The Safeway grocery store in San Francisco's Fillmore district is closing after serving the neighborhood for 40 years.
Safeway said it expects to close in early March, leaving some customers surprised and disappointed.
The nearest Safeway after the Fillmore district location shutters will be in the Castro neighborhood, which is just over a mile away.
Safeway in a statement said in part "Safeway recently entered into an agreement to sell 3.68 acres of land at Webster Plaza in the Fillmore district of San Francisco to Align Real Estate who will pursue a mixed-use development project to include housing and commercial retail space."
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The company sees the change as an opportunity to be part of a solution to bring much-needed housing to the city. But some customers see it a different way.
"I think it's more the theft that is going on in the stores," a customer said to NBC Bay Area on Friday. "It's rampant over here."
Some also took note of the security measures in place at the grocery store.
Meantime, customers are wondering where they will shop moving forward and what impact the closure will have.
San Francisco Supervisor Dean Preston said in a statement he is "extremely concerned" with the potential loss of the grocery store in the neighborhood. Preston said he welcomes the housing development on the lot, but does not think it should be an either or situation.
Preston's office has reached out to Safeway and the developers to try to include a store in the new plans.
Mayor London Breed said the plan is a real and rare opportunity to add homes. Breed also pointed out there is a Trader Joe's opening nearby and an opportunity for a new market on site.
