The Safeway Food Store in the Filmore District of San Francisco has been beset with shoplifters and other criminal activity for years. The company finally decided in December that it had enough and was closing the doors of the store for good.
George Gibbs, a long-time shopper at the store, acknowledges the problems. "I've seen people running out the door with stuff and running across the parking lot," he said. "I've seen folks walk out in handcuffs for stealing something."
Black Lives Matter activists are now demanding that the store stay open or that another low-cost food store take its place.
A member of BLM and the Fillmore United Alliance, Daniel Landry, said in a statement at a recent rally, “We’re not playing. We are demanding."
“We want all the new [city] supervisors to understand,” he said. “We can have a beautiful relationship or a sour relationship.”
What if he had "demanded" that the shoplifters stop stealing? That would have been a novel approach. As it is now, Landry is demanding the store stay open so that residents can continue to steal $200,000 a month.
Perhaps BLM founder Patrisse Cullors, who purchased a $6 million mansion, could make an investment.
😂😂😂😂 now thats funny NO WHERE IN THE USA can you DEMAND a business to stay open so the people can loot them and lose money!! Let BLM open a store woth the millions of dollars their leader used to purchase her mansion 😂😂😂
— Brenda Harmon (@harmon_bre34732) January 16, 2025
The property is already under contract with new developer, Align Real Estate, which has proposed a mixed-use tower for housing and retail, according to The Standard. Mr. Landry has urged Align to commit to leasing the planned commercial space to a low-cost grocery chain.
“They say they’ve got theft problems, but that’s happening all over,” he said. “This is a dense area with lots of seniors and people with disabilities.”
One customer who depends on the store, George Gibbs, told CBS News Bay Area that he’s disappointed about losing the convenience of having the supermarket nearby but understands why it’s being shut down.
Any rational person would. But Landry is not rational. He's a BLM "activist." So scenes like this don't disturb him at all.
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The total disconnect between the reasons why the store is closing and the demands of activists to keep it open is remarkable to see.
Safeway was originally supposed to close last March. But the company decided the negative political climate would have been detrimental to the company's image. They have 17 other stores in San Francisco and need to be on good terms with city officials.
Since the company first announced it would close the store, Supervisor Dean Preston has urged officials to reverse their plan. Last month, he submitted a letter to Mayor London Breed asking her to use eminent domain to seize the property and turn it into affordable housing.
“Closing this grocery store with no replacement is cruel,” Preston said in a statement provided to SFGATE. “This site is vital to the Fillmore and Japantown communities. That’s why we have laid out a path for the city to acquire this former redevelopment site to ensure that it continues to have a community-serving grocery store, and that housing built here is affordable to the community.”
"Eminent domain"? It would have been fun to watch any court in America slap down a silly motion like that. And just what is "cruel" about protecting employees and customers from crazy thieves?
Not a word about why the store was closing and whose fault it was. There are going to be a lot more "food deserts" like this before citizens wake up and take steps to protect themselves.
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