Hearing on Safeway closure at 1355 Webster highlights urgent food, pharmacy and banking gaps; city outlines short‑, medium‑ and long‑term options

A special hearing of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors’ Land Use and Transportation Committee on Feb. 3 focused on the announced closure of a Safeway grocery store at 1355 Webster Street, in the Fillmore/Western Addition/Japantown area. The store’s closure, announced more than a year earlier and accelerated in recent weeks, removes a full‑service grocery store that community leaders say serves seniors, families, and residents with limited transportation options.

Supervisor Bilal Mahmood opened the hearing saying the closure has been “felt deeply throughout the neighboring communities,” and described the meeting’s goals: “to understand the scope of this closure and its impact on residents; to understand the facts around this site and its history; and to understand what the city has done and plans to do to mitigate impacts.” Committee members heard presentations from the San Francisco Food Security Task Force, the Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD), the Planning Department, the Human Rights Commission (HRC), and the SFPD.

The Food Security Task Force’s chair, Cissy Bonini, described severe neighborhood food insecurity and underscored why the closure matters for public health: “One in four San Franciscans are food insecure,” she said in committee testimony, adding that the Western Addition’s zip code has higher rates of diet‑sensitive hospitalizations and a concentration of residents on fixed incomes. Bonini said the task force has recommended a community‑centered food security body and will continue to advocate restoring city food‑program funding cut in recent budgets.

OEWD staff said Safeway had sold inventory in mid‑January, continued pharmacy operations while prescriptions were transferred, and now intends to cease pharmacy…