SAY IT AIN'T SO!! Grocery Outlet (aka Canned Food Store) in S.F. is closing/closed!
SlipperySlope
GROCERY OUTLET'S CLOSING IS A TEST FOR NEW SUPERVISORS
CUSTOMERS COMPLAIN AS DISCOUNT MARKET MAKES WAY FOR BEST BUY
BY L.A. CHUNG
San Jose Mercury News
Tues, January 30, 2001
Where do the poor shop? Not at Grocery Outlet anymore.
For the loyal regulars who depend on the store affectionately known as
``Dented Can,'' it was a helpless feeling to see Grocery Outlet close
its doors Saturday. Its once-bountiful shelves that were crowded with
discounted hair shampoos, fruit juices, cheese, beans, spaghetti, and of
course canned foods, had dwindled down to near-nothing after it
announced it was vacating its Harrison Street digs between South of
Market and the Mission district.
All so a Best Buy electronics store can move in.
Lord knows, we need another big-box warehouse place to buy DVDs and
flat-screen televisions and 25-cubic-foot refrigerators. Let the poor
eat discounted CDs.
Here now is a good test of our newly elected supervisors. Here is a
grass-roots issue, a real meat-and-potatoes (or in this case, rice and
beans) case that affects many throughout the city. Can Chris Daly, whose
district this falls in and who waged an impassioned campaign on behalf
of the poor and elderly in the city, step up and bring leadership to
bear with the rest of his colleagues to find a solution?
For nearly 30 years in the city, Canned Foods, then Grocery Outlet as
its name became, has been a staple for anyone on a fixed income, anyone
with no money, or anyone -- like me -- who wants to find a bargain.
``You could get cheese that was $2 a pound where it was $4 a pound
elsewhere,'' said Jim Keefer, 59, who showed up in front of City Hall on
Monday to urge supervisors to do something. ``They'd have Kilpatrick
bread cheaper than you could get it at the Kilpatrick day-old store.''
Sometimes you could find deep discounts on fresh Odwalla juice there.
``For a buck!'' exclaimed Lev Michaelson, a retired builder who had been
shopping there for more than 20 years, following the store as it moved
around the South of Market area and finally set up near Highway 101 with
a spacious parking lot. Three bus lines served it. Which is important if
you don't have enough money for a car.
``We love San Francisco and we would love to stay here but our type of
business -- `discount grocery' -- cannot afford to build the much-needed
store,'' said James Patitucci, the CEO of Grocery Outlet, in a prepared
statement.
Jon Wylie, vice president of marketing for the Berkeley-based Grocery
Outlet, said the San Francisco store was showing its age. As much as its
low-income customers didn't really care about appearances, keeping the
old store wasn't really an option because ``there are liability
issues,'' he said. There was, as well, an attractive buyer -- Best Buy.
``We had wished we could announce a new site. It just wasn't in the
cards,'' he said. All the leftover food and household items were to be
donated to local charities, Wylie said. Workers have been given
severance pay.
It was an unusual assortment who showed up at City Hall: retirees living
on Social Security, retirees with more money to spend but still needing
to look for bargains, some Latino workers who were losing their jobs and
one City Hall gadfly.
Except for the gadfly, they were none of the usual suspects. They
included a retired bass player from the San Francisco Symphony, a former
federal worker, a retired builder and a retired man who said his last
job was at an investment firm but had worked at the retailer Carter,
Hawley Hale, which once owned the Emporium.
``When I heard about this, I said `I've gotta go,' '' said 71-year-old
Don Prell, the former bassist with the symphony. Not long ago, he and
his wife went to their first protest in front of PG&E. ``I've never done
anything like come out for something like this.''
But PG&E bills and food? Now those are pocketbook issues.
Grocery Outlet inspires a fair amount of loyalty, even if one isn't on a
fixed income. Drive into any of their parking lots in 13 locations
around the Bay Area and you're just as likely to see Mercedes and
Jaguars as VW buses and little old ladies wheeling up those collapsible
shopping carts. Wandering through the aisles is a serendipitous journey
of big brand names at low prices and oddball selection: Christmas-themed
M&Ms in red and green in April, for example. Nouveau Beaujolais months
after they were nouveau. Toilet paper from companies you've never seen
before. Juices meant for export with containers displaying exotic
foreign languages. Going to Canned Foods -- 'scuse me, Grocery Outlet --
was an adventure for certain types.
``Oh, you mean the place you go to when you're just going to buy one
thing and you come out with all kinds of things?'' asked one City Hall
worker who saw the protest on the steps. ``I know that place.''
Now, the closest stores are in Oakland, Berkeley and Redwood City.
Jim Reid, who once ran for supervisor and who has launched one campaign
to recall Willie Brown and may soon launch another, showed the newbies
what to do with their protest. He brought them inside City Hall to talk
directly to supervisors before the 2 p.m. meeting.
They walked from office to office, seeking supervisors who would take
the thick sheaf of petitions signed by shoppers on Saturday -- more than
400 signatures ranging from residents in the Sunset district to the
Visitacion Valley to the Tenderloin to the Richmond district.
``I'm not a political activist,'' 68-year-old Adam Rackowski told Daly
in his office. ``We're dirt-poor and we depend on this. It's the
difference between eating hamburger and eating a pork chop once a
week.''
They stayed to speak before the supervisors during the public comment
session. When it was over, the supervisors passed a resolution
introduced by Supervisor Tom Ammiano that urged Best Buy to
``investigate ways to maintain operation of Grocery Outlet'' and urged
Grocery Outlet ``to consider the option of remaining at the current site
and renegotiate with Best Buy to work out an amenable solution.''
``It was nice that he did it,'' Reid said. ``But we're going to keep
pressing Daly.''
Yeah, it's a start. But leadership doesn't necessarily mean urging
people to go back on a deal they've worked on for several months. I
don't know if this does much for Grocery Outlet, Best Buy or the
neighborhood. Leadership includes acting as the catalyst for solutions.
Grocery Outlet had been looking for another San Francisco site and will
continue to look, Wylie said. But the intent is to sell the current site
for Best Buy to build, and to find a new spot elsewhere in the city.
``Well, that's good,'' Reid said with a smile. ``We're going to help
them.''
Starting with visits to Chris Daly's office.
Kent H.
Berkeley you might be able to take it in stride. BTW there
isn't any cheese in the world, even in Russia or Mexico,
where 2.00 dollars/lb cheese is edible.
Yup Yurs
KEH
Mighty Mik
SlipperySlope wrote:
> GROCERY OUTLET'S CLOSING IS A TEST FOR NEW SUPERVISORS
>
> CUSTOMERS COMPLAIN AS DISCOUNT MARKET MAKES WAY FOR BEST BUY
>
> BY L.A. CHUNG
> San Jose Mercury News
> Tues, January 30, 2001
>
> Where do the poor shop? Not at Grocery Outlet anymore.
>
What a sad day. Fortunately, i now live next to the Berkeley outlet, but
in the early 80's I was a Vat Rat, living at 145 Florida street. That's
right across the tracks from Canned Foods. (till they bulldozed it anyway.)
Back in the day, you could also get 1 pound bags of mashed Twinkies (and
other Hostess products) fron the outlet at the factory.
what's to do...you can't afford electricity anymore, food isn't cheap
(and there isn't even a store in this neighborhood), and try to find
reasonable housing...i didn't think life had to suck this much.
good luck to the poor of SF.
Al Eisner
> SLOPPERY you're a phucking communist. If you moved to
> Berkeley you might be able to take it in stride. BTW there
> isn't any cheese in the world, even in Russia or Mexico,
> where 2.00 dollars/lb cheese is edible.
> Yup Yurs
and then quotes a 3-page post verbatim....
Why is someone a Communist for posting an article from the Mercury News (with
no additional comment, by the way)? Perhaps you are concerned about copy-
right violation -- your solicitude for the SJMN is most touching.
How about some more civility around here (except of course when incivility
is called for)?
--
Al Eisner
San Mateo County, CA