It's been nearly three years since the Safeway at 350 Bay St. went dark, leaving North Beach and Fisherman's Wharf residents without a full-service grocery store and the Northpoint Centre feeling like a mall that forgot what it was for. But fresh evidence on the ground — including construction barriers, plywood walls, and a pair of hard-to-miss banners — confirms that Grocery Outlet Bargain Market is actively building out the space, and the neighborhood's long grocery drought may finally be nearing its end.
"Future Home of Grocery Outlet" banner on the Northpoint Centre facade at Bay St. - John Rohen / Hoodline San Francisco Photojournalist
Hoodline journalist John Rohen spotted the active construction site this week, documenting the exterior banners draped across the Northpoint Centre facade on Bay Street and the interior build-out underway within the mall. Construction notices taped to plastic sheeting inside identify the project as belonging to contractor Tilton Pacific Construction, with the permit address listed as 350 Bay St., Suite 113.
A Long Time Coming
Grocery Outlet's arrival at the Northpoint Centre has been years in the making. The SF Standard first reported Grocery Outlet's interest in the space back in May 2023, just as the Safeway was closing — though those early overtures stalled when the entire property was listed for sale. The Northpoint Centre and its adjacent 72-unit apartment complex eventually sold to San Jose-based Anchor Pacific Capital for $25.76 million, according to SFist. New ownership, it turned out, was the unlock.
By January 2025, a deal that had been building for over a year was finally formalized. District 3 Supervisor Danny Sauter, Grocery Outlet, and Anchor Pacific Capital announced a signed 15-year lease agreement, with CEO Eric Lindberg projecting an early 2026 opening, according to The SF Standard. Property owner Anton Qiu told The San Francisco Chronicle the store would open in Q1 2026. That window has now closed, and while the store is clearly mid-construction, a confirmed opening date has not been announced.
Construction warning signs and Tilton Pacific permit notice taped to plastic sheeting inside the mall - John Rohen / Hoodline San Francisco Photojournalist
What's Going In
The new Grocery Outlet will occupy roughly 30,000 square feet — about 65% of the former Safeway's footprint, with the remainder reserved for back-of-house operations and storage, according to The SF Standard. Grocery Outlet and Anchor Pacific Capital together plan to invest roughly $5 million in the build-out, per The Chronicle. The store is also expected to create more than 50 jobs, with Lindberg committing to hire from within the surrounding community, as reported by The SF Standard.
This will be Grocery Outlet's sixth San Francisco location, joining stores in the Richmond, Mission, Portola, Bayshore, and Visitacion Valley neighborhoods. The chain markets itself as an extreme value grocer offering name-brand items at 40–70% below conventional retail prices — the kind of proposition that tends to land differently when you're a senior on a fixed income in a neighborhood where the next nearest option requires a bus transfer.
The Neighborhood Grocery Void
The stakes here are real. When the Safeway shuttered in May 2023, it left roughly 20,000 residents within a half-mile — across North Beach, Fisherman's Wharf, Russian Hill, and Telegraph Hill — without a major full-service grocery option, according to the community petition that then-District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin and later Sauter championed. That petition eventually gathered over 1,000 signatures, per KTVU.
"There's not another major grocery store without a 40-minute bus ride," Supervisor Sauter told The SF Standard at the time of the lease signing. That's a striking indictment for one of the city's most visited and densely populated corners — and a point that makes the delay from the projected Q1 2026 opening all the more noticeable to locals who've been patiently, and not so patiently, waiting.
Plywood hoarding sealing off the Grocery Outlet build-out along the Northpoint Centre corridor - John Rohen / Hoodline San Francisco Photojournalist
Competition: Just Across the Street
The closest full-service grocery competitor is a Trader Joe's at 401 Bay St., sitting nearly directly across from the Northpoint Centre. CEO Lindberg addressed the proximity head-on at the lease announcement, telling The SF Standard that Grocery Outlet would offer a wider product variety at lower prices, including national brands Trader Joe's simply doesn't stock. The two stores serve meaningfully different shoppers: Trader Joe's leans into its own private-label goods and a curated, upmarket feel, while Grocery Outlet is built around opportunistic buys — overstocked, closeout, and surplus brand-name items that rotate constantly and reward the flexible shopper.
For price-conscious families, seniors on fixed incomes, and the dense population of affordable housing residents nearby — including those at Wharf Plaza, North Beach Place, and the NorthPoint Vistas apartments — Grocery Outlet's model may be a considerably better fit than anything currently within walking distance.
The Bigger Picture for Northpoint Centre
The mall itself has been struggling with persistent vacancies since well before the Safeway closure. Anchor Pacific Capital purchased the roughly 86,000-square-foot indoor center with ambitions to stabilize it, and Grocery Outlet is the cornerstone of that plan. Qiu told The Chronicle the grocer's arrival would push mall occupancy up to roughly 50% and that he was in early talks with a gym operator to fill the space vacated by 24 Hour Fitness during the pandemic. A Subway and Asia Chinese Food remain open in the interim.
Heavy plastic sheeting lines the mall corridor outside the Grocery Outlet construction zone - John Rohen / Hoodline San Francisco Photojournalist
San Francisco's retail landscape has made this kind of bet feel genuinely risky — the city has weathered a cascade of closures from Walgreens, Safeway, and major department stores in recent years. But Grocery Outlet, which is San Francisco-founded and has continued expanding locally, is making a countercyclical move in a neighborhood that has been loudly asking for exactly this. Whether the North Beach location opens before summer is something residents are watching closely. Grocery Outlet Bargain Market was not immediately available for comment, though Hoodline SF reached out for a statement.
