Category: Retail Report
‘A grocery, not Shake Shack’
A BIG CROWD of neighbors showed up on January 24 to preview plans to bring a Shake Shack burger joint to the former corner home of Real Food Co. at Fillmore and Filbert. But most said they prefer another grocery store in that location. None of the neighbors seemed to have a good word for…
Fillmore 1996: a moment in time
TEXT & PHOTOGRAPHS BY LUCY GRAY Two decades ago, in the summer of 1996, I photographed shopkeepers and workers on Fillmore Street. I thought there were wonderful looking people in my neighborhood, people who looked like characters. They understood the performance aspect of small shops, the need to create a style. I could see that…
From Fillmore to Union
RETAIL REPORT | LESLEY LEONHARDT When Moe Salimi moved Juicy News from its longtime home at Fillmore and Jackson down the hill to Union and Fillmore in 2015, he was expecting a completely different neighborhood, even though he’d moved only a few blocks. But he didn’t find it. “There are more similarities than I would…
New gallery has the baraka
By FRANCINE BREVETTI If you are a tribal man of Niger intent on wooing a lady, you will likely wear a Wodaabe tunic at the Geerewol festival. “That’s where the handsome men of the tribe compete in a contest of endurance and beauty,” explains Shiffen Melaku. Your sister would have embroidered this ritual robe for you…
Thieves put a target on Fillmore
By CHRIS BARNETT A surge in daring grab-and-run thefts is plaguing Fillmore Street merchants. Salespeople at upscale fashion boutiques on upper Fillmore say shoplifting has now morphed into blatant thievery and that some fear for their personal safety. Merchants report numerous instances — more than half a dozen in August alone — in which people case…
A shop becomes a gallery
Story & Photograph by FRANK WING Sanko Kitchen Essentials, the anchor shop at the northeast end of Japantown’s Buchanan Street Mall, is sporting a new look these days. For more than 35 years, it has been the go-to purveyor of hard to find Japanese cookware, unique bento boxes, exotic children’s lunch pails and enough teacups…
VICTORIA’S SECRET
By BARBARA KATE REPA Victoria Dunham is bucking the trend. At a time when many small businesses with unique offerings have been priced out and forced off Fillmore Street, the proprietor of the HiHo Silver jewelry store at 1904 Fillmore has just opened a second shop next door, doubling her retail space. “I live in…
In the Loop
AFTER A TOTAL overhaul, the Shell station at California and Steiner has reopened — without its garage, but with a new Loop convenience store. The promised salad and sushi bars are not included, but the store offers hot dogs, corn dogs, tacos and tater tots, along with pastries and coffee. EARLIER: “Shell gets the go-ahead“
Poetica finds its community
LOCALS | FRANCINE BREVETTI There was no place to put “1,000 Monks.” Artist Andrea Speer Hibbard was frustrated when trying to find a store or a gallery to exhibit the giclee prints of her drawing. Until she walked into Poetica Art & Antiques on Sacramento Street. There she found the proprietor, the expansive Traci Teraoka,…