The New Fillmore

Pascal Rigo’s original boulangerie at 2325 Pine Street has become a neighborhood institution.

A FRENCHMAN’S American dream — to open his own bakery and live above the shop, build a group of local cafes serving authentic French pastries and eventually sell it all for millions to a mega-corporation — took an abrupt twist June 16 when Starbucks announced it was shuttering its 23 La Boulange eateries in the Bay Area.

Including the original Boulangerie Bay Bread at 2325 Pine Street.

Employees of the Boulangerie and the nearby La Boulange cafe at 2043 Fillmore were told mid-afternoon that day to close early and assemble at 6:30 p.m. at La Boulange on Fillmore. There they received the news: Starbucks is shutting down the La Boulange cafes by the end of September. Founder Pascal Rigo, who joined Starbucks as senior vice president of food when it acquired La Boulange in 2012, would leave the company at the end of the week.

“Starbucks has determined La Boulange stores are not sustainable for the company’s long-term growth,” said an announcement issued in the evening as Bay Area fans were celebrating the triumph of the Golden State Warriors in the basketball finals. By early the next morning, longtime fans were streaming into the boulangerie on Pine Street, hopeful the original location would be spared.

It was not to be.

Starbucks bought La Boulange for $100 million in 2012 and has incorporated its pastries into Starbucks shops nationwide and in Canada. The company said that part of the deal would continue. But the cafes, the original bakery and two industrial bakeries that supply the cafes and a catering operation will close.

“Why’d they buy them then?” asked Jennifer Delaroderie on Facebook. “Just to shut them down?”

“This is so disappointing,” said Joan O’Connor, formerly owner of Timeless Treasures on Sutter Street. “It is a fabulous business — every location where I’ve been is a gem.”

“This is awful,” said Susan Wels. “Sell it back to the owner — don’t close it!”

Even if Rigo and his investors were inclined to give back the $100 million, Starbucks might not take the deal. Real estate professionals said the company is sitting on a gold mine of prime locations in many of the area’s most desirable neighborhoods.

“It’s an A-plus portfolio,” broker Matt Holmes told the SF Business Times. “The best foot-traffic streets, well-designed, well-placed sites. It will be a feeding frenzy.”

Starbucks said it will also close Evolution Fresh, its juice bar and natural foods cafe on the corner of Fillmore and Sacramento.

UPDATE: “For me, it was time to go,” La Boulange founder Pascal Rigo told SFGate. “I didn’t know what value I could bring anymore,” said Rigo, pointing out that Starbucks stock has never been higher.

“When you have 12,000 stores, and La Boulange is doing so well inside the stores, why do you want to have 23 stores in San Francisco where you don’t want to spend the time or the money?”

He added: “We achieved what we wanted to achieve, which was to have La Boulange in 12,000 stores.”

Rigo hinted he may not be done yet. Of the 23 La Boulange storefronts in prime locations being shut down by Starbucks, he said: “They have a plan for most of them. I have a plan for some of them, also.”

EARLIER: “I just have this thing about bread“

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Fillmore Farmers Market manager Tom Nichol was remembered at a tribute on May 23.

HE WAS THERE from the beginning.

When the Fillmore Farmers Market was created in 2003 in the parking lot that later became home to Yoshi’s and the Fillmore Jazz Heritage Center, Tom Nichol was there, helping the farmers set up their stands and encouraging the neighbors to get to know the people who grew their food.

In 2005, when the market moved to O’Farrell Street, he was there, by then with a sense he was helping make something important happen.

“It may not be the biggest or busiest market,” he said, “but it’s the best.”

Nearly every Saturday morning for a dozen years, usually in a yellow cap or shirt, Tom Nichol was at the Fillmore market, which he managed for the Pacific Coast Farmers Market Association.

“I’m employed by PCFMA, but I really work for the farmers,” he said. “My purpose at the market is to educate consumers about buying fresh and local — and to create community.”

He established a Saturday morning institution in the neighborhood.

“There is such an incredible sense of community there, with both the farmers and the shoppers,” Nichol said. “The shoppers treat the farmers like good friends or neighbors, making this a fun place for them to shop and for me to work.”

But some of the fun has been missing this year. What’s missing is Tom Nichol. He got the word the day before Christmas Eve. His services were no longer needed. His market would go on, but without him.

It seemed for a while that he might work directly with some of the farmers. But his spirits sagged. His dog died. And then he got sick. He died on May 7 at age 63.

“The Fillmore market is the best thing Tommy Nichol ever did,” said Cecil Patrick, a fellow former farmers market manager who lured his childhood friend from Florida in 1994 to become a part of the urban farmers market movement.

“Tommy always treated everyone with dignity and complete respect,” Patrick said. “He knew the neighborhood. He knew how important this market was to the neighborhood. It was a fit. He orchestrated this incredible gathering spot every Saturday.”

The gathering almost always included jazz. So on Saturday morning, May 23, the regulars in the Larry Douglas Alltet led a musical tribute to Tom Nichol.

He will be missed.

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