San Francisco spent the past several months deciding how to put $3 million toward some of its emptiest commercial corridors. The result is that 39 small businesses now hold long-term leases in areas that have struggled with vacant storefronts, the city’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development and Office of Small Business said this week.
The funding will help open businesses in the Excelsior, Tenderloin, Bayview, Fillmore, Mid-Market, Mission, Chinatown, and Downtown areas of the city. The program intends to fill vacant commercial spaces with small businesses while lowering the barrier for local entrepreneurs to stay there.
“These 39 businesses have signed long-term leases and are making a lasting commitment to San Francisco’s commercial corridors,” said Anne Taupier, OEWD’s executive director.
Taupier added that in neighborhoods with higher vacancy and slower recovery, “every new storefront helps restore foot traffic, build confidence, and create the conditions for other businesses to invest and grow.”
According to OEWD’s program guidelines, the size of the grant provided by the city is based on the type of business moving in — retail and personal-service businesses receive $50,000, cafes or food spots with limited or no seating are granted $75,000, and full-service restaurants or neighborhood pharmacies are given $100,000.
Qualifying recipients must have at least three years of operation, $5 million or less in gross revenue, 100 or fewer employees, no open city violations, and good standing with the state. Pharmacies and full-service grocery stores are exempted from the revenue cap, recognizing that the kinds of business the city needs most in a vacant storefront isn’t always the kind that fits under a small-business ceiling.
Not everything qualifies
Categories that do not qualify include convenience stores, tobacco retailers, liquor stores, adult entertainment, and religious institutions. OEWD’s guidelines outline its right to pass on a business that “does not fit into the neighborhood economic development strategy,” even if it clears every financial requirement.
Most of the 39 businesses are still working toward opening.
Of all the recipients listed by OEWD, only four had actually opened their doors as of Tuesday. They include Freshroll, a Vietnamese fast-casual spot downtown; Next Chapter Cocktails and Tapas Lounge on Minna Street that had its grand opening Monday; StreetTaco in downtown; and Chicken Fried Palace, a diner in the Mission District. The other 35 businesses are still listed as “coming soon.”
“These 39 businesses have signed long-term leases and are making a lasting commitment to San Francisco’s commercial corridors.”
Anne Taupier, San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development
A lot is packed into this initiative, but two details stand out for the gaps it is aiming to fill.
Among the nine new storefronts coming to the Bayview District — more than any other corridor in this round — is District 10 Community Pharmacy on Third Street, an area that’s specifically been recognized as needing better access to local healthcare.
“These investments are helping bring nine dynamic, community-serving businesses to Bayview storefronts,” said Earl Shaddix, executive director of Economic Development on Third, a community organization working on the Third Street corridor in the Bayview.
Shaddix noted that the pharmacy is filling “critical service gaps in the neighborhood.”
Attracting multiple demographics
Separately, OEWD says 25 of the 39 recipients are bars or restaurants, and 25 are self-identified as BIPOC-owned.
The efforts to bring in more health service storefronts and businesses owned by people of color represent two overlapping but distinct snapshots of what the program is aiming to achieve.
The $3 million for these 39 leases is part of a larger $6.3 million commitment the city announced earlier this year, and the rest isn’t sitting idle waiting for more storefronts to sign leases.
A separate program, the SF Shines Equipment Grant, drew on that same pool to award more than $1.7 million to 198 small businesses citywide, in grants of up to $10,000 each, for equipment tied to expansion, code compliance, or general remediation.
Two of the storefront grant recipients, Zebki Shoe Repair in the Fillmore district and Fanoos Grills in Chinatown, received funding through both programs, one to get into a space, the other to keep it there.