News from the Heart & Soul of San Francisco
By CYNTHIA TRAINA After more than four decades on Sacramento Street, luxury home goods retailer Sue Fisher King is moving her store to 1913 Fillmore Street. She will take over the storefront just south of Florio restaurant recently vacated by the wellness brand Saje. Rather than retire, she is looking forward to a new chapter. …
By CHRIS BARNETT The space long occupied by Repeat Performance — the San Francisco Symphony resale shop at 2436 Fillmore — has sprung back to life as Warren Estate Sales, with novel pop-up offerings twice monthly in the back of the shop designed to keep the merchandise moving. “It’s simply the best resale shop I…
FILLMORE BEAT | CHRIS BARNETT Slammed shut and lifeless for well over two years, the large space housing the once popular Grove cafe and hangout at 2016 Fillmore is stirring again, but the new venture’s backers stubbornly refuse to disclose anything about it. “I can’t say, I can’t say, I can’t say,” insisted a bearded guy…
By CHRIS BARNETT After nearly three decades of involvement with the Fillmore Merchants Association — as board member, vice president, president and the last five years as executive director — Vasilios Kiniris, the personable man-in-perpetual-motion known to some as Mr. Fillmore and to all as Vas, is exiting stage left. For most of that time,…
CRIME WATCH SOME PEOPLE took a holiday over the Labor Day weekend, but not the thieves who have been plaguing Fillmore Street merchants. At least six businesses — Ruti, Post Script, Velvet, Heidi Says, Aesop and the UPS Store — were attacked over the long weekend, some suffering loss of merchandise, and all rushing to…
FILLMORE BEAT | CHRIS BARNETT Empty stores, boarded-up windows, people sleeping in abandoned doorways, shoplifting and break-ins all testify that Fillmore Street is going though hard times one year after Covid hit with full fury. But conversations with die-hard merchants and a reopening for some indoor dining signals an eventual turnaround in the fortunes of…
FASHION DESIGNER Ralph Lauren’s elegant emporium at 2040 Fillmore — which replaced a former Goodwill store and paved the way for the street’s transformation into an upscale shopping strip of clothing and cosmetics boutiques — is now permanently closed. The Polo shop had reopened only a few weeks ago, along with other Fillmore retailers, when…
FILLMORE BEAT | CHRIS BARNETT In 1971, carpenter Mark Johnson moved into a Victorian flat at 2254 Bush Street, just off Fillmore, and stayed for 25 years. “It was not the most attractive place to live in the early ’70s,” he says. “But by the time I moved out, it had changed dramatically — and…
FRYE BOOTS at 2047 Fillmore Street has become the first neighborhood shop to announce it will close permanently. “We were told last Friday [March 27] that we will not reopen our beautiful store,” says Frye manager and longtime local Cris Mcquay, who formerly managed Kiehl’s on Fillmore. “We will stay permanently closed going forward. We…