, all the value is tied up in the parking lot and the underlying land. The 2nd floor office is probably near worthless. Demo everything. Start over with multi-family with BMR. Retail is problematic, there is Foods Co on Williams.
My comment comes from someone who is an actual Bayview resident of which i doubt many others who have made comments can attest to or speak of firsthand knowledge of the Bayview. Duc Loi’s downfall was because it never really seemed to fully invest in a plan that would lead to success or that invited the community in. It inhabited the Fresh and Easy space that did well because it provided fresh food and pre-made meals at an affordable price. Duc Loi was never “affordable” as it related to the neighborhood, the sandwich shop that was announced as part of their plan was never a reality, nor the coffee shop. The meat department was miniscule aside from what seemed to be meat delivered from their other location and often it seemed as though it needed a location half the size for what was actually on shelves.
As for the Bayview Plaza location, yes shoplifting may in fact be a problem, however I believe there are very few grocery stores across San Francisco that can say they DON’T have an issue with shoplifting. I would not attest that to the Bayview simply being “low income, high crime” as though it is an outlier. Will the community support this Lucky’s?…remains to be seen, but at this point it will provide the closest grocery option to those moving into the shipyards, and for future development of India Basin. I myself am excited for another option over FoodCo and the flanking Bargain Market locations on both ends of Bayshore. For now the hurdles i think will be shoplifting and how it is prevented and/or addressed (as a Citywide problem, not just the Bayview) and the parking lot which is simply too tight as configured.
The Bayview has long been a food desert and any development that speaks to this is welcome. The solution should not be the notion that those who do live here should only have food options when low income people are somehow eliminated from a community, or for those fortunate to claim a zip code that speaks to economic disparity.
“The Bayview has long been a food desert and any development that speaks to this is welcome. The solution should not be the notion that those who do live here should only have food options when low income people are somehow eliminated from a community, or for those fortunate to claim a zip code that speaks to economic disparity.”
Yeah no sorry that would be an argument for installing a non-profit food bank, not retail business.
Agreed! And it’s not just the shipyards and India basin, there is new construction and renovations happening all around Bayview, and the families moving in (myself included) would love more options close to home! Bayview already has a few food banks and outlets, and I think is ready for an actual supermarket (not a Whole Foods, but Lucky or Trader Joe’s or Safeway are all good candidates). If theft is a concern, they can hire SFPD overtime just like the Walgreens on 3rd and Williams does, which helps significantly. While I wish this could be mixed use, the area around it isn’t really conducive to that yet. But this is a step in the right direction!
As long as we have elected law enforcement officials who treat thefts as opportunities to discuss social equity instead of prosecutable crimes, I wouldn’t hold my breath for a thriving retail scene here.
Honest people and merchants in every neighborhood deserve the protection of functional law enforcement.
Sadly, the issues with many neighborhoods like Bayview is a government sponsored plan called “redlining” which allowed certain neighborhoods to prosper and others to fail. The Bayview is a great area but has transportation access issues. So called “low income people” happen to be law abiding and want the same positive things as so called “wealthy people” but many time outside forces prevent this. A big obstacle to the Bayview is the access down the Third Street corridor. From downtown it is easier to get to most parts of the City by public transportation or car but very difficult to get to Bayview. No alternative roads besides Third St and the only public transportation is the T line which moves very slow. Fresh and Easy was a European brand that hoped to create a knock off of Trader Joe’s. They last for a short time because their brand missed the mark in the US and were often empty everywhere – does any one remember going to one? With Lucky being at the northern end of Third St it could be successful. The Bayview needs more market options and companies to invest in that area.
SF invested over $900M into 3rd Street light rail project. It was hyped as the “catalyst” that would result in a new era of retail on the 3rd Street corridor. It didn’t help walgreens.
Replacing a drug store (walgreens) with grocery store (lucky) won’t change anything except they type of goods that get pilfered.
The reason that the other walgreens in the bayview, and Foods Co, have survived is because they are situated on either side of the Bayview Police Station on Williams, which anchors that location. If the city is going to throw more $$$ at the bayview, then then need to build in more police presence.
Is this the same “Lucky” that’s a division of Savemart?
Yes.
Well then – and thanks! – this seems like a curious decision: they converted their Fruitvale(East Oakland) store into their discount banner (I believe it’s called “FoodMax”) some time ago; I’m thinking the demographics on 3rd are similar, so I wonder if long-term – and assuming the more pessimistic scenarios don’t materialize – that will be the fate here.
Quote from existing retail tenant:
“Al Aloudi, the owner of the neighboring BayCopy SF in Bayview Plaza, said retail theft had been a problem at the Walgreens and worried Lucky could run into similar issues, particularly if it relies on self-checkout counters.”
Retail theft has been a problem for Walgreens across the city. But once again, the former Fresh & Easy on 3rd didn’t shutter due to theft nor have any other grocery stores.