Here’s some great news for San Francisco residents who can’t get through a week without mandarin chicken.
Merchant Joe’s is opening a new location at Franklin 555 in Hayes Valley.
The grocery store, known for its reasonable pricing and unusual products (think cauliflower gnocchi), submitted its application to the San Francisco Planning Department in late March to open a store in a vacant retail space on the lower level of the apartment complex.
“The proposed Trader Joe’s store replaces a vacant retail space with a much-needed grocery store to serve the area,” Trader Joe’s said in its application. “The project does not involve extending the cover of the building. The proposed retail use is compatible with the character of the neighborhood and compliments the existing retail uses, which are especially lacking in a full service grocery store.”
The store would include 73 parking spaces in the basement of the building, though the application noted that “most people from the area are expected to walk or bike to the store.”
Merchant Joe’s said in the application that it will take 4.5 months to complete construction, but SocketSite noted that the store still needs city approval, and that the process is likely to push the opening until 2022 or 2023.
The development of the apartment was approved with the promise of a grocery store. At one point, the Portland-based New Seasons tracked the location but withdrew from the process due to construction delays.
Hayes Valley does not have a large grocery store within its footsteps. The nearest store is a Safeway at 1335 Webster, half a mile from the future Trader Joe’s.
The San Francisco neighborhood, known for its high-quality boutiques and cute cafes, bans ‘formula retail’, but the grocery chain has been exempted from the regulations.
The official ‘Affidavit for Formula Retail Businesses’ submitted to the Department of Planning states that Trader Joe’s has 516 stores worldwide and six in San Francisco.