The missing Mollie Bus returns

By CHRIS BARNETT

Maybe the best bargain at Mollie Stone’s uber stylish Pacific Heights supermarket on California Street is the Mollie Bus shuttle. It provides a free ride from the parking lot to your front door, providing you buy $25 of the store’s pricey vittles — usually no problem at Mollie’s.

Yet on recent shopping visits, regulars noticed the bus was not in the lot. Then signs appeared saying, “The Mollie Bus will be out of service today.” A checker said the genial, longtime driver was “on vacation for a couple of months,” but could not confirm if the gent — or the Mollie Bus — were coming back.

Now there’s good news: The Mollie Bus is back, every day except Wednesday.

Gary Alessi was the weekend driver until he went on leave a few weeks ago to care for his ailing mother in Arizona. Then the weekday driver had medical issues that sidelined him, too. When substitutes could not be found quickly, the shuttle bus stopped running altogether. Now Alessi has returned to make life a little easier for his regular riders.

That’s a welcome turn for longtime shoppers, some of whom still call the store the Grand Central Market, as it was known for decades, and as its historic Art Deco blade still proclaims. But even they are pleased that Mollie Stone’s made improvements and started the Mollie Bus — and they’re relieved to have it running again.